Viva España

Cortefiel, the mid-market Spanish retail giant that made its UK debut in Debenhams this week, will capitalise on the UK’s passion for all things Spanish.

At least that is the opinion of Cortefiel franchise general manager Alex Cara.

The fashion brand is the latest Mediterranean name to join its cousins including Inditex and Mango in the UK and hopes to take it by a storm of Gustav-like proportions.

But does the UK need another international fashion brand and what makes it any more appealing than another?

“It is about keeping true to our roots,” Cara told me this week. “Our cousins in the UK are growing because there is a strong European, Mediterranean message.”

Cortefiel hopes to do for the noughties what northern European brands like C&A did for the 1970s and Italian brands like Benetton for the 1980s.

In the 1990s, UK brands repaid the favour by heading overseas; this decade has shown the dominance of the Spanish brand, says Cara.

And, as Inditex’s Zara overtook US fashion giant Gap to take the fashion crown as biggest global retailer in terms of sales, he may be right.

However, Cortefiel will have to emulate Inditex’s runaway success in a saturated middle market and during one of the worst UK downturns in retail history.

But it is nothing that Cortefiel can’t handle, says Cara. Spain is arguably experiencing a more dire downturn than in the UK.

Unemployment is off the scale in Spain and to say the property bubble has burst is an understatement.

First indications for the success of Cortefiel in the UK are good, according to sources close to Debenhams.

Although Cortefiel's Debenhams shopfits look like one of the more exciting in the department store chain's portfolio, it will have to up its numbers in stores to quickly gain some sort of brand recognition.

However, Debenhams will guarantee footfall for the brand. Whether they convert visits to sales remains to be seen, but that is not a problem limited to Cortefiel alone.

It remains to be seen if Cortefiel ends up crying into its patatas bravas.

And as people put away their suitcases, the talk immediately turns to the prospects for Christmas. Who will hold their nerve about going on Sale? Will consumers release pent up demand for the festive period? Will Christmas come later than ever before?

Fat Face chairman Alan Giles makes the interesting point that bricks-and-mortar retailers may actually benefit from shoppers leaving their Christmas shopping until the last minute. It may be one area in which stores can beat the online retailers to the Christmas sales.