Fashion City business exceeds turnover of €3m
By William O'Connor
TWO young Irish entrepreneurs, sisters Malindi Demery (27) and Elena Demery (23), founders of Malena Fashion in Fashion City have continued their growth to date with turnover for the business this year exceeding €3 million.
The company who are exclusive distributors of the popular Freddy Jeans brand in Ireland and the UK, have seen a rise in turnover, representing average annual growth rates of over 60 per cent.
This coincides with the announcement that the business has now added new brands to their portfolio having signed a number of exclusive distribution contracts with global eyewear brand Quay Australia and Scandinavian brands Sparkz Copenhagen, Svea and Rosemunde.
The company which is based in Fashion City, Ballymount, has also recently enjoyed further market expansion by extending its customer base into Spain and the Middle East.
Having founded the company in early 2015, the sisters have now built a wholesale customer base of over 160 retailers across the 4 markets (Ireland, UK, Spain and UAE).
The sisters have imported, distributed and/or retailed over 250,000 items of clothing since starting the business, a figure neither sister thought possible within such a short history.
Commenting on the growth of the business and the addition of the new brands, Co-Founder Malindi Demery said: “We are delighted with how the business has evolved, the new markets that we are now servicing internationally and the surge in demand that we have enjoyed for the Freddy brand in particular.
“We’ve taken our time with adding new brands to our portfolio but it’s important for Malena that we build and maintain a standard of product that tells the market what we’re about.
“Fundamentally, our philosophy from the start has been to dress ourselves, so we’ll only represent brands that we genuinely love.”
Aside from the launch and promotion of the new brands, Malena’s next move is to plan for their own marketplace and ultimately their own clothing line.
With a modest team of eight staff, only five of which are full time, the lean and mean operation must grow in order to take on such exciting new ventures, this being the back drop for the business over the next 6-12 months of continued growth management.
