Royal choice boosts Alexander McQueen's sales

22 Aug '13

2 min read

Alexander McQueen, the British fashion label, has witnessed a sharp rise in sales after Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, chose a dress created by Sarah Burton, Creative Director of the brand, as her wedding dress in April 2011.

The happening drew global limelight on the London-based luxury brand, whose sales spiralled unprecedentedly since then, ensuring strong development of the brand.

According to the company’s accounts, the brand’s sales jumped 29 percent to £ 52.4 million in 12 months through December 2012.

However, as the brand invested significantly in opening new outlets and relaunching its affordable clothing line McQ, its profits dipped 24 percent from £5 million in 2011 to £3.8 million in 2012.

Alexander McQueen Trading is owned by French luxury items group Kering, which operates 36 global outlets, concessions and franchises under the brand. However, the accounts for the brand only cover its online business, wholesale business in the US and business done by outlets directly managed by the brand in the UK, US and Italy. Other parts of the business like franchise operations in the Middle East and Asian outlets have been excluded.

The holding company Kering also owns brands like Gucci and Balenciaga.

Alexander McQueen, the eponymous designer created the brand in 2001, while Ms. Burton took over as a creative director of the brand after former’s death in 2010.

The brand which till last year shipped to only around 30 countries, now caters to over 100 countries worldwide through its new look website equipped to feature lookbook imagery, advertising campaigns, videos and stills of archive ramp shows and allowing visitors to surf in added languages like Italian, German, Japanese and French.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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