Liability insurance for a stylist
A stylist almost never brings their own things. You work with clothing, accessories and products belonging to a brand, a hire firm or the client, and that is precisely what determines where the standard cover stops.
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In brief
Public and employers' liability insurance (AVB) pays for injury and property damage you cause to others. As a stylist that means recognisable situations: a clothing rail falling over and hitting a monitor or a client, make-up or an aerosol on a designer sofa, a scratch in the studio's parquet floor, a guest tripping over your case of props. Liability follows from Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code: unlawful conduct attributable to you.
Two exclusions determine almost everything in this work. The care, custody and control exclusion takes away cover for damage to property that is in your keeping but not owned by you: samples from a showroom, hired bags and jewellery, a borrowed collection. The working-on exclusion goes a step further and concerns the item you are actually working on: the jacket you pin, the fabric you tape or steam, the product you cut open for a food shoot. Hire terms place that loss with you by contract, while the policy does not cover it as standard.
What belongs elsewhere: a styling the client does not like or a campaign that has to be redone produces only costs and is pure financial loss. That is the territory of professional indemnity insurance for self-employed professionals. You insure your own stock of clothing, props and tools on business contents insurance, and your income if you are unable to work on a disability insurance. The general explanation is on the hub page on the AVB.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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What to look out for
Four subjects that cause more argument on styling assignments than the sum insured.
Samples that do not go back undamaged
Showrooms and PR agencies lend collection pieces on terms that make you liable for any damage and for late return. Those pieces are in your keeping without your owning them, so the care, custody and control exclusion applies. A contractual penalty for late return is also not compensation and therefore falls under no liability cover at all.
Pinning, taping and steaming
As soon as you worksa garment or product, it moves from care, custody and control to alteration. A scorch mark from a steamer, a tear along a pinned seam or glue residue on leather are the classic cases. Ask expressly whether your policy has cover for property being worked on and up to what amount, because without that clause you pay this yourself.
Injury on set and in the fitting room
A model who falls in heels that are too high, a prick from a pin, a skin reaction to a product you applied: injury to another person is the core territory of the AVB. Deliberately taking a risk is not, because Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code excludes damage caused by the insured with intent or wilful recklessness.
On the road with the collection
Damage you cause with or from a motor vehicle falls outside the AVB. The compulsory insurance under Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM)exists for that. If you drive a car full of borrowed clothing, also consider who carries the transport risk. Theft from your van, incidentally, is not liability but a loss of property belonging to you or to the owner.
What does your premium depend on?
- Turnover from styling assignments: the usual basis for the premium for self-employed professionals
- Type of styling: fashion, food, product or personal styling have different claims profiles
- Value of borrowed collection pieces: determines whether care, custody and control cover is needed and at what level
- Cover for property being worked on: a separate clause for items you work on
- Area of cover: shoots outside the Netherlands call for a wider territory
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A hot steam lance scorches the wallpaper in the hired studio | Yes | No |
| A make-up artist is injured when your case of props slides off the table | Yes | No |
| The borrowed bag from the showroom is damaged during the shoot | No | No |
| The jacket you are pinning tears along the seam | No | No |
| Advice on sizing that you passed on incorrectly leads to a whole production run being remade | No | Yes |
| You forget to agree which brand clothing is permitted and the campaign shoot has to be redone | No | Yes |
Goods on loan and alterations are the two gaps in this trade that you can only close with an express clause.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A sample from a showroom was damaged. Does my AVB pay?
In principle, no. For as long as the piece is on loan to you, the care, custody and control exclusion applies and the standard policy does not pay for damage to it. If you were also working on it, for example by pinning or steaming, the exclusion for property being worked on applies as well. Only an expressly included care, custody and control or working-on clause changes that.
A model was injured during a shoot. Is that covered?
Injury to a third party is the core territory of public and employers' liability insurance, provided you are liable under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. The insurer will assess what you could have foreseen and whether you had given a warning. Report the loss as soon as you know of it: Article 7:941 DCC requires timely notification and late notification can cost you the payment.
The client thinks the styling failed and wants his money back.
That is a dispute about the quality of your performance and not about injury or damaged property. Such a claim is pure financial loss and falls outside the AVB. If a shoot has to be redone and the client claims those costs, you need professional indemnity insurance for that; dissatisfaction alone, incidentally, does not yet create liability.
I have no staff. Do I need employers' liability?
Often you do. If you work with an assistant, a trainee or a hired-in dresser under your supervision, the duty of care under Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code extends to them as well, even without a contract of employment. Report that when you apply, because circumstances that are not disclosed can have consequences for the payment under Articles 7:928 and 7:930 DCC.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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