They will be whooping and hollering at the Irish arm of Inditex, the world's biggest fashion retailer and owner of the Zara chain, if the growth rates recorded at its Stradivarius stores are replicated across all of its operations here.

In addition to Zara and Stradivarius, Inditex also owns stores in Ireland operating under the Bershka, Pull & Bear and Massimo Dutti banners.

There is no consolidated set of accounts giving a holistic picture for all of Inditex’s Irish outlets, but recently filed accounts for Stradivarius Ireland show its annual sales to the end of January were up 18 per cent.

Its outlets, in Dublin’s Henry Street and in Newbridge, recorded sales of close to €2.5 million and almost broke even, up from a near €250,000 loss the previous year.

The corresponding accounts have yet to drop for Inditex’s other Irish chains, but if the performance of Stradivarius is the benchmark, the group is set for a major uplift on its total Irish revenues of about €80 million.

Spending again

Recent trade figures from Retail Excellence Ireland indicate Irish consumers have thrown off the yoke of recession and are spending on fashion items once again. Ladies’ fashion sales were up more than 6 per cent in the last quarter, while menswear spiked by almost 14 per cent.

Meanwhile, Inditex is on a bit of a roll recently. Its shares have surged by more than a third this year, and the Spanish giant recently joined the exclusive club of listed companies valued at more than $100 billion.

Amancio Ortega Gaona, its co-founder, was recently ranked by Forbes as the planet's second-richest man, with $72 billion in the bank. I wonder if he celebrated patriotically with some Cava, or did he go for the real thing?