UK FASHION retailer Fat Face is at MAPIC looking for further expansion opportunities internationally, after a successful trial on the East Coast of the US. The company is also hoping to open its first store in Europe next year, with Germany the most likely location.
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“We have around 220 stores in the UK and we are 30 years old this year, so we are a very established brand,” Fat Face head of global partnerships, Kirsten Pottinger said. “At MAPIC we are really keen to learn about more opportunities, because we feel that as a premium casual lifestyle brand, we are a great fit for a lot of different markets.”
Fat Face has opened 12 stores along the East Coast of the US over the past 18 months, primarily located in affluent tourist towns and alongside peer fashion brands. Many of these stores are showing double-digit like-for-like sales growth having traded for over a year, encouraging the company to look at more locations.
“We have been fortunate enough to find some unusual properties, like a former bank and an old post office, which has helped make our brand relevant to the local catchments,” Pottinger said. “I think we’ll undoubtedly end up with West Coast stores eventually as well, although we’re taking expansion steadily.”
In Europe, Fat Face has identified Germany as its key target market, although Pottinger said that the success of its wholesale and online business internationally has encouraged it to look at other markets, including Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
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Fat Face recently launched with Zalando in Germany which will also lead to further Zalando country platforms across Europe. “We will use this also as a basis for making decisions on where we open space across Europe. We’re happy to consider different routes, including pop-ups, franchise partners, distributors and taking our own stores,” she said.
Read more on: https://issuu.com/mipim/docs/mapic_2018_news_2?e=0
