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River Island: the hidden jewel of high street fashion

Looking for a high street brand that's fashion-forward, wallet-friendly and easy to access? Jan Shure makes the case for Jewish-owned River Island

April 11, 2019 10:22
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ByJan Shure, Jan Shure

4 min read

If you regularly buy from Net-a-Porter, Browns, Matches or other fashion retailers of that ilk, stop reading now.

If, on the other hand, you are a fashionista on a tighter budget, I imagine that Zara, the Spanish fashion chain renowned for instant versions of runway styles (what the industry calls fast fashion) is one of your favourites.

Zara’s first UK store opened in London in 1998. Since then it has opened stores in cities, towns and malls from Aberdeen to Exeter, Cambridge to Cardiff, as well as across the capital. Zara is the best-known brand of Spain’s fashion giant Inditex, the largest apparel retailer on the planet with global revenues in 2018 of $18.9 billion.

Zara is where fashion-forward women go to find the hottest runway trends at price points which don’t make their eyes water. Indeed, Zara’s renown for hitting trends early and affordably is such that it is where Fashion Editors are most likely to shop when forced to spend their own money. So, Zara has a special place in the heart (and the wallet) of British fashionistas. It helps that Zara has cachet in bucketfuls.