Australian womenswear brand Kookai to return to UK high street

The brand has drafted in property agents Forty Group to advise on its store opening plans in the UK and is currently in discussions with landlords on a new UK store in Central London, which the brand hopes to be open and trading by spring 2026. 

A source close to discussions said that the brand already has a “significant” online business in the UK which has “given Kookai the confidence to say we need to come back to the UK and have some physical stores here”.

The source said Kookai was only in active discussions on one store at the moment, but that plans are in place to expand that physical store estate further in the future. However, they stressed the fashion retailer was keen on a “careful roll out”. 

“They don’t want to saturate the UK market,” they said. “It’ll be a very structured roll out with a few stores in very selective locations”. 

The news represents a return to the UK high street for a brand that has been absent from the UK high street for more than a decade.

Kookai first launched as a brand in France in 1983, but is now owned by Australian company Magi Enterprises, which acquired the retailer from French fashion brand Vivarte in 2017.

The brand first launched in the UK in 1990, when it opened two stores and continued to expand through the 1990s and early 2000s.

However, the retailer ran into financial difficulties and collapsed into administration in 2006. The brand was restructured again in 2013, and its UK business was closed to reduce losses from its international subsidiaries.

The brand has over 40 stores spread across Australia and New Zealand and operates a further 160-plus boutiques across Europe.

The brand currently operates a UK ecommerce website, and its ranges can be shopped secondhand on eBay and By Rotation.