Japan ’ s retail powerhouse and most famously the owner of Uniqlo , Fast Retailing is strengthening its French connection with Christophe Lemaire . The conglomerate is acquiring a minority stake in the Parisian brand Lemaire that is codesigned by Christophe and Sarah- Linh Tran . The financial details of the agreement have not been revealed as of yet but along with the acquisition , Fast Retailing also announced that Christophe Lemaire is going to be heading Uniqlo ’ s Paris R & D Centre for another five years . His renewed contract will mean that Lemaire will continue designing the Uniqlo U-line and perhaps will keep contributing ideas to the design of the retail ’ s central assortment . |
Tadashi Yanai , CEO , Fast Retailing that owns other popular fashion brands like Theory and Helmut Lang , told the press , “ I am pleased to deepen our partnership with Lemaire even more . I hope that our new level of involvement will help to facilitate further growth and development of the brand Lemaire .” Lemaire posted US $ 12 million in revenues in 2017 and expected projections for the label are at US $ 14 million in 2018 . The label sells contemporary womenswear and menswear in a ratio of 75:25 per cent and is priced mostly under the US $ 1,000 tag which is much lesser than similar competitors Loewe and Celine . Yuki Katsuta , Head of Uniqlo R & D and Group Officer of the parent company added , “ With this extended partnership , we are |
able to benefit from Christophe ’ s knowledge regarding apparel design and creative talents . And his |
wide network in the industry will help us secure creative talents in the future .” |
The British activewear and accessories ’ retailer JD Sports has announced that it will debut in Perth and Brisbane with exclusive stores in August and |
September 2018 respectively , in a bid to enhance its offline store presence in Australia . Notably , the sportswear retailer ’ s Perth outlet in Westfield |
Carousel will be inaugurated on August 30 and it will mark the company ’ s first move in Western Australia while the store in Brisbane ’ s City Centre will be operational from September 20 onwards . It is important to mention here that after having forayed into the Australian market back in April last year , the retailer at present runs nine retail outlets in the Eastern parts of the country . Hilton Seskin , Head , JD Sports Australia said that the customer interest in the two locations propelled them to expand their presence in the region and that the brand would work on expanding in the athleisure segment . |
“ At a time when most of the brands are taking down their stores , our unique and unmatched offering has provided us with results that are beyond our initial forecasts and motivated us to expand our retail presence ,” he informed . Additionally , both the upcoming stores will be housing a varied collection of sold-out releases from this year along with a few exclusive products across footwear and apparel for both the locations . Markedly , Frenchbased Decathlon , launched locally in December 2017 , is one of the biggest rivals for the UK-based retailer in Australia that has promoted local retailers like Rebel Sport and Amart stores . |