Mulberry launches joint venture with Onward Global Fashion

London - British luxury fashion house Mulberry has formed another joint venture in Asia, as the company continues to significantly invest in boosting its business overseas. Mulberry Group announced it had signed an agreement with Onward Global Fashion (OGF), its current licensing partner in Japan, to form a new 50:50 joint venture to operate its business in the country.

The new company, known as Mulberry Japan Co. Limited, will oversee the development of Mulberry's retail, digital, omni-channel and wholesale business in the Japanese market from its headquarters in Tokyo. In addition, Mulberry Japan will manage all retail, digital fulfillment and wholesale distribution for the company's Japanese market.

"I am pleased to announce our partnership with OGF in Japan, a market where we see significant growth opportunity for Mulberry," commented Thierry Andretta, Chief Executive Officer of Mulberry in a statement. "In OGF we have a partner which has extensive luxury goods experience and a robust infrastructure which will enable us to advance our international retail and omni-channel strategy in this key market."

Mulberry Group added that the new company is set to benefit from the group's digital and brand-building capabilities, as well as OGF experience in distributing luxury brands across the Japanese market. As equal owners of Mulberry Japan Co. Limited, both Mulberry Group and OGF are set to invest a total of 2.8 million pounds (400 million yen) in the new company's share capital to further develop the brand's distribution network and increase the brand's presence in Japan.

The joint venture will also advance Mulberry's strategy of directly interacting in key international luxury markets while continuing to refine its positioning in the UK. A general manager has been appointed to build a local team in Tokyo to oversee Mulberry Japan, which is expected to be operational by late 2017. At the moment Mulberry's current distribution platform in the country consists of a new Mulberry store in Tokyo Ginza G6, two concessions, wholesale and well as its e-commerce platform mulberry.com site.

Photo: Mulberry AW17 campaign, Facebook