Liberty sets sights on Japanese market

London department store Liberty today announced an expansion of its luxury brand into the Japanese market and said its own branded goods were outselling those of other designers.

Liberty was launched as a luxury brand last autumn focusing on accessories, such as handbags, in a move aimed at re-focusing Liberty as a leading fashion destination.

Chief executive Iain Renwick said the next stage in establishing Liberty of London as a great British brand was to conquer the all-important Japanese market which accounts for one third of all sales of luxury items.

From the beginning of next year, Liberty plans to operate Liberty of London concessions within Japanese stores alongside other iconic British brands such as Burberry and Mulberry.

“You can only really come alive when you have the distribution in Japan,” he said.

Once Liberty has a strong foothold in Japan, it will then look to North America and other markets, he said.

The Regent Street Liberty Island store was sold in April last year to property developer Great Portland Estates for £66.5m (€98.7m) and the business has consolidated the outlet’s activities at its flagship store in the nearby Tudor House.

Mr Renwick said Liberty’s history was as an emporium or fashion destination filled with goods from all around the world but it had lost its way in recent years.

By putting own-branded goods into the centre of the business, it can build on that heritage once more, he said.

Inspiration for Liberty’s designs was taken from the great country houses of England which offered a mixture of exotic imports from around the world, he said.

“Britishness is almost defined as being a distillation of the globe,” he added.