Ted Baker is to launch a store format for its premium mens- and womenswear ranges and open a raft of stores as it continues to buck the downturn.

The fashion retailer will unveil the store format, which has the working title Ted Baker Noir, in October at the Westfield London development in White City. It has signed for a mainline Ted Baker store at the scheme already.

The format will combine Ted Baker’s premium menswear range Pashion and upmarket womenswear collection Langley in one store for the first time.

The news comes as Ted Baker revealed credit crunch-defying sales in the 19 weeks to June 7. Group sales climbed 8.4 per cent as retail sales jumped 15.4 per cent. Wholesale turnover fell 8.6 per cent.

Ted Baker chief executive Ray Kelvin attributed the retail sales success to “focusing on product”. He added: “The second half of the year generally will be tough.”

Ted Baker will also open between eight and nine of its standalone womenswear stores over the next year, after the success of its second womenswear shop on South Molton Street in London’s West End.

A further one or two Ted Baker & Friends stores – the first of which opened in the City in March (Retail Week, March 28) – will open over the next year and a half.

Ted Baker will also forge ahead with plans to expand overseas, including launches in China and the Far East. It will open a licensed store in Dubai in September.

Kelvin added that although wholesale sales fell year on year, the performance was an improvement on the figure reported at its preliminary results. However, Ted Baker will continue to re-evaluate its wholesale customer base.

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