Lingerie firms to expand in Mideast on rising demand

23 Dec '11

2 min read

Believe it or not, lingerie, often associated with Western culture, is finding customers in one of the most conservative societies – the Middle East.

The rising appetite for wearing lingerie in these countries has resulted in some of the Western companies to expand in this region.

Victoria's Secret, La Vie en Rose and La Senza – the brands known worldwide for lingerie – are some of the companies expanding in Arab countries.

Lingerie chain La Senza, which opened its first outlet in the Middle East last year, has announced its association with a franchise partner for its expansion in the Arab countries.

Similarly, Victoria's Secret has also inked an agreement with a franchise operator to start its outlets in the Middle East. The company has identified the region for its global expansion after several years of research spread over a number of locales.

Montreal, Canada-based lingerie retailer La Vie en Rose, which entered the Arab market about five years ago, already has 55 outlets spread across countries ranging from Algeria, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon to Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The company's major customer base is Saudi Arabia where it has 29 stores and it is planning to increase the number of stores to 35. La Vie en Rose is also planning to add two more stores in Kuwait. And by 2013, the company would be opening outlets in Bahrain, Tunisia, Qatar and Oman.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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