ZARA, the leading world retailer of ready-made clothes, has signed a franchise agreement with the Lithuanian company Apranga

ZARA, the leading world retailer of ready-made clothes, has signed a franchise agreement with the Lithuanian company Apranga for establishing a network of ZARA shops in Vilnius, Ryga and Tallinn, with planned investment of EUR 5 million. In Vilnius ZARA will occupy a three-and-a-half-store building in the central Gediminas avenue and will be the biggest shop in the Baltic States. “With ZARA coming to Lithuania, the competition in the ready-made clothes market will considerably incrase”, said R.Perveneckas, Director General of Apranga. Apranga signed a contract with Inditex, the owner of ZARA company. Beside ZARA, Inditex has eight other retail networks: Kiddy’s Class, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho and Zara Home with 2000 shops around the world. In 2003, the turnover of Inditex was EUR 4.6 billion and profits – EUR 446 million. Apranga has a network of 33 shops, including five in Latvia. It has franchise agreements with Hugo Boss, Max Mara, Emporio Armani, Mango, Mexx and Betty Barclay. Adding ZARA to its chain of clothes shops, Apranga plans to considerably increase its turnover – by 46% in 2004 and by 38% in 2005.