Sandro Paris embraces China

French designer Sandro Paris is planning to make greater China a key retail market.

To date, the Paris-based company has store in France, the UK and the US. But it is attracted to China by the growing desire amongst Chinese consumers for foreign brands and products.

Already it has opened 15 stores in China, including Hong Kong; two of them last month. A further 10 are planned during the remainder of the year.

A flagship store is in planning for Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay precinct, one of the territory’s fashion hubs.

Sandro Paris was created by husband and wife team Evelyne and Didier Chetrite.

Growing up in Morocco, Evelyne was drawn to fashion and when her family moved to Paris as a teenager, she was inspired by the window displays of department stores near her home.

Later she met Didier, a young entrepreneur who had launched a ready-to-wear business

Their first successful collaboration was “a series of dresses in patterned patchwork with bubble sleeves that were bohemian chic, loose but with a real style and presence”.

After that, Didier expanded his office and hired a designer to work with Evelyne. The Sandro brand was born in 1984 and opened its first boutique on Rue Vieille du Temple in the heart of the Marais. It has grown to be a label known for feminine, versatile dressing. Today, Sandro has 202 boutiques worldwide.

Sandro Men first launched in the Marais and Saint Germain des Pres areas, its shops likened to a jewel box combined with simple and trendy features. The stores have herringbone floors, painted mirrors and more than 190 styles, along with a selection of art books and music, “providing the comfort of a British club, while offering it pieces of the season”, according to the company’s website.