What does the Alabbar/YNAP deal mean for the Mideast fashion world?
Photo: DUBAI, UAE - DECEMBER 5, 2015: Shoppers in Dubai Mall, UAE / S-F / Shutterstock.com
On April 19 Yoox/Net-a-Porter (YNAP) announced that Dubai-based Alabbar Enterprises had bought a 4 percent stake of the company in a deal valued at 100 million euros, firmly solidifying Muslim buying power in the fashion world.
Alabbar Enterprises is owned by Mohamed Alabbar, the founder and chairman of Emaar Properties and Emaar Malls Group. Alabbar’s Emaar Malls Group flagship is The Dubai Mall, which boasted 80 million visitors last year, and was recently ranked higher than New York’s Fifth Avenue, London’s Regent Street and the Champs-Elysees in Paris in retail quality, according to Global Retail Destination Index 2016 from Savills.
Net-a-Porter, which was bought by Yoox Group last year to form YNAP, has already been offering its Muslim and Middle Eastern customers Ramadan-themed fashions. But with Alabbar’s input, the high-end luxury site can begin to potentially target more customers.
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Amina Akhtar