George - the clothing wing of the Asda supermarket chain owned by Blackburn's billionaire Issa brothers - has reported a market-bucking period of sales expansion.

It has announced soaring growth in online and in-store fashion sales over the sector’s latest six-month period, outperforming the market and earning its place as one of the UK’s largest fashion retailers.

The figures from market analyst Kantar show the brand grew online fashion sales by value by 13.4 per cent over the 24 weeks to March 3, dwarfing a 2.1 per cent increase across the wider market.

George also outperformed the fashion market in Asda’s stores.

Its fashion sales by value in-store rose by five per cent over the 24 weeks, compared with 0.7 per cent across the market.

George’s in-store fashion sales volume growth of 1.1 per cent contrasted with a 5.5 per cent fall across the sector.

Liz Evans, managing director of George, said: “Our mission is to deliver great quality and style at a brilliant price across our George clothing and homeware ranges and it’s great to see it’s working for our customers.

"Demand and growth in the last six-month period is reflective of the investment into our teams, product and channels as we reinvigorate our brand and focus on understanding what our customers need and value.

"Early sales indications from our Spring collections suggest George will continue to win in women's and menswear whilst maintaining its position as the UK’s third-largest apparel retailer by sales volume.”