Uterqüe opens its first store in Greece

if you are in Greece you shouldn´t miss this store…

Uterqüe, the concept in the Inditex Group which specialises in fashion accessories, is tomorrow beginning its commercial activity in Greece with the opening of its first store in Athens. The store will be one of the flagships of the concept in this market as it is located in an excellent spot on Metaxa, Glyfada, one of the most exclusive shopping streets in the capital.

Uterqüe is the youngest of the Inditex concepts. The first stores were opened in July 2008 in the Spanish cities of Barcelona, Madrid and A Coruña. There are currently 24 stores, 22 of which are in Spain and two in Portugal. With the opening in Athens, Greece has become the third market in which Uterqüe is beginning its commercial activity.

The expansion into this country is favoured by the ample accumulated experience of Inditex, given that Greece is one of the first markets to which the company extended its activity. The first opening in Greece was in 1993, a Zara store in Ermou streetin Athens. The Inditex Group has carried out a multi-concept expansion strategy in this country.

With the opening tomorrow of the first Uterqüe store, Inditex will have 120 stores in Greece including all its fashion concepts. Before the end of this year, Uterqüe will open a second store in Athens, in the Golden Hall Shopping Centre.Uterqüe mainly has fashion accessories on offer – bags, footwear and leatherwork as well as costume jewellery- and other accessories such as scarves, sunglasses or hats, complemented by a careful selection of garments in textiles or leather.

read more…

Debt-free Zara looks beyond pain in Spain

good news from Zara

Retail sales in Spain are down around six percent and the textile industry has lost 70,000 jobs since last year, but investors can retain some hope for Spanish clothing retailer Inditex.

Even in a climate of enormous economic uncertainty and with a slumping home market, 20 of 29 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates have a “buy” or “outperform” recommendation on the stock.

Operating in a discretionary market and with Spain in dramatic slowdown, Inditex might be expected to suffer.

But analysts cite its lack of debt, tight control of the production process, geographical diversification, long-term growth prospects and attractive valuation as reasons to invest.

“Quality and safety at a good price,” Goldman Sachs called the stock in a note earlier this month which added Inditex to its “conviction buy” list.

read more…

Chinese fashion brands address new challenges

a quite interesting article from china

YOUNG Chinese, especially the “Me” generation, love their clothes – which means good business for fashion stores. But as more international brands make their way into China, local brands are lifting their game to meet demand too, writes Michelle Zhang.

When Zara opened its first outlet in Shanghai in 2006, dedicated Chinese shoppers waited in queues, vying with each other to try on flattering, affordable pieces freshly delivered from Europe.

The Spanish fashion brand recently launched its fourth store in Shanghai, which is within a stone’s throw of H&M’s flagship store and a C&A store on Huaihai Road M.

In fact, high-street fashion brands like Zara and H&M have become so much part of the fashion landscape nowadays that when a person says they bought a piece from Zara or H&M, people are no longer surprised.

The stores are always crowded. Checking out new arrivals almost daily has become a routine for many a fashionista in town.

It is always good for consumers to have more options, the more the better. But at the same time, the thriving business of such brands in China is certainly making their local counterparts uncomfortable.

Kiki Fang, a 26-year-old Shanghainese lady, used to be a VIP customer with Esprit when she was in school.

Today, however, she no longer shops at the Hong Kong-based fashion chain. Like many of her girlfriends, she has become a big fan of H&M and Zara.

“I usually buy casual clothes from H&M ?? they are cheaper compared with those in Esprit,” explains the office worker. “And I buy formal wear and dresses from Zara. The prices are the same as Esprit, but the clothes are definitely more fashionable.”

With her office on Huaihai Road, Fang visits the two stores at least twice a week. “I don’t always find something there,” she says. “But I couldn’t dream of going more than a week without a visit.”

Fang is representative of a large group of young people, especially those living in big cities in China. Domestic brands have come to realize that they have to make changes, or they will lose the battle.

“I think it’s good that more and more international brands are coming to China,” says Ray Fung, general manager of Bossini in the Chinese mainland. “It shows the huge potential of the market, as well as Chinese people’s rising fashion awareness.”

Founded in 1987 in Hong Kong, Bossini is a widely recognized casual wear brand in China. It opened its first store in the Chinese mainland in 1993, and now has 522 stores around the country.

read more…

Zara Thrives by Breaking All the Rules

Zara is doing really well!

How the Spanish apparel chain gets new designs into stores in two weeks while keeping costs low

ARTEIXO, SPAIN Many U.S. apparel retailers are choking on slow-moving inventories as consumers hold back on spending. But Spain’s Inditex, whose Zara chain pioneered cheap chic, is zipping ahead. The $13.8 billion company, which is closing in on Gap (GPS) for the title of world’s biggest clothing retailer, has nearly quadrupled sales, profits, and locations since 2000. This year, Inditex plans to expand by up to 640 stores. “They will weather the storms better than most of their rivals,” says Michael Lewis, a supply-management professor at University of Bath’s School of Management.

Inditex’s secret? Besides selling relatively cheap clothes, which fit the times, the company maintains an iron grip on every link in its supply chain. That enables it to move designs from sketch pad to store rack in as little as two weeks. This “fast fashion” way of doing things has become a model for other apparel chains, such as Los Angeles-based Forever 21, Spain’s Mango, and Britain’s Topshop, which is set to open in New York next year.

Inditex has spent more than three decades perfecting its strategy. Along the way it has broken almost every rule in retailing. At most clothing companies, the supply chain starts with designers, who plan collections as much as a year in advance. At Inditex, Zara store managers monitor what’s selling daily—and with up to 70% of their salaries coming from commission, there’s a lot of incentive to get it right. They track everything from current sales trends to merchandise customers want but can’t find in stores, then shoot orders to Inditex’s 300 designers, who fashion what’s needed instantly.

HIGHER PAY AT THE PLANT

Typically, apparel chains outsource the bulk of production to low-cost countries in Asia. Inditex produces half of its merchandise in factories in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, keeping the manufacturing of the most fashionable items in-house while buying basics such as T-shirts from shops in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia. Wages are higher at Inditex—its factory workers in Spain make an average of $1,650 a month, vs. $206 in China’s Guandong Province. But the company saves time and money on shipping. Also, Inditex’s plants use just-in-time systems developed in cooperation with logistics experts from Toyota Motor (TM), which gives the company a level of control that would be impossible if it were entirely dependent on outsiders.

read more…

Zara’s spare approach to advertising manages to pay off

wow,now that´s a clever marketing

As retailers brace for what is expected to be the toughest fourth quarter in years, Zara, the Spanish clothing retailer, quietly opened its first store in the Chicago market Thursday without a smidgen of advertising.

And it’s drawing eager shoppers.

Its stores, which emphasize architectural details and artistic merchandise presentation, have been described as Armani for the masses. Zara’s arrival had been the buzz of local fashion blogs for weeks.

“It’s one of the reasons Zara has been successful,” said Linda Tuncay, assistant professor of marketing at Loyola University Chicago. “They have really good word-of-mouth. I hear my girlfriends talking about it all the time. Once a consumer has a positive experience, they spread the word to like-minded consumers, and that’s more powerful than an ad.”

Dozens of shoppers poured in within the first hour after the store opened at Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie. One woman drove three hours to get to the store. Others skipped work.

“I’ve been coming here every day to see when it opens,” said Anna Gorovits, as she considered a gray flannel jumper and swing coat.

The two-level, 22,700-square-foot Skokie store carries women’s, men’s and children’s clothing, accessories and shoes. The store is awash in dark wood, white walls, stainless steel accents and glass. Garments hang on wooden hangers, as they would in a designer salon, and are displayed neatly along the walls and on tables with plenty of room to walk in between.

read more…

Is fast fashion going out of fashion?

Well at least Suzy Menkes thinks so

Whooooah! Slow down! Rein in the galloping madness! No – it’s not the economy or financial woes, although Intidex, the parent company of Zara did announce last week a fall in profits in the second quarter, slowing down its apparently unstoppable rise.

It is just time, after seven wild years, to say Basta! to fast fashion.

As a phenomenon, speedy style has given a shake up to the industry and brought the look of the moment to main street, with the collaboration of leading designers. It has proved that fashion does not have to be elitist and that big names are as capable of creating cheap chic as haute couture.

But, as with all things fashionable, from kitten-heel mules to girly frills, there is a moment when it is over. And for fast fashion, that is now – or perhaps in November, when Comme des Garçons and the cerebral Rei Kawakubo embrace H&M.

It all started with Karl Lagerfeld at H&M four years ago, kicking off a media phenomenon, marking a seismic cultural shift and creating lines of eager shoppers in capital cities across the globe.

Since then we have had the unpronounceable Proenza Schouler suddenly hitting billboards throughout America with their Target collaboration. H&M has ratcheted up a roster of designers, from Roberto Cavalli to Viktor & Rolf. Topshop of London has increased its long-term designer collaborations (Celia Birtwell, Zandra Rhodes, etc.) by presenting the super-cool model Kate Moss as design star. And just this month, the products that the Parisian boutique Colette produced with Gap sold like hot croissants in New York.

read more…

Zara overtakes Gap to become world’s largest clothing retailer

Impressive numbers and unknown information for me:

(Zara in Talinn by caninhas,under cc-license)

Spanish fashion chain Zara has ­expanded so rapidly in recent months that it has overtaken its main US rival Gap to become the world’s largest clothing retailer.

Beloved by proponents of fast-fashion, Zara has spread its reach across the globe at a time when Gap has suffered from plummeting consumer spending in the US.

Inditex, Zara’s parent company, recorded a 9% increase in sales to €2.218bn (£1.7bn) in the first quarter of its financial year. It also benefited from the strength of the euro to edge slightly ahead of Gap which saw its revenues fall by 10% and recorded sales of €2.169bn in the same period.

The difference may be tiny, but ­Inditex claims it is significant: for the first time the Spanish group has inched past its American rival.

The group, whose high street store Zara has led the charge, hopes to consolidate its lead over rivals later in the year as it continues to expand overseas in spite of the economic downturn.

It is three years since Inditex overtook H&M, to become the biggest clothing retailer in Europe. But the rapid growth is nothing new to a company which first started in 1963 in the bedroom of chairman Amancio ­Ortega’s home in Galicia, northwest Spain, making bathrobes.

The first Zara store was opened in 1975, in A Coruña in Galicia. The 1980s saw rapid expansion across Spain, followed by the opening in 1988 of the first Zara store outside Spain, in Porto, Portugal.

Other shops followed swiftly in New York in 1989, Paris in 1990. Now the group has nearly 3,900 stores in 70 countries around the world.

Inditex has managed to get so far, so fast largely through the use of innovative management and logistics techniques, which have now become the subject of studies in business schools around the world.

In simple terms, it follows the same ‘oil stain’ pattern when moving into a new market. This involves opening one ‘insignia’ store aimed at building up its name in a new location, before setting up smaller shops of different brands to reach a certain density of outlets that allows it to create economies of scale and boost profit margins.

For a company which spends very ­little on advertising, its shops have always been its principal marketing tool, so many are purpose-built to look like fashion boutiques.

The key to Inditex’s brand ­diversification lies in the group’s vertical integration. Almost all the phases of developing and selling a new product are carried out in house — from design and production to logistics and sales.

read more…