Partnering with Arvind Retail, American fashion label Banana Republic is scouting locations for its first store in India.

A brand of the Gap family, the first Banana Republic India store is set to open by February.

“We already have a strong partnership with Gap and now we are exploring other brands from its portfolio,” says Arvind Retail MD J Suresh.

Arvind Retail has more than 800 stores in India across a portfolio of more than 30 brands. Based in Ahmedabad, it has opened nearly eight Gap stores in less than a year of its partnership with the world’s third-largest apparel brand.

As youngsters embrace western-style clothing, India has also become an attractive market for other international brands such as H&M and Zara. In its first five years, Zara became the first apparel brand in India to reach $100 million in sales.

Banana Republic will be competing with Inditex Group’s Massimo Dutti, which plans to enter the market soon.