Online designer store Net-à-Porter has finally confirmed the launch of a men’s division: Mr Porter will open in January, but you can already register online.

The site will launch for the S/S 2011 season, with an edited line-up which includes global designer labels and niche brands, as well as editorial and style advice.

Mr. Porter will feature brands such as Burberry, Ralph Lauren, YSL, Gucci, Margiela, Balmain, Margaret Howell, Rick Owens, John Lobband and Dunhill.

There are limits to how far a luxury company can diversify its operations without diluting its brand or confusing consumers, experts said this week.

A jeweler might successfully launch a perfume but a handbag maker might not and it is easier for a jeweler to look credible producing watches than it is venturing into making handbags, they said.

Global luxury giant Richemont said on Thursday it was buying up a pioneering 10-year-old web-based women’s fashion retailer, Net-a-Porter, founded by a former editor and valued at 350 million pounds.

The Swiss group already owns one third of the business, which was created by former fashion journalist Natalie Massenet and employs 600 staff in London and New York.

The deal will turn the website into one of the luxury goods company’s hallmark “maisons,” alongside standalone brands such as Cartier, Dunhill, IWC, Piaget and Van Cleef & Arpels.

Massenet will remain as chief executive and will invest in a Richemont unit being created to own the online business, the Swiss group said in a statement.

China may become the world’s biggest luxury market in some years but cultural challenges to win customers’ hearts for certain types of products remain, industry executives said this week.

Champagne house Taittinger said it could make high-end sparkling wine in China but the market was not ready for it yet…

… while Lamborghini said the country’s tradition of luxury chauffeurs, bigger than sports driving, made expansion there a challenge.