The luxury fashion and accessories brand, Michael Kors, is to open its first stand-alone Irish store at Dundrum Town Centre in the coming weeks.

The Hong-Kong based company, famed for its leather accessories and jet-set image, is one of the fastest growing on the international stage with sales up 54 per cent since May mainly due to its “affordable” designer handbags.

Michael Kors' decision to opt for Dundrum rather than Grafton Street for its Irish outlet – it already has a franchise operation in Brown Thomas – underlines the continuing success of the south Dublin shopping centre in attracting the big international names in fashion.

The new trader is to move into the former East shop on the ground floor where it will be paying rent in excess of €320,000 for the 180sq m (1,937sq ft) unit.

The store is directly opposite the House of Fraser and close to the newly-opened high-end menswear business launched by Hugo Boss.

Michael Kors has more than 350 stores worldwide including those in New York, Beverley Hills, Chicago, London, Milan, Paris, Dubai, Tokyo and Hong-Kong.

The company has given other luxury goods traders such as Louis Vuitton and Hermes a run for their money.

The Michael Kors designs are frequently worn by the US First Lady Michelle Obama as well as by other international celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Heidi Klum and Catherine Zeta Jones.

Jennifer Mulholland of Bannon, who negotiated the letting for the landlord, said the decision by Michael Kors to open in Dundrum underlined the con- tinuing buoyancy in the mid to high-end luxury goods market at the centre even during the present economic difficulties.

Don Nugent, centre director, said the planned opening and other recent arrivals demonstrated that Dundrum Town Centre not only remained the premier shopping destination in Ireland but also that it continued to compete with the best in the world.

Savills are joint letting agents at the centre.