Missoni relaunches website with e-tail

Italian brand Missoni, famed for its luxurious, fashion-forward knitwear has relaunched its website with a new online retail platform.

Multicolored multigenerational knitwear brand Missoni has not had an easy 2013. After the disappearance of Vittorio Missoni, the brand's CEO, and his wife in a Venezeulan plane crash in January this year, the family-owned company is focussing on the business, with a new drive to digital.

"Nowadays it's fundamental to have an online store, available 24 hours a day all over the world," said Missoni creative director Angela Missoni to WWD.

Fans of the brand will now be able to purchase menswear, womenswear, kids and beachwear collections. The site also features plenty of social content, with exclusive campaign images and advertising videos: "e-commerce should be integrated into the company's Web site, in order to be not just a sales tool but also an instrument to communicate the brand's fashion, style and philosophy," added Missoni.

Ninety-four countries across Europe, the US and Asia will be served by the store, which is available in Italian, English, Japanese, German and Russian. According to Forbes, online sales of luxury goods "are expected to top $19.2 billion, equivalent to 5.3 percent of total industry sales by 2016".

Founded in 1953 by Ottavio ("Tai") and Rosita Missoni, the brand which is based in Varese, Italy, will be seeking to take advantage of this trend, joining forward thinking online-friendly labels including Burberry and Victoria Beckham which recently relaunched its online sales platform.

Missoni's website can be found at http://www.missoni.com/