Ascots & Chapels budgets Dh50m for regional expansion

The British tailor Ascots & Chapels is embarking on a Dh50 million (US$13.6m) expansion across the Middle East and South East Asia.

The Regional licensee, the Dubai-based Zaki Design Group, a division of Prime Canada, aims to roll out stores over the next five years in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur. It will open three outlets this year, one on The Pearl-Qatar in Doha in the next three weeks, and two this summer in the Emirates, where it currently has four stores.

"We have signed up Nation Towers on the Corniche in Abu Dhabi and The Galleria at Sowwah Square, which I think is going to be the 'it' place [when it opens]," said Zaki Ali, the head designer and managing partner of Zaki Design Group.

He added that the brand also aims to open stores in the capital at Yas Mall, which is due to open in the first quarter of next year, and The District on Saadiyat Island, when it launches in 2017.

The brand hopes to open between 15 and 20 outlets across the Middle East and South East Asia as part of the five-year expansion, but location is crucial, said Mr Ali.

"We don't want to be in every mall in town," he said. "What we are after is the market segment which is looking for something much more personalised and niche. We are not after a client who is buying a suit off the rack."

Ascots & Chapels has launched a service in which customers can be measured for a suit in Dubai and collect it in other countries, including Qatar and the United Kingdom in its London Mayfair store.

"Typically a customer would come to our Dubai store and say: 'I am having a meeting in three weeks in London. Can I have it delivered in London?' That is who our client is.

"He is constantly travelling and he wants a backup service in these places," said Mr Ali.

Suits at Ascots & Chapels start at Dh2,750, rising to Dh45,000. The company offers its customers colour consultant services and visiting tailors. It takes anywhere between three to six weeks to make a suit and clients typically have three fittings throughout the process.

"For our super-luxury clients we even have hangers with their names on them. That's the market that we are [servicing].

"You can actually put your signatures on your garments," said Mr Ali.

"The other day we had a client who wanted Hermès scarves [made into] the lining on his jacket."