Bibi Russell to open eight high-end apparel shops in top European cities

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Bibi Russell to open eight high-end apparel shops in top European cities
Mushir Ahmed
Model-turned fashion designer Bibi Russell said Sunday she would open eight high-end clothing shops in top western European cities by next month in a major boost for tens of thousands of the country's traditional craftsmen.
Her Bibi Productions has struck a deal with ValueRetailer, a retail chain shop owner operating mainly in Europe and North America, to open the shops in London, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Brussels, Milan, Munich and Frankfurt by the second week of November.
"All the shops will be named Bibi Russell's collections. Best locations have been chosen for all eight shops. They have already been designed and will be decorated with Bangladeshi silk and handmade papers," Russell told the FE.
"My company is now busy designing and making apparel for the shops. We want to hit the market at least six weeks before the Christmas season," she said.
The shops would sell whole line of high-end ready-to-wear apparel designed by Russell, cotton and silk clothing made in handlooms by Bangladeshi craftsmen, rickshaw paintings and jute-made handicrafts products.
"It's a great news for the country's tens and thousands of craftsmen. Every year, we will be able to sell multi-million dollars of products made by our traditional artisans," she said.
Although traditional handicrafts are a booming business in Bangladesh, their export potentials have largely remained unexplored.
In the 2007-8 financial year, Bangladesh exported handicrafts worth only US$5.49 million, a massive 33 per cent decline from the amount it exported in the previous fiscal year.
Russell said that dismal picture is now bound for massive reversal as her products would get duty free access in the European Union market since all of them are made of local yarn using traditional materials.
The designer now in her 50s who loved to call herself friend of Bangladeshi craftsmen shot to fame in the mid 1980s when she appeared in top fashion magazine as a model of leading fashion house Victoria's Secret.
She was a regular cat-walker in Paris, Milan and New York fashion shows, carving a name as a top model in the world.
Russell came back to Bangladesh in 1995, armed with a graduation in fashion designing from the prestigious London College of Fashion, and forged an enduring relationship with local craftsmen.
As a UN goodwill ambassador on HIV, Russell is also a global celebrity who frequently tours the AIDS stricken countries with messages of love and hope.
Russell said she is confident Bangladeshi crafts would wow the market in Europe.
"Our craftsmen are simply great. Their fingers can do magic. They can compete against any high-end fashion items from anywhere in the world," she said.
"Valueretailer has done research on our products for more than two years before deciding to open shops in the richest cities of the world," she said.
Russell said she was the first designer in South Asia to earn the honour to have shops exclusively selling items designed by her across Europe.