Amazon fashion sets up main photo studio

Amazon.com, the online giant retailer, but a relative newcomer to

the world of fashion, has seized on the importance of the image to successfully sell good apparel and merchandise, unlike its collection of books and DVD’s.

So the online retail giant, which has bet heavily on being the go-to destination for $1,000 dresses as well as bargain books and DVDs, said it has rented a 40,000-square-foot New York City studio to snap photos of its fashion apparel and accessories.

Cathy Beaudoin, president of Amazon Fashion, says that New York was a natural choice as a global fashion capital.

"It felt like a pretty natural evolution for us as we build our fashion business, to anchor it to key outposts where we have access to top talent," Beaudoin said. Amazon already has shoot locations but this Brooklyn based venture is the first to focus solely on fashion. It’s in a bid to up the prestige of the Amazon fashion sector and to centralize work flow for product shots.

The Brooklyn location will create product photos for Amazon Fashion, its flash sale site MyHabit and Shopbop, an online upscale fashion retailer Amazon acquired in 2006.