LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - John Lewis JLP.UL, the employee-owned department store and Waitrose supermarket group, said on Monday 14 September it was targeting a 70 million pound ($116.1 million) increase in its online fashion sales by 2011.

The group hopes a relaunch of the fashion area of its johnlewis.com website, featuring 100 new brands, will deliver the increase.

"Fashion currently represents about 6 percent of johnlewis.com's total sales. The new look site aims to drive sales increases by 30 percent this year," it said. Many British retailers have struggled over the last year as consumers cut back on spending amid an anaemic property market and rising unemployment.

But online fashion has bucked this trend, benefiting from the continuing migration of retail spending from the high street to the Internet.

John Lewis will publish first-half results on Thursday 17 September.

(Reporting by James Davey, Editing by Lin Noueihed)