Quirky Swedish fashion chain Monki has confirmed it is looking at entering the UK market.
The company, which is 60% owned by H&M, said the UK was “an exciting market” but that any debut would not be until next year at the earliest.
Lasse Karlsson, founder and chief executive of Fabric Scandinavian, the owner of the Monki chain, in which H&M bought a majority stake two years ago, said: “We are monitoring the UK market. London is a very interesting and important market for us.”
Monki and its sister chain Weekday together have 58 stores across Europe. Later this year Monki will expand its presence into Holland and Hong Kong.
The Monki brand is aimed at 14- to 20-year-olds and typically trades from stores of 2,500 sq ft to 3,000 sq ft. Weekday is also a young fashion chain, but aims at a slightly older customer and trades from fewer but larger stores of about 6,000 sq ft.
Karlsson said that young fashion had continued to be strong in Europe through the downturn.
He said: “We have more affordable price points to our collections, so we have been less damaged than competitors.”
But he added that young fashion businesses were competing not only against other fashion chains for sales, but also against other leisure activities.
He said: “Travelling and music are big competitors. We are all focusing on the wallet, and the consumer does not have a big wallet at the moment.”
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