Internationally, the company is on something of a roll, with 20 stores opened and many more to come. There are currently Ben Sherman stores in Cape Town in South Africa, Gothenburg in Sweden, which opened in May, and SoHo in New York, the brand’s flagship store. In the US, there are also stores in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with a Boston opening scheduled for late summer. The brand is opening in Berlin in September and, in addition to existing stores in Sydney and Melbourne, will open further stores in both Australia and New Zealand later in the year. There are also five stores in the MIddle East.

Ben Sherman Chief Executive, Miles Gray says: “Through our partners, we also have commitments for a further 25 stores by the end of 2008, bringing us up to around 45 in total.”The brand has taken the franchise route in many territories, but by no means all.

“Historically, we are a wholesaler that has evolved into a retailer and we haven’t purposefully said that we will franchise here and here, but not there,” continues Gray. “Our Australian arrangement, for example, has been in place for over eight years. We are tending to address the larger markets, such as the UK and US, ourselves and using our partners’ local expertise in others.”

The company is also addressing the German market itself. “Germany is the jewel in the crown; if we get that right you have a fantastic foundation in Continental Europe,” he says. “Like many other companies, we work to a three-year plan and we anticipate opening 220 stores by the end of 2011. For this we need a solid base.”

Ben Sherman is close to entering the Indian retail market, having completed a great deal of research and due diligence. “Each of our shortlisted partners is talking about opening 5-7 stores in the major cities of India in the first year; there are some excellent retailers out there and we are really excited,” says Gray.