Europe’s debt crisis and China’s slowdown have failed to dent Prada’s financial performance for the first half of the year.

The Italian luxury fashion label has beaten estimates with its first half sales of 1.5 billion euros (US$1.9 billion) for the six months to July 31. That was up 36.5 per cent from a year earlier.

Sales were boosted by increased demand from Asian shoppers where Prada reported a strong 45 per cent increase while growth in Europe and America were 37.3 per cent and 31 per cent respectively.

“The growth of the business was driven mainly by the Prada and Miu Miu brands which grew by 40.5 per cent and 23.6 per cent, respectively,” Prada said.

Prada Group’s total retail network have grown to 414, of which 263 Prada, 102 Miu Miu, 43 Church’s and 6 Car Shoe.

GB