Amazon’s Clothing Line Closes In

It appears that Amazon’s potential move into selling its own clothing line is growing ever closer to a reality … and the company might be taking another crack at its own diaper brand to boot.

While rumors of Amazon starting its own private fashion label began swirling in October of last year, yesterday (Feb. 16), Racked reported (citing WWD) that such a launch is inevitable, as indicated by the fact that the eCommerce giant is actively seeking new personnel with fashion industry experience.

An Amazon job posting that went out late last week finds the company, according to WWD, looking for “an entrepreneurial, analytical and highly motivated [senior] sourcing manager to join our team to launch new high-quality products for our global customers.” Racked adds that the job requirements for the position also include selecting and negotiating with factories and managing manufacturers.

Both outlets point to the existence of another job posting at Amazon that hints at the company’s move into the branded fashion space, this one looking for someone to handle inventory and vendor relationships.

Meanwhile, Re/code has picked up the scent (no pun intended) that Amazon might also be considering another attempt at manufacturing and selling its own line of diapers — an endeavor that it briefly attempted (and abandoned) a little over a year ago.

A writer for Re/code explains that he was among the customers that Amazon emailed a few weeks back, requesting participants for market research survey about products under consideration to be sold on the eCommerce site. Notable among the offerings was a new diaper brand called Mama Bear.

While an Amazon spokesperson would not comment to Re/code as to whether the company was simply conducting marketing for another brand or is seeking to re-enter the diaper space with its own line, the outlet posits that the latter is the more likely scenario, citing three reasons.

One, several former Amazon employees who did speak to Re/code expressed that it would be out of character for Amazon to conduct a market research survey for a third-party company. Two, the Web address that hosted the survey in question included the name “Amazon Elements,” which happens to be the brand name of Amazon’s aforementioned brief foray into diapers. And three, with the Elements name still under Amazon’s ownership, the possibility is raised that the company is feeling out potentially more suitable names for a rebrand.