Fox-Weizel Ltd. (TASE: FOX) will launch the US label The Children's Place in Israel in March 2014, it said at an analysts conference on Sunday. Altogether, Fox plans to expand its stores by 52% from the 293 stores at the end of 2012 to 447 stores by the end of 2015.
Fox will open 6-8 stores of The Children's Place in the first year, and 12-16 stores altogether. Fox, which currently has franchises to eight brands, is also in talks with a Korean footwear label.
"We said that we will continue to seek things which can fit Israel, and which will sit on the same logistics, management, and marketing. We are constantly looking. A lot of labels approach us, but most, even if they are very successful in other countries, will not succeed in Israel, in our opinion. We won't bring in a label, just to have it, but we'll only look for things which can make a big change in the market, like American Eagle, which made a material change in children's fashion in Israel," Fox CEO Harel Weizel told "Globes".
Until now, Fox has operated lingerie label Aerie as a store-within-a-store at American Eagle Outfitters, but plans to open 15 independent Aerie stores by the end of 2015. It plans to open the first stores this year at the Azrieli Mall, the Lev Hadera Mall, and the Grand Beersheva Mall. Fox also plans to increase the number of American Eagle stores to 33 by the end of 2015.
Fox also plans to expand the number of its own Fox label store from 133 to 150 by the end of 2015, and the number of Fox Home stores from 23 to 40. It will expand the Marcha Ballerina show label, launched through stands at malls this year, to 40 stands. Fox will also expand its Billabong Board Shop, Saks, and Laline franchises.
"Competition in children's clothing is fierce now and will be fierce in the future. We opened negotiations to bring in The Children's Place before we learned that Castro Model Ltd. (TASE: CAST) plans to enter the children's clothing segment. We're confident that Castro will do excellent work and we wish them success. It's a perfectly run company. The label will compete against Fox, Zara, H&M, Keds Kids, Golf Kids, Solog, and it will be another big player. We'll manage it as a completely separate company that will compete against all the other labels in Israel, including our own," said Weizel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 9, 2013
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