NSW:Zara fever hots up ahead of Sydney opening

AAP General News (Australia)
04-19-2011
NSW:Zara fever hots up ahead of Sydney opening

By Isabel Hayes

SYDNEY, April 19 AAP - Some customers are expected to camp overnight to be first in
line at 9am when Spanish retailer Zara opens its first Australian store in Sydney's Westfield
Pitt Street Mall centre.

A sneak peek inside the Pitt St fashion store on Tuesday showed its trademark collection
of classic dresses, wool coats, jeans and knitwear, all at reasonable prices.

Zara has designed a collection specifically for Australia's southern hemisphere seasons,
which incorporates key looks now hitting the runway.

"The global trend is colour," Zara's chief communications officer Jesus Echevarria
told reporters in Sydney.

"(In Australia) this trend is adapted to the fabrics that are needed for the season
that we are now in."

As a result, bright colour dominates the store, with winter coats, boyfriend blazers,
shoes and knitwear lined up in blocks of red, blue, orange and yellow.

Jeans and cigarette pants are priced from $69, while trench coats start from $120 and
dresses hover around the $120 mark.

Australia is the 78th country to become home to the brand, owned by Inditex, which
first opened in Spain in 1975.

Today there are 1700 stores worldwide, which last year generated sales of more than
E8 billion ($A10.87 billion).

Shoppers swarmed outside the store on Tuesday, desperate to get a first look at the
collection, which includes men, women and children's clothing.

Kathleen Monares, 20, from Campbelltown and Maria Rafael, 19, from Rouse Hill told
AAP they were dying to go in and start shopping.

"We always buy it online but now we get to shop here, it's amazing," Ms Rafael said,
adding she was most excited about the store's collection of shearling jackets.

Diya Milan, 25, originally from the UK, said she had missed Zara since she moved to Australia.

There was a big gap in the market for affordable, fashionable clothing in Sydney, she said.

"The things that you get here are quite expensive when things that you get back home
are cheap or reasonable," Ms Milan said.

"When you have to spend more here - and in dollars too - it's feels like a big rip-off."

Those who miss the expected crush needn't worry as Zara operates an ordering system
based on customer trends.

Each store will make constant changes to the initial collection based on demand with
stock arriving within 36 and 48 hours of being ordered.

Zara in Sydney will be open from 9am to 9pm (AEST) on Wednesday.

A store in Melbourne is set to open later this year.

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KEYWORD: ZARA (PICS, VIDEO AVAILABLE)

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