LONDON - Canadian luxury outerwear brand Sentaler made its first foray into London Fashion Week on Saturday, with a private showcase that aimed to capitalize on its recent association with Meghan Markle, the actress fiancée of Britain's Prince Harry.

For fashion brands, having apparel seen on a member of Britain's royal family can lead to a spike in sales.

Sentaler was given such a boost from Markle, an actress who starred in the TV program "Suits," in December 2017 when she was pictured wearing one of the label's coats to a Christmas church service attended by the royal family in Norfolk, England.

Some British media outlets dubbed the surge in interest "The Meghan Effect."

"The Meghan Markle effect is definitely real," said Bojana Sentaler, the label's founder and creative director, at the label's showcase at London Fashion Week.

"Since she wore the wide collar wrap in camel color on Christmas Day, the coat sold out instantly and we had an enormous demand for Sentaler that day, as well as for many days after that. We were shipping coats all over the world."

Informal endorsements of products by members of the British royal family are worth some 200 million pounds ($280 million) to British companies alone, according to a 2017 report from consultancy firm Brand Finance. - Reuters