The only local fashion retail brand to gain traction on the international stage to date, Odel’s growth from unassuming, albeit colourful beginnings to brand icon status encompasses several firsts that represent landmarks in the evolution of Sri Lanka’s fashion retail industry.
The business which began, incredibly, with the sale of export surplus clothing from the boot of founder Otara Gunewardene’s station wagon when she was in her early twenties, is now a chain of 20 fashion forward stores with annual sales in excess of Rs 4.6 billion.
Since the opening of the first Odel store of 1,165 feet at Dickman’s Road, Colombo 5 in 1989, Odel has also launched and taken on-line fashion retail in Sri Lanka to new heights with its website, built several popular in-store brands such as ‘Backstage’ for accessories and ‘Delight’ for confectionary, launched the unique cause-linked brand and community animal welfare programme ‘Embark,’ gone public with a record-shattering IPO, floated a second chain of unique ‘Luv SL’ stores, and brought in overseas equity for major expansion.
Celebrating 25 years of style and the people who have propelled the journey so far, Odel will be launching a number of special promotions and events for its customers, as well as employees, in months to come.
Over the past two and a half decades Odel has emerged as an iconic department store and a brand that is often compared to Harrods and Harvey Nichols, and come to epitomize the definitive lifestyle and shopping experience in Sri Lanka. In recent announcements to the media and the Colombo Stock Exchange, the company has indicated that substantial expansion is on the cards.
Photo caption : Incredible beginnings: twenty five years on, Odel founder and CEO Otara Gunewardene with the station wagon that was the precursor to Sri Lanka's iconic fashion retail brand.
