Internaçionale has set its sights on competing with fashion retailers such as New Look, Topshop and River Island in a push to become a broad-reaching fast-fashion retailer.
The Glasgow-based retailer is in the process of relocating its buying and merchandising functions to a central London office on Mortimer Street and upping its price points.
Managing director and shareholder Nigel Fisher said: “We are turning ourselves into a fast-fashion operation. Many suppliers are based in lots of places. The one place they come each week is London.”
The retailer, which was bought out of administration in May last year and subsequently acquired MK One and 85 of its stores, wants to move away from competing with Primark and the supermarkets to chase fast-fashion market share.
“Whereas Internaçionale and MK One were very much price-oriented and that would be the driving motivation behind the stock, we have turned it around to get fast fashion into shops fast and with re-engineered price points,” said Fisher.
He added that the retailer, which is two months into trading with its refocused ranges, was experiencing some “very encouraging double- digit like-for-like growth”.
Sweatshirts, previously £7, now sell for “at least” £20. Dresses, which are a new product for the retailer, sell for between £15 and £20.
Fisher said most of the buying team has changed and its size has grown since a consortium of undisclosed investors bought Internaçionale. At the time, the retailer was linked to Indian supplier S Kumars. Fisher declined to comment saying only that the consortium recognised a “gap in the marketplace”.
Internaçionale operates 145 stores, after converting the MK One shops. It has signed on 10 sites and is in negotiations at Lakeside and Meadowhall shopping centres.
The retailer will relaunch former MK One sub-brands Sophie and larger womenswear range Chapter. It is also in the early stages of developing a website.
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