Furla launches first China flagship store in Shanghai

Italian leather goods brand Furla launched its first flagship store in Shanghai on Thursday in a move to expand its presence in the Chinese market that has seen fast growth and significant opportunities in recent years.

The flagship store is located in CITIC Square, which is in the city's business district hub in Nanjing West Road. As the first duplex design store in the Chinese mainland, the Furla CITIC flagship store covers an area of 300 square meters with two levels, which include women's and men's leather collections and accessories, as well as flagship store exclusive collections.

In addition, the store has the first and the largest LED facade of Furla's global distribution, occupying 234 square meters.

Furla was founded in 1927 in Bologna, Italy, and is now a major player in the worldwide leather goods market. The brand is strictly made-in-Italy and each product continues the tradition of Italian craftsmanship, Furla said.

In 2015, Furla experienced double-digit growth and strong retail expansion across all regions. This more than 30 percent growth resulted in 339 million euros ($377 million) in sales. Furthermore, the brand has been growing against the sales trend in China, achieving double-digit growth in the first quarter of 2016, with market sales up more than 60 percent. Furla President Giovanna Furlanetto said the opening of the CITIC Square flagship store marks an important step in the company's dynamic expansion strategy in China. "Furla was waiting for the right place and time to expand further into the China market. We find that now is the right time, with this great location in CITIC Square," Furlanetto said.

The company is present in 100 countries with 400 singlebrand shops situated on the most prestigious international shopping streets, a distribution network with over 1,000 points of sale and important growing channels in travel retail and e-commerce.

"CITIC Square is renowned in Shanghai as one of the most prestigious shopping malls. We felt it was important to ground Furla with a beautiful flagship in this prime location in order to maximize the brand's footprint in China market. We saw this opportunity in CITIC Square as the key to enter into the China market in a way we have never done before," Furlanetto said.

Another highlight of the opening was the Furla "Made For You" service. Popular Chinese actress Jiang Shuying designed her own bag, which comes with a "Made by Jiang Shuying" tag.

The bag was auctioned and the proceeds will be donated to the China Women's Development Foundation for supporting women's rights and their career development.

In addition to Jiang, fashion bloggers including Peter Xu, Toni, Elle Lee and Liu Xiao attended the event.

Luxury limited edition bags

Furla launched its limited edition Metropolis bag during the opening of its Furla CITIC Square flagship store in Shanghai.

Metropolis is one of the most successful and iconic bags from Furla, and the newly launched limited edition has the themes of "Hello Shanghai", "Love Shanghai" and "Kiss Shanghai".

The limited edition with heart-shaped patterns comes in red, black and pink. Spy is available in red and black.

During the flagship store's opening event, popular Chinese actress Jiang Shuying carried a limited edition "Hello Shanghai" bag in red.

wanghongyi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/27/2016 page15)