Polish designers eye foreign markets

Thanks to a growing online presence, over 200 Polish brands area aiming to conquer the European retail market. Polish designers are opting to sell their collections through online portals rather than in boutiques.  The number of designers and products available through such websites is doubling year to year, Aleksandra Klonowska-Szalek, a spokesperson for DaWanda, told Rzeczpospolita daily. These sites are also being  re-formatted for foreign buyers, especially for Germans, who currently represent the largest online retail market in Europe. Other sites such as showroom.pl, which opened in 2011 and specializes in sales of exclusively Polish designer products, are also expanding into the German market in the next few months. It is also starting a media campaign on German television to announce its new German website. Portals such as showroom.pl allow Polish designers to gain foreign market presence much faster since they avoid waiting for investments to open additional boutiques abroad. However, some designers, especially ones with a higher price point, are sticking to the traditional boutique strategy. Among these are La Mania, which has stores in London and Milan, as well as Eva Minge who is expanding abroad.