Elie Tahari Raising Global Profile.

Byline: Marc Karimzadeh

Elie Tahari Raising Global Profile

Elie Tahari started his fashion career in New York almost four decades ago. Now he wants to take on the world.

The designer, who presented his spring 2011 collection Tuesday during New York Fashion Week, opened his first international flagship last week in Istanbul. The store is an initial step in a global-expansion strategy involving freestanding units and a wholesale network that is getting under way against the backdrop of Tahari's growing men's wear and accessories businesses.

The initiatives will play key roles in the Israel-born designer's effort to reach his goal of $1 billion in revenue in the next few years despite the gyrations of the worldwide economy.

"In a sense, I feel that the tougher the economy is getting, the better it is for us and for what we are doing," Tahari said. "We are about real clothes. When the economy got …