NATIONAL: The Spanish owners of fast fashion brand Zara have confirmed speculation that the group will launch stores in Australia and South Africa next year.
At the Inditex annual general meeting yesterday, deputy chairman Pablo Isla did not specify which of the group's stores would hit domestic shores.
The company owns Zara, Massimo Dutti and Uterque among other labels for men and women.
The Australian license to Zara has reportedly been held since 2000 by Peter Lew, son of Solomon Lew, owner of Premier Investments.
In the past year Inditex has activated an aggressive rollout of Zara stores internationally. It opened 343 new stores, bringing its total retail surface area to 2,348,708 square metres on January 31 this year.
Isla also confirmed that online shopping for Zara would go live in September this year. It did not specify which markets shipping would be available to.