Dive Brief:

• Canadian fast-fashion retailer Joe Fresh —​ owned by Canadian supermarket chain Loblaw —​ has entered into three different franchise and retail partnerships as it expands into 24 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, South Korea, and Europe.

• One partnership will bring 98 Joe Fresh shops to 17 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe by 2018. The first shop is planned for this summer in Saudi Arabia. In another deal, UAE-based Retail Arabia International will work with the retailer to open another 15 stores by that time in six Middle Eastern countries, the first in UAE this year.

• The company is working with South Korea-based Origin & Co to open 30 stores there in the next five years, including two in Seoul this year. Joe Fresh has 340 retail locations in Canada and six in the U.S., all in New York. Its clothing is also sold at 650 JC Penney stores.

Dive Insight:

When fast-fashionable Joe Fresh’s creative director, Joe Mimran, hired former Vera Wang president Mario Grauso as COO last year, he said he wanted someone in that position to grow the company and “take it to the next level” —​ including new strategic partnerships and a global retail expansion. Grauso has wasted no time doing that, swooping the mostly Canadian, entirely North American retailer into 24 countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe in just a few short years.