Inside fashion vol 18 no 3

VOL 18 NO. 3

Juliet

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es

FASHIONSCOPE

05

CONTENTS Fashion Scope

05

Fashion & Lifestyle

06

India Entry

08

Brand Launch

12

Brand Watch

14

Brand Retail

22

Cover Story - Juliet

28

IF Exclusive

32

IF Insight

40

Preview

48

Business News

50

Industry Bytes

55

Mandira Bedi as show stopper for Triumph sportswear lingerie

T

riumph, the German lingerie brand curated an extraordinary experience at the event, with the stunning actress and fitness enthusiast Mandira Bedi as showstopper, adding to the glitz and glamour of the evening. It was an event that saw some of the fittest bodies in Mumbai come together for a fashion show that brought up its latest sportswear collections.

The mega fashion show saw stunning models sashaying down the runway in all their glory, giving the audience an extravagant display of the brand’s new collections a suburban hotel in Mumbai.

Mandira stated that it was her pleasure to be a part of this event and had an amazing time walking the ramp wearing one of the finest sports bras at this show. For someone like her who is sporty and majorly into fitness, finding the ultimate support is sometimes tough.

The brand introduced a new concept guaranteeing the best bounce control available on the market, the latest addition to the cardio series offers versatility, softness and breathability thanks to its softtouch innovation. This year’s collection also introduced breathable spacer cups and some more ranges.

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06 FASHION & LIFESTYLE Baggit to expand retail presence within India and beyond now focusing on positioning in a more meaningful way so that it can establish a stronger connect with a younger and newer audience. In 2017, Baggit projected growth as per company expectations.

There were challenges of demonetization but it overcame most of them.

For 2018-19, the brand wants to ride on the retail growth journey in India and hence is looking at building the corporate Baggit is set to expand its retail footprint in Tier II and III cities, with exclusive outlets and large format stores. Currently there are 52 exclusive Baggit stores. The fashion accessory brand is in 1,000 large format stores and multi-brand outlets.

Internationally, it wants to spread wings in other countries and has already entered the Sri Lankan through a multi brand outlet. Focusing on strategies to garner customers, the brand has done a soft launch of CRM, and is simultaneously preparing for integrating it in its existing systems and raising the service quality.

On brand perspective, Baggit is

Asics to open 20 stores in India

Japanese sportswear company Asics is planning to expand operations in the Indian sportswear market by opening around 20 stores in the country by the end of next

brand by leveraging a 360-degree media approach. Baggit is looking at continuing double digit growth that will surpass the category growth.

fiscal. The company will expand phase wise especially in metros, Tier II cities. It will also expand its product portfolio by offering products spanning running, sports, for gym and other fitness related gear.

Asics had entered the Indian market with Reliance Retail and decided to go solo in 2015. It currently has 28 mono-brand stores and 300 multi brand stores across metros and tier 2 cities in India. The brand is available on all leading e-commerce websites. The company expects to triple its revenue in the country to Rs 200 crore (approx $31 million) over the next three years.

Bombay Dyeing to open more stores by 2018

Bombay Dyeing being one of India’s most endeared brands will set up more than 90 franchise stores in tier II and III cities by 2018.

Aloke Banerjee, Bombay Dyeing’s chief executive officer say that the company sees a growth of 30 to 35 percent in textile and retail segments and is also arranging to sell its products through multi- brand stores in Central Asia.

After Vivaldi which had been sold to Proline, Wadia group’s flagship company, Bombay dyeing is ready to step in the

readymade garment sector by introducing its apparel brand in menswear. Owing to the market research by the company in the South due to the popular demand for readymade apparel, Bombay Dyeing will gradually have acquainted with the other markets soon, says Banerjee.

Not only the campaign of the products has been initiated but it is also allowing its customers to customize their bedsheets both online and offline stores within 30 days.

The textile arm of Wadia Group already has 27 company-owned stores and 3000 multibrand stores across India.The company has a presence in 350 multi-brand textile stores in the State and plans to expand its foot print to 700 multi-brand textile stores in the next four years.

DFU PUBLICATIONS Editor-in Chief & Publisher & CEO - Sanjay Chawla

Advisor

Director - Salil Chawla Mangaging Editor - Sujata Dutta Sachdeva

Customer Relations - Sanchita Banerjee Team Bipasha Bhattacharya

VP-Corporate Communications - Shraboni Mukherjee

Graphic Designer

Assistant General Manager - Saqib Meer

Production & Admn. - Dhansukh Rathod Dinesh Poojary Sumit Masand

Editorial

- Narayan Subramaniam Shubhangi Bidwe

Editorial Asst. - Ranjit Kaur Correspondent - Ajay Kumar Goswami Prerna Sharma Sales Team

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- Upasana Chhabra

- T. K. Sengupta

- Sanjeev D. Sonavane

MUMBAI OFFICE: 38/314, Unnat Nagar 4, Off M. G. Road, MHADA Colony, Goregaon (W), Mumbai - 400 062.

Ph: 022 2875 5181, 2877 2282, 3001 4700 e-mail: dfuif@yahoo.co.in / dfu@rediffmail.com DEHLI OFFICE: Salil Chawla, Business & Mktg: New Delhi - 110017, Mobile: +9193503 18639 / 95601 79633 e-mail: dfudelhi@yahoo.co.in All reproductions rights reserved. Owned & published by: Sanjay Chawla and printed by him at DFU printing division.

Published and Edited by Sanjay Chawla at: 38/314, Unnat Nagar 4, Off M. G. Road, MHADA Colony, Goregaon (W), Mumbai 400 062.

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08 INDIA ENTRY Japan’s Uniqlo to open first store in Delhi in 2019

Japan’s apparel retailer Uniqlohas recently stated that it will launch in India with the opening of the first store in Delhi during fall 2019, marking the brand’s entry into the South Asia region.

Following the establishment of a whollyowned subsidiary in Delhi in May, Uniqlo will soon begin recruiting local talent as it prepares to open its store in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

Tadashi Yanai, Chairman, President, and CEO of Fast Retailing the operator

Antony Morato opens first brand store in India

Antony Morato has opened its first exclusive store in India, in Mumbai.

Antony Morato is an Italian menswear brand, founded in 2007 and does denim wear, casual wear and formal wear.

Conceived as a trend-driven fashion brand, and supported by a youthful attitude and a clearly defined look, the label has created its own, distinctive stylistic language in both its wide-ranging product design and its original communications strategies.

The name itself represents both the Italian and international nature of the market along with the vision of the brand at the same time.

Antony Morato has gradually gained a sizable following outside of Italy, now accounting for 60 per cent of its annual turnover. Antony Morato can now be found in 3,200 multi-brand stores in 61 countries all over the globe.

The brand will operate in India in a tie-up with Iconic Fashion Retailing.

The Antony Morato merchandise is also housed in Iconic stores pan-India. As of now, Iconic has 18 outlets spanning key cities such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Noida and Udaipur.

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of the Uniqlo brandstated that the brands entry in India represents a significant step in the company’s global strategy, and the company is very pleased and excited to be part of the country’s growing retail market.

Fast Retailing the Tokyo-listed $17 billion parent company, had last year filed for the single brand licence of Uniqlo with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

The first Uniqlo store will be located in Delhi, and the company will focus on expanding its presence in the capital region before considering other areas.

Uniqlo will introduce its Uniqlo Manager Candidate program in India soon, as part of its preparations to enter the market.

India will become the latest in a string of new markets for Uniqlo worldwide, following earlier announcements to launch in Sweden and the Netherlands in Fall 2018.

Recently there has been a rise in fashion conscious consumers who are demanding high quality products that are voguish in a certain manner. There is an increase in the significance of footwear and pairing it with everyday wardrobe is leading to an upsurge in the demand of footwear day by day. This is thus leading to better growth prospects of footwear industry.

Ylati offers luxury sneakers at affordable rates starting from Rs 13,000.

Hummel plans stores in India

Italy based Ylati makes its entry in Indian market Italy-based sneaker brand Ylati has made its entry in the Indian market and Luca Martino, the founder of the company, feels that the promising country has lot of potential for International brands like this one.

Luca Martino says that until now, celebrities like Ranbir Kapoor, Emraan Hashmi and Sushant Singh Rajput has worn the shoes.He feels India is the right market place to showcase the range of products.

He further added that the Indian consumer

market has a lot of potential and is very promising. Being home to a diverse audience there is something for everyone it has to offer. Thus a range of luxury sneakers that are designed with premium hand-crafted leather with an artisan approach, keeping in mind style, sophistication and comfort are presented here.

The brand has been brought to India by Superkicks that recently opened its first multi-brand sneaker store in Mumbai.

Danish sportswear brand Hummel sees India as a high priority market.

Hummel plans to source 100 per cent of its garments in India in future and is currently working towards this. The brand is also looking for offline retail partners in India in order to open brick and mortar flagship stores in the country. The initial brick and mortar strategy will involve the brand opening in large malls in metro locations and other types of locations may follow depending on customer response.

Established in 1923, Hummel works with clean lines, but also with the edgy look and strong color combinations; a unique mix of retro and current trends resulting in a cool and urban street style with a sporty twist.

Hummel shoes stand as a strong alternative to the convention with a passion for fun and catchy designs and vibrant colors.

The brand caters to men and women with collections that span sports, lifestyle, fashion, for leisurewear or workout. This includes training tops and jerseys, T-shirts, and base layers for skiing or hiking. Several times a year, a new collection is launched with new exciting styles which allows for easy mix and match.

Hummel supports projects that help people live out their passion for sport, from Afghanistan to Sierra Leone.

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10 INDIA ENTRY New Love Moschino opens store in Mumbai

Love Moschino recently opened a 1,060-square-foot store at the Palladium Mall in Mumbai. The store showcases handbags, accessories and shoes for women. It will also retail brand’s Autumn Winter 2018 collection along with products like quilted bags and back packs with Love Moschino prints. The store is likely to introduce footwear soon.

Introduced in 1987 under the label

DJ Bravo to launch official merchandise

West Indian cricketer Dwayne Bravo has launched his apparel brand in India. He plans to launch his official merchandise under the brand ‘DJ Bravo 47’. The brand is co-owned by Bravo and Singapore-based celebrity apparel company 3 Big Dogs.

Cornerstone Sports, which manages Bravo in India, is assisting in the marketing and distribution of the brand in India.

Initially, t-shirts for men, women and kids are being launched in the market with price ranging from Rs 1,900 to Rs 2,200. In six months’ time, the brand will venture into track suits, hats and accessories too.

DJ Bravo 47 has already started selling in Australia, South Africa, The Caribbean and the US. Bravo is hopeful of selling over 200,000 units in a year and plans to perform in Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad to promote the brand.

Carlton London expands India operations

Carlton London is gradually expanding its operations in India. The British brand

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“Moschino Jeans”, Love Moschino collection reflects the philosophy and motifs that have characterised the Maison. The label debuted in March 2014 with the opening of its first flagship store in Milan, at Corso Venezia. Its different lines of accessories that complete its ready-to-wear collections include bags, shoes, charms, eyewear, watches and small leather goods.

recently tied up with Ace Turtle to scale up its e-commerce business in India. It has witnessed tremendous success globally with its unique collections tailor-made

for premium style focused consumers.

Bengaluru-based Ace Turtle provides endto-end enterprise solution to brands and retailers looking to engage and transact with omni-channel consumers.

Carlton London started its operations in India in 2002. The brand manufactures its shoes in its own manufacturing unit in London. Currently, the brand operates in over 40 locations pan India including shop and shops across country and stand-alone stores in the northern region.

online shoppers in these two markets.

BCBGeneration, a lifestyle brand was launched by AHQ in 2017.

Aby Sakkal, VP, International Sales, Accessory Head Quarters stated that categories such as handbags have witnessed tremendous uptake as customers are seeking more and more stylish collections in this segment. Ace Turtle’s cross border platform will play a substantial role in helping to reach out to millions of internet shoppers in this region.

Nitin Chhabra, CEO, Ace Turtle says crossborder retail is poised to reach

$630 billion by 2022, with 40 per cent contribution coming from Asia. As more and more customers prefer to consume international marquee brands, especially in the fashion segment, it is important to partner leading international brands in order to support this ecosystem.

Ace Turtle is a technology driven company that provides direct to consumer web commerce solutions for leading Retail Brands. Ace Turtle, with its proprietary platform, integrates online and offline retail channels automating and optimising OmniChannel fulfilment.

Seraphine to enter Indian market International fashion maternity wear brand Seraphine will enter the Indian market by setting up its first store in Delhi in August this year. Its products in India will be priced in range of Rs 1,500 to Rs 15,000.

Ace Turtle to bring BCB Generation handbags to India and South East Asia

Accessory Headquarters (AHQ), which holds the global license for BCB Generation, has announced a partnership with omnichannel platform Ace Turtle. AHQ will use Ace Turtle’s platform to launch its BCB Generation premium bags collections in leading ecommerce marketplaces in India and Southeast Asia. Through this partnership, BCBGeneration will enhance its online presence by utilising the reach of e-commerce leaders to over 200 million

The brand will enter the country through a master franchise agreement with Kay Kay Clothing LLP, which plans to open about 10 stores.

Apart from offline distribution, the company also plans to tap in online channel, including its own portal and marketplaces, to increase its products’ reach.

It currently has stores in cities like London, Paris, New York, Dubai and Hong Kong.

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12 BRAND LAUNCH Cricketer KL Rahul to launch ‘Gully’ brand

is targeted at consumers aged 18-25 years and will be launched with a range of t-shirts, joggers and shorts.

The company will retail the brand through pop-up experience stores at bars, cafés and restaurants.

It will also host gaming and music events including meet-and-greet events in a bid to give consumers an opportunity to touch and feel the brand.

Reigning star of King’s XI Punjab, KL Rahul is set to launch a streetwear brand called Gully in partnership with Zeko Online.

The owners of the brand, who want to adopt an omni-channel strategy, are working on innovative retail formats for its offline launch. They hope to make it a Rs. 100-crore brand over the next five years.

The streetwear and ‘athleisure’ brand

Amazon Fashion launches athleisure brand SKULT

categories to the Indian market like thumb holes, drop shoulder jackets, scooped hem tees, long line tees with drawcord.

SKULT as a brand has been extremely well received. Being a fashion-forward athleisure brand, it is popular amongst the new age Indian youngsters, who believe that neither style nor comfort can be compromised on.

According to VipulMathur, Brand Head, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd, the brand’s launch at Amazon Fashion will offer it greater visibility wherein it will get the opportunity to engage with a wider set of customers from all over India.

Snowtex launches new lifestyle brand Sara

Apparel exporter Snowtex is set to launch

Amazon India has launched athleisure brand SKULT by ShahidKapoor on Amazon Fashion platform. Garments under the brand, built on the core principle of ‘fashion meets functionality,’ are priced between Rs 599 and Rs2,999.

SKULT has introduced a few new

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a new fashion retail brand, Sara Lifestyle, in the local market to provide quality products at a reasonable price.The brand’s official launch will take place at its first outlet at

Senpara in Mirpur.

Snowtex’smotto is ‘Fashion for Everybody’ as it is committed to offer quality apparels which everybody can afford. All kinds of men’s, women’s and kid’s products will be available at the flagship shop where customer will get local, tradition and western tastes of fashion.

In 2005, Snowtex established its first factory, Snowtex Apparel. Later it established two more factories ‘Cut and Sew‘ in 2011 and ‘Snowtex Outerwear’ in 2014.

The collection includes Punjabi, casual shirts, polo, t-shirt, chino and jeans for men and western tops, casual shirt, ethnic tops, exclusive party wear, knit t-tops, leggings, denim, chinos, lawn, shrugs and palazzo for ladies and girls.

Snowtex Outerwear received Leed gold certificate from US Green Building Council and Health and Safety Award from the Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2018.

Designer duo launches two brands

Designers Sonali Viral Desai and Jeeya Desai have launched two ‘The Fashion with a Cause’ brands ‘Caressa’ and ‘Jianna’.

These brands will support Hearts@work, the NGO behind many Cancer Checkup Camps and ‘Clean India–Green India’ tree plantation drives. A certain percentage from the sales of Caressa and Jianna will directly go to Hearts@work foundation, on the lines of a few international companies supporting social responsibilities and community welfare causes in this distinctive way.

The designers and the brands were launched at the ‘Colour Power 2018’— annual show organised by the National Institute of Interior and Fashion Design (NIIFD) in Mumbai.The show saw a 12-yearold girl walking the ramp as a showstopper and launching her family brands Caressa and Jianna.

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14 BRAND WATCH Indian brands in the top 20 fastest growing global brands

Deloitte’s fifth annual Global Powers of Luxury Goods report has named five Indian brands in the list of fastest growing Top 20 brands.

According to the report, these five brands include Titan Company Ltd (#28), Kalyan Jewellers (#37), PC Jewellers (#43), Joyalukkas India (#49) and Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (#89). The report examines and lists the 100 largest luxury goods companies globally, based on the consolidated sales of luxury goods in FY2016, defined as financial years ending within the 12 months to June 30, 2017.

It also discusses the key trends shaping the luxury market and provides a global

Promod to expand Indian operations

economic outlook.

According to PatriziaArienti, EMEA Region Fashion & Luxury Leader, Deloitte Italy the luxury market is edging closer to annual sales of US $1 trillion at the end of 2017.

in metros such as Delhi and Mumbai but it now aims to reach out to customers in smaller cities as well.

The brand has seen double-digit growth for the last three years in India, which also happens to be the fastest growing markets for Promod. According to a Livemint report, company’s sales in India are over Rs 100 crore and they are aiming to quadruple it by 2025. As Nadine Caux, Managing Director, Promodpoints out India is amongst the top five countries that contribute significantly to the global turnover of the brand. Caux says they aim to have all formats—multi-brand stores, standalone shops, e-commerce and their own exclusive online stores in India.

Benetton increasingly giving India a priority

French women’swear brand Promod is planning to expand its store count in India from 22 to 100 by 2025 with an investment of Rs 100 crore over the next seven years.

The company has partnered with Myntra to increase its brand visibility. Ir biq plans to launch its own exclusive website to further strengthen the brand. Promod entered India in 2006 through a franchise agreement with Mumbai-based Major Brands. The company’s stores in India are concentrated

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Italian fashion brand Benetton is focusing on India in a big way. During its over twodecade journey in the country, the brand has witnessed a consistent growth and is now looking at leveraging the big potential that Indian retail offers in Tier III and Tier IV cities too.

India is the most important market outside

Italy for the brand and is considered the number one subsidiary. Benetton has opened a store in London, the latest flagship store. Possibly it is New Delhi which will have the second flagship store.

In India Benetton has grown consistently at a rate of 15 per cent to 18 per cent in the last seven or eight years.

As for the marketing strategy in India, Benetton has a lot of focus on digital and will allocate more than 50 per cent spends on digital since that is where the target audience, the 18 to 35 age group, is. TV is used very rarely. Invetmm wise, after digital, it is mostly print and outdoors.

Benetton was the first to realise the importance of online presence. It has strategically created a business vertical like footwear online and hopes to sell close a million pairs of footwear by next year.

Spykar plans expansion, eyes 40 stores every month

Homegrown jeanswear brand Spykar Lifestyles is planning to expand its retail footprint by adding more stores in metros and opening new ones in Tier II and III cities to take the total store count to over 40 stores every month. Besides, the company is working on expanding presence in online space and evaluating options to create a special line to address the millennials.

Presently, online sales contribute 6-7 per cent of the total sales and is expected to go up to 10 per cent in coming years. Sanjay Vakharia, Director and Chief Operating officer, Spykar says, the company is exploring the unexplored markets as they hold huge potential. .

Spykar'sjeanswear is also retailed through various outlets and is present in around 400 cities. Vakharia stated Spykar reaches out to a young audience and hence, being present on the net was a seamless decision.

Being online is a natural destination but not at the cost of offline. Traditionally, India has been offline and Spykar has also had its business come out of offline. Hence, the brand engages in such a manner that there is a peaceful course between the two.

Wrangler introduces its new Monochrome collection Wrangler

recently

launched

its

W1

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16 BRAND WATCH Arrow ranked as most trusted brand

Arrow, the men’s formal wear brand

by Arvind Fashions, has been ranked as the most trusted brand in the apparel category by the 2018 edition of Trust Research Advisory (TRA)’s The Brand Trust Report, India Study.

The Brand Trust Report is an annual research conducted using TRA’s proprietary 61-Attribute Brand Trust

Monochrome collection for the 2018 winter season. This unique collection adopts the futuristic design approach.

This season, Wrangler’s Monochrome collection features exciting design details across denims, shirts and tees. The top denim styles are engineered with an ergonomic construction and clean finishes, embellished with silicon details. The topwear collection showcases motion-inspired graphics, striking typography, and silicon and zipper detailing.

The shirts and tees from this collection bring freshness to the monochrome look with techniques like prints, stripes and colour-blocking.

A part of VF Corporation - the world's largest apparel company - Wrangler has found a loyal consumer base in the Indian youth that swears by this unique fashion brand. This stylish denim brand is available at exclusive Wrangler stores, major department stores, leading apparel stores and popular e-commerce websites.

Matrix – a precise methodology to measure Brand Trust, conducted among consumer-influencers in India.

This year, the survey was conducted among 2,488 respondents from across 16 cities.

Arrow, a brand with 167 years of legacy, also celebrates 25 years in India in 2018.

The brand has more than 250 exclusive brand stores and 500 plus shop-in-shop counters in India, and caters to a large, loyal, and growing customer base.

Arrow is an American brand. Offerings under the Arrow brand include a broad assortment of apparel, including dress shirts, neckwear, sportswear, and accessories. There are two collections a year, spring/summer and fall/winter. The target consumer is 24 to 40. It’s known for the first detachable shirt collar, the smart shirt, anti-UV shirt, four in one shirt and stitchless shirt.

The Arrow line consists of feel-good fabrics and comfortable styling and is intended to be wearable clothing for casual workdays that are transitional into weekend wear.

Allen Sollypromotes ‘Open Work Culture’ campaign

Zodiac launches monsoon collection

Zodiac Clothing, a vertically integrated, trans-national brand that controls the entireclothing chain from design, manufacturing, distribution to retail sales, has introduced three new collections. The first called Z3 comprises a range of cool solid shirts made from 100 per centcotton fila-fil fabric. These shirts are available in four bright colors priced Rs 2,299.

The second collection is known as ZOD and features trendy digitally printed shirts in bright colors and bold floral prints. The range is priced Rs 2,799 and is available in a slim-fit spec. The third collection comprises colorful linen shirts in an array of check designs. The shirts in this range are made from 100 per cent pure linen fabric and are immaculately finished with Zodiac’s signature three-hole trinity With a manufacturing base in India and sales offices across India, UK, Germany and USA, ZCCL has almost 2,500 people in its fold. The company operates a 5,000 sq. ft.

Italian inspired design studio at its Mumbai Corporate office building.

Sin Jeans awarded ‘Best Emerging Menswear’ at Lulu Fashion Awards

Semi-formal dressing brand Allen Solly has launched an ‘Open Work Culture’ campaign to help Indian professionals imbibe the new work culture while making an effortless style statement at their workplace.The campaign encapsulates the budding work culture that centres round employee-friendliness and freedom of self-expression.

Over time, the nature of jobs has evolved with the employers adapting more employeefriendly policies. The theme of the campaign revolves around the ‘Open Work Culture’

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philosophy and explores the evolution of the modern employee friendly workspaces.

As a part of the campaign, Allen Solly has created a new TVC that highlights the element of open work culture and showcases quintessential office looks from the ‘New Age Work-Wear’ collection. The campaign has been produced by creative agency Ogilvy & Mather India.

Denim brand Sin Jeans was awarded with the ‘Best Emerging Menswear Award’ at the recent Lulu Fashion Awards. The award was based on online voting and once again proved the brand’s popularity with the youth and the high connect it enjoys with them.

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18 BRAND WATCH Pepe Jeans sets a brand new equation with new channels and categories

Pepe Jeans London, one of the leading international denim-led fashion brands, is aggressively looking at retail expansion across the country along with enhancing its omnichannel experience.

The brand is planning to open about 4050 stores in the next 2-3 years across the country, Neha Shah, Head of Marketing, Pepe Jeans India revealed. In a bid to expand its Omnichannel presence, Pepe Jeans has partnered with several

Sin Jeans has endless options in denim washes, fits, fabrics. It has denim in slim and skinny fits. Black jeans fade rather easily, but Sin has done special treatments that retain the black color for a longer time. It can last up to 15 or 20 washes. The chemicals used keep the garments warm in winter, about three or four degrees higher than normal, and vice versa for summer.

Catering to the age group from 16 to 27, the brand offers denim shirts with dobbies, double fabrics, prints. There are eight to ten options available in denim shirts.

Meanwhile, Sin is planning retail expansion.

This is essential for a brand’s identity and footprint. It will enhance the brand presence to a bigger and better level, across the country. The north is the focus of expansion.

Backward integration will be done to the level needed.

Notably Sin was also instrumental in powering the entire Lulu Fashion Week and the management is pleased to be associated with the brand.

Splash launches antibacterial garments with N9 pure silver

Splash, Middle East’s largest fast fashion retailer in association with ResilChemicals has introduced sustainable anti-bacterial activewear. The company has introduced N9 pure silver anti-bacterial technology to

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online market places and has launched its collections season-wise similar to the physical stores. There in an intention to introduce its own e-commerce platform in the near future.

Pepe Jeans India manufactures a wide array of chic casual wear for men, women and kids. Jeans is the core product and is very popular and sells extremely well. Jeans come in a variety of fabrics, washes, fits and colours. The brand’s product portfolio also includes t-shirts, flat knits, sweaters, sweat shirts, jackets as well as woven merchandise.

Pepe Jeans also launched the Athleisure category recently. The purpose behind introducing this category was to have a line that combines the functional, casual and comfortable aspects all at the same time in the form of activewear.

The true beauty of this trend is that it combines both the practical aspect as well as wearability. Athleisure is currently available only in menswear and the brand is soon be extending this to womenswear in the coming seasons. The range consists of sweat pants, t-shirts and sleeveless tees. The accessories range consists of bags, wallets, caps, socks footwear.

fight against odour-causing bacteria.

N9 pure silver is a revolutionary silver based anti-bacterial technology that controls the growth of odour-causing bacteria on garments, making sure wearers stay fresh and hygienic throughout their active lifestyle.

N9 pure silver is sustainable, nonleaching, zero VOC and has low silver loading properties that make this technology the ideal solution for garment treatments.

The technology is compatible with multiple substrates and processes that provide longlasting freshness and malodor control.

Function and fashion have always been an integral part of active wear. Workout clothes act as a daily uniform for a growing number of sport and gym enthusiasts. But the major lurking problem with such garments is the unpleasant malodor. Textile materials in the activewear range demand continuous all-

around protection against various modes of contaminations.

The N9 pure silver finish is applied to textiles with the intention to protect the wearer from sweat malodor and the textile substrate from degradation. The potential presented by N9 pure silver is immense. N9 pure silver finds very interesting consumer applications on textiles as well as other non-textile substrates. Cosmetics can be preserved and their antimicrobial properties can be enhanced. Shoes and leather articles can be made odour free and safe to touch using N9 pure silver.

The silver anti-bacterial is manufactured

by Resil Chemicals and is marketed under the brand N9 pure silver.

RazaBeig, Director, Landmark Group and CEO, Splash, states that as activewear has always been an integral element in a person’s life and in time it walks hand in hand with demerits such as bacterial accumulation and it is important to innovate.

Reliance to co-brand sports apparel

Reliance Industries (RIL) will co-brand a range of sports apparel by using its Relan fabrics. The company has partnered sportswear brand 'Proline' to tap the booming sports apparel industry. The brand will use

RIL's 'RelanKooltex' and 'RelanFreeFlow' fabrics to manufacture garments with special properties of odour free and quick dry.

"We are proud to provide Relan technologies to 'Proline' so that the Indian sports loving youth are assured of comfortable, durable, quality products. We at Reliance put thrust on developing technologies and products that brings smiles on the face of end customers," Gunjan Sharma, CMO - Polyester Business, RIL said.

The active sportswear segment has a 10-15 per cent, or Rs 2,500 crore market share in the Rs 250,000 crore Indian apparel industry. This partnership will help RIL establish a strong foothold in the fast growing sportswear market.

Roadster launches jeans in 50 options

Roadster has launched a sustainable jeanswear collection with over 50 options to choose from.

The collection is not only eco-friendly but sticks to Roadster’s rugged style, yet keeping it simple. Fits and styles take

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20 BRAND WATCH Monte Carlo revamps logo for global identity

Leading apparel brand Monte Carlo has recently revamped its logo making it bolder and trendier. It signifies the ethos of the company better. It is stylish and really speaks for itself, and of the quality of the brands garments. The company will feature the new logo in all its communication henceforth, including TV commercials and outdoor advertising.

The company has retained its tagline ‘It’s the way you make me feel’.

In the new logo, the blue background and red rectangle enclosing the text has been done away with. The tagline has also come closer to the brand name

center stage, with a particular emphasis on silhouettes: straight-leg, ripped, distressed and clean-cut. The latest collection is created with responsible cotton to create simple quality jeans with attention to detail and sustainability.

With this collection, Roadster has begun its green journey by increasing its focus on using more sustainable finishing processes and eco-friendlier and recycled materials across its collections to lower the impact on the environment.

Roadster is the largest casual wear brand on Myntra. It is a brand that represents the adventurous life on the road. Roadster’s approach toward green jeans is a systematic and methodical one that aims to create sustenance opportunities at every stage of

Monte Carlo, which has been given a new design style. The triangle with letters MC has been retained, and given a lively appeal to connect with the fashion conscious populace and exhibit a contemporary and modern expression.

Monica Oswal, Executive Director, Monte Carlo fashions says they wanted to design it in line with the changing times and with the change in patterns of the garments which reflects an international vibe. Together with the tagline and the new logo, the brand will be able to make Monte Carlo a more favored brand. Further it shall initiate a complete 360 degree activity to market the garments with the new logo.

Monte Carlo has become a popular fashion trend all over the world. It is India’s leading brand for clothing offers online shopping for men and women.

Monte Carlo has been able to have a loyal customer base because of constant innovation and quality products.

the creation of the product.

The collection includes a minimum of 50 per cent sustainable materials or processes. It has a good mix of 100 per cent organic cotton jeans, recycled poly jeans (each pair using between 9 to 21 bottles worth of plastic for production) and reduced water jeans (each pair saving on 36 liters of water).

Arvind develops graphene based denim

Arvind will use Directa Plus’ graphenebased products in denim fabrics.

The products can be used in a variety of ways to alter or enhance the properties of conventional denim fabrics, and to produce smart clothing for different purposes and environments. End-users will benefit from the thermal and electrical conductivity and bacteriostatic properties, such as thermal regulation, heat dissipation, energy harvesting, data transmission and no odor effect.

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Directa Plus is a supplier of graphenebased products for use in consumer and industrial markets. Arvind is India’s leading textile-to-retail-and-brands conglomerate.

Each year Arvind Denim produces over 100 million meters of fabrics and six million pairs of jeans.

The use of graphene in denims is new and expected to yield some of the smartest, most widely used fabrics in the years ahead.

Graphene is a nanomaterial that, when processed and blended with other materials, significantly enhances their performance.

Directa Plus’ graphene-based products give remarkable properties or added functionality to a variety of consumer and industrial products. The company utilises a unique and patented technique called Plasma Super Expansion. Its production process is scalable, portable, chemical-free and results in almost zero waste.

Directa Plus was established in 2005 in Italy to develop innovative nanomaterial production processes. The company has its own exfoliation process that can be used to produce super-expanded graphite and fine nanographite powder.

Bombay Dyeing to launch ready made clothing

Bombay Dyeing is planning to enter the readymade apparel market once again.

Earlier, it had an apparel brand, Vivaldi, which the company sold to Proline to manage. Now, Bombay Dyeing is entering men’s wear. This will be test marketed in the South, since there is a huge demand from southern India for readymade apparel, and then taken to other markets over a period of time.

Bombay Dyeing is planning to enter 100 franchisee stores this year, mainly in Tier II and III cities. It already has 200 franchisee stores, 27 company-owned stores and 3000 multi-brand outlets. The company is growing 30 to 35 per cent in the retail and textile segments.

Bombay Dyeing is also coming up with bed sheets on which customers can print digital prints like they do on a home printer. Customers can submit their photos at Bombay Dyeing stores or upload them on the company website.

The company will charge Rs 1,999 and get it printed in 30 days.

Currently Louis Philippe, Allen Solly and other brands of Aditya Birla’s Madura Fashion and Lifestyle are market leaders in the menswear segment.

Raymond has Color Plus, Park Avenue and Parx, and Arvind has brands such as Arrow in this segment.

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22 BRAND RETAIL Benetton to launch UK retail concept

United Colors of Benetton soon will soon bring its new UK store concept to India. The apparel brand had launched its latest flagship store in London this March and plans to repeat the same in India, starting with Delhi.

Located at London’s Oxford Street, the 1, 500 sq. ft. store, a treat for an eye, spans three distinct stories that stock the men’s, women’s and kids’ ranges, markedly.

Outstandingly, the store design is the handiwork of the Benetton’s in-house design team while exterior 12-metre high archway is motivated by traditional architecture. The innovative outdoor LED screen showing interactive content curated by the brand’s in-house research

Celio to expand in the South

centre, Fabrica, lends an avant-garde feel to the exterior.

The store boasts of technology features like touchscreen tables and interactive screens, a string of payment stations across the shop floor instead of the conventional checkouts and alike.

Notably, Benetton came to India around 25 years ago and launched its flagship brand UCB. UCB is today a leading brand in India with more than 106 stores across 45 cities in the country. The retail network is a mix of owned and franchised stores. Many of these are mega stores, with sizes ranging over 4,500 square feet and an increased focus on apparel for men, women and kids. In 2006, the company decided to introduce its other fashion label Sisley in India.

India being the brand’s number one subsidiary outside Italy, there’s a great deal of focus on the Indian market and soon, the brand plans to set up a store on the similar flagship format in Delhi.

Davidson lifestyle apparel across Asia.

The collaboration is in tune with HarleyDavidson’s long-term strategy to build the next generation of riders through lifestyle apparel. Under this agreement, G-III will develop a network of Harley-Davidson apparel stores in the Asia Pacific region.

Elaborating on the same, Karen Davidson, Creative Director of Harley-Davidson’s General Merchandise line revealed that the apparel line embodies Harley-Davidson’s history and American motorcycle culture.It features unique details, stylish silhouettes and high-quality fabrics which allow customers to express their own distinct sense of style. This is a great way to start someone’s journey with the brand, even if they aren’t motorcycle riders just yet. The brand is quite optimistic about the Indian market and hopes that the customers here will like its range and merchandise. The stores of Harley-Davidson represent the legacy of the brand with a very contemporary look and feel.

Project Eve plans aggressive retail

operations in India, is also planning to expand to Tier II and III cities in the country.

Targeting a 35 per cent growth in the current financial year, the company also plans to launch an e-commerce channel.

Harley-Davidson launches apparel store in Kolkata

expansion

Celio, the French menswear brand, plans to expand its operations in Southern India. The company has a 55 per cent retail presence in the region and plans to add over 300 touch points in the next 24 months.

Kerala is one of the key markets where the company will open its new concept store at the Lulu Mall to offer four fashion lines – essentials, casual, denim and smart including shoes and accessories.

Celio, which completed 10 years of

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Harley-Davidson Motor Company recently launched its first apparel line store at South City Mall in Kolkata.

The company had, earlier in 2018, entered into an agreement with G-III Apparel Group Ltd for G-III to design and distributing Harley-

Project Eve plans to add 20-25 stores by end of the fiscal. Most of these stores will be located in metros while the rest will be set in prominent cities. The company currently owns 12 stores and has recently gone beyond metros by opening stores in cities such as Amritsar and Surat.

The scaling plan will span prominent cities while most of the stores will be located in metros, spanning 8,000 sq.ft. to 1,2000 sq. ft. In a ground-breaking effort to offer an exclusive experiential retail format to women, Reliance Retail had launched the new multi-brand retail entity in 2017 at Inorbit Mall, Malad, Mumbai. The unique concept in premium segment focuses on young, independent and sophisticated women. Reliance Retail has aggressive plans of expansion for the retail format in top 10 cities across the country.

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24 BRAND RETAIL Adidas India to open stadium outlets stores opened by the company for performance wear products will be in this new format.

At present 80 per cent of Adidas India stores are performance wear stores.

This stadium format is available globally in countries such as US, UK, France, Japan and Adidas India will open up to five stadium inspired outlets in India this year for its performance wear products.

The company opened its first stadium format store in India (Delhi) recently, From year 2019 onwards, all new

Project Eve plans to increase the number of its stores by end of this fiscal, by adding 20-25 stores. Most of the stores will be located in metros while some will be set up in prominent cities as well. The company currently has 12 stores and has recently gone beyond metros by opening stores in cities such as Amritsar and Surat.

The scaling plan will include prominent cities while most of the stores will be located in metros, spanning 8,000 sq.ft. to 1,2000 sq. ft. In a ground-breaking effort to offer an exclusive experiential retail format to women, Reliance Retail had launched the new multi-brand retail entity in 2017 at Inorbit Mall, Malad, Mumbai. The unique concept in premium segment has a strong focus on young, independent and sophisticated women. Reliance Retail has aggressive plans of expansion for the retail format in top 10 cities across the country.

Savile Row opens shop in shop

South Korea.

Inspired by and deriving elements from world-class stadiums; the stadium format store will have interactive zones for customers and showcases product benefits.

fixtures have electroplated gold finishes. The store has other premium elements like glass and leather accents. Event glass interface is etched with the brand logo to make it look more premium. Apart from mannequins, much of the work has been done with Indian vendors.

Savile Row has made it its mission to provide customers with genuine luxury clothing at affordable prices. It also aims to extend these same high standards across all aspects of the business, with a particular focus being placed on a truly exceptional and personal level of customer service.

The Savile Row Company is a global online retailer of fine luxury goods with a focus on men’s wear, but also spanning across accessories, footwear and women’s wear. Each new season sees new growth and development of the range through the addition of more fine quality products.

Savile Row is one of the first male fashion companies to go online, launching its website in 2001.

strategy of opening at least one store a month.

Moving ahead, H&M India has now turned its focus on smaller cities – at present, the bulk of its stores are located in key metros and Tier-I cities.

H&M India has also launched its own online store and app in the country, making it the 45th global market where H&M has e-commerce operations. Further, the retailer is also investing in a warehouse in Mumbai to bolster its e-commerce operations in India. Globally, online sales contribute about 12.5 per cent to H&M’s total sales.

H&M has been sourcing from India for the past 30 years for its global requirements. The brand is confident of achieving better figures as it feels India is among its fastest growing markets. The retailer reported enormous growth in its very first year of operation here.

Markedly, it reported a twofold increase in sales in India for the fiscal ended November 2017.

Aditya Birla Fashion adds new stores

The retail arm of Aditya Birla Group, Aditya

A store a month for H&M

Savile Row has opened a shop in shop at a Van Heusen store in Bengaluru. This format will be eventually taken to 50 key stores of Van Heusen across India.

In line with its image, Savile Row has a premium look in the shop in shop format. The

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H&M has 32 stores in India. The latest store is located in Mumbai. Spanning 22,000 sqft it stocks the brand’s entire range of fashion and accessories for women, men, teenagers and children.

The Swedish fast-fashion retailer, which came to India in 2015, is maintaining its

Birla Fashion and Retail will add 350 stores in FY19 across formats while it plans to shut around 3-4 per cent of its loss-making stores to focus on profitable growth. As on March 31, the company’s network had 2,465

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BRAND RETAIL brand stores operational which includes 275 Pantaloons stores, 4,982 multi-brand outlets (MBOs) and nearly 4,054 point of sale in department stores across the country.

The brand regularly evaluates the performance of its stores and adds a large number of stores. It also shuts a few of those whose performance is not upto the mark.

The brand has added 0.2 million sq ft retail space during Q4FY18, taking the total area to 7 million sq ft.

25

Westside to double store count in three to five years

Pretty Secrets doubles retail presence

Online lingerie major Pretty Secrets is looking at doubling its retail presence across the country through exclusive stores and retail counters by the end of 2018.

The brand started with an online store in 2012 and has grown steadily. It has 23 exclusive stores at present and around 250 retail counters. The brand, which also sells its products on e-commerce websites

Trent will open 30 new Westside stores this fiscal. At present there are 125 stores. The plan is to double the number in three or five years. Around half of the stores will be set up through the franchisee route while the balance will be company-owned.

Westside, set up in 1998, offers a range of contemporary and exclusively designed clothes for men, women and children, which is not just value for money but also the finest merchandise spanning compelling, aspirational fashion. The stores stock a broad range of products ranging from apparel, footwear, accessories to cosmetics and perfumes

integration as an option. It offers about 1,000 products in the category of lingerie, night wear, swim wear and active wear. It is looking at raising funds for expansion and is constantly in touch with venture capital/ private equity players.

Anita Dongre launches second store in New York

of UAE and South East Asia, Souq and Lazada, may also foray into the overseas market this year.

Pretty Secrets started out with an e-store in 2012. It entered offline retail last year.

When it comes to Tier I and Tier II cities, its stores in places like Dhanbad and Imphal are among its top performing stores.

Pretty Secrets wanted to go omni-channel to provide its customers a seamless shopping experience. Since the intimate nature of the category requires a specific sales environment, and the unorganised market does not provide the right platform, the brand started with two exclusive stores in Mumbai in April 2017.

The brand is considering vertical

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Designer Anita Dongre takes a big step as she gets set to go global and launch her two stores in New York. This Indian designer has opened a multi-floor flagship store in West Broadway that includes bridal wear and menswear.

In May this year, the Anita Dongre West Broadway flagship store opened its doors to the public. The store, Dongre’s second in the city, houses not just her sustainable luxury line available in her Soho boutique, but also the rest of her multiple product lines.

Dongre has chosen a building from the 1900s spread over 4,500 square feet and four floors. The store’s lower level is dedicated to menswear and Dongre’spret collection and the ground floor houses Dongre’sGrassroot brand set amongst natural wooden floors and hand-spun textile wall hangings.

The store’s upper level, across two floors, has been dedicated to Dongre’s bridal wear, couture, and jewellery. The decoration gives a sense of Rajasthan, a place from which

to home accessories and gifts among others. The brand gets just 2 per cent of its business from third-party brands.

It’s the in-house brands that are driving growth. Westside has a strong focus on selling private labels, which fetch higher margins of around 40 to 50 per cent.

Seven years back third-party brands contributed about 22 per cent to revenue.

Trent is the retail arm of the Tata Group. The company, which runs a food and grocery retailing business in a jointventure with Tesco, will move away from launching large format hypermarkets and focus instead on smaller stores that are easier to break even.

Dongre draws much inspiration. Handmade furniture and lavish decorations resemble a Haveli and Dongre’s American customers can now browse her bridal wear in a traditional style setting.

Dongre stated that she had always loved the multicultural vibe of New York. Brides, grooms and their families no longer need to travel to India to visit the store. They can now enjoy the luxury of the bespoke services at this flagship store.

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26 BRAND RETAIL Lacoste launches new store design a selective distribution network and makes sure that it is present in premium locations and premium adjacencies. The brand has been strengthening its store network in mini-metros like Pune and Ludhiana. It is currently present through 49 point of sales including EBOs, shop in shops and e-commerce.

Lacoste generally adds six to eight point of sales every year and would stick to this expansion plan for a few years to

European menswear brand Lacoste plans to bring its new global retail design concept, Le Club, to India.

Generally, retail design and VM in Lacoste stores are based on the nature and materials of the fixtures. Le Club will have circular and semi-circular fixture units. The design will also incorporate seating capacity in the stores and will have different wall fixtures.

Currently, standard basic and standard premium concepts are available across Lacoste stores in India. Standard concepts have two colors of fixtures – brown and white.

Globally and in India, Lacoste follows

Aurelia opens EBO in Tirupati

Lakshita plans aggressive growth in North India come. Lacoste is a French clothing and accessories brand. Launched in 1993 in India, Lacoste sells apparels, shoes, bags, belts and sunglasses for men, women and children and is popular for its polo T-shirts in solid colors.

The men’s casual wear market in India is expected to touch Rs 68,450 crores by 2019 and the women’s casual wear market is estimated to be Rs8,894 crores.

garments are available in the store. Tirupati being a Tier 2 city, the brand is expanding its presence in non-metro areas. Aurelia was launched by TCNS Clothing in 2009 and is owned by O S Pasricha and A S Pasricha.

It is present in over 60 Indian cities and has over 150 EBOs. It also has a dedicated e-commerce site and its headquarters are located in New Delhi.

Stori aims to reach 100 stores by 2020

Ethnic and fusion wear clothing brand Aurelia by TCNS Clothing has opened an exclusive business outlet (EBO) in Tirupati, one of Andhra Pradesh’s largest cities.

Spread across 470 square feet, the new store houses Aurelia’s various collections of ethnic and fusion womenswear including the current Spring/ Summer 2018 collections Zephyr and Arcadia.

Items such as kurtas, draped ensembles, tops, trousers, and other ethnic wear

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Apparel brand Stori is looking to add 24 stores by 2020 in Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal the aim is to reach a 100 stores. The value fashion chain will focus in Tier-II and III cities.

The chain, which already has a presence through almost 600 LFSs and MBOs, started their EBO journey last year and has about 15 stores currently. Deepak Agarwal, Marketing Manager, Retail, stated dealing with 100 per cent quality cotton merchandises, they are adding 2000 new styles every six months.

The brand is clocking in 20 per cent to 30 per cent growth every year. In future it aims to be a leading value fashion chain in Tier-II and III markets.

Ethnic retailer from north India, Lakshita plans to add close to 25 stores by the end of current fiscal and will enter markets such as Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. The retailer has recently added digital screens at five of their stores and plans to take this element to other stores as well.

North India-based ethnic retailer Lakshita plans to reach a mark of 70 stores from its existing 47 stores. The retailer, with store presence in Delhi, NCR, Punjab and Jammu, will open 12 stores by end of this month while entering markets like Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.

The company is growing at a speed of 15 per cent and though the growth plummeted in this fiscal owning to demonetisation, it expects to grow by 20-25 per cent in the next fiscal. The company plans to strengthen its retail reach well within promising markets of North India before moving to other parts of the country. Its upcoming stores will mostly be located in high streets.

Lakshita refurbishes its retail design every 2-3 years and has recently added digital screens behind cash counters in their selected stores.

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BRAND RETAIL Landmark launches its new outlet Easybuy in Hyderabad

Landmark Group has launched Easybuy’s sixth store in Chandanagar, Hyderabad.

Spread over 5,000 sq ft area, the outlet has a wide range of clothing, footwear and accessories under “Easybuy” label.

Landmark Group, one of the leading retail groups in India, is all set to redefine the value fashion market by expanding its new value retail format under the brand label, Easybuy.

Recently, the group opened its sixth outlet of Easybuy at Chandanagar, Hyderabad and aims to add a new store in every three weeks. It is its 9th store in Telangana market.

Spread over 4,500 sqft, the store offers trendy fashion solutions for the entire family across different categories. The Easybuy store provides a delightful shopping experience with dedicated sections for men, women and children, making shopping a pleasurable activity. Within a span of one year, the company expects to set up about four stores in Hyderabad alone. It will focus on tier two and tier three cities for expansion.

The brand’s investment per store will be an average of Rs 1 crore.

Landmark Group is one of the leading

Fashion retailer Forever 21 re-enters Noida shoe line.

The ABFRL which has distribution rights for Forever 21 in India plans to restructure its present stores in order to cut down losses. The company has decided to reduce its store size and also limit the number of new stores opened between six and eight annually. The brand

American fast-fashion brand Forever 21, a part of the Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail group re-entered the Noida market with a store at the DLF Mall of India. The newly re-opened store is spread over 7,573 sq. ft. of retail space and stocks latest collections for men and women.

It also houses a wide range of dresses, blazers, patterned blouses, gingham prints, shirts, polo’s, denims and jackets, 21 Men brand, Forever 21’s lingerie and

V-Mart Retail recently opened two new fashion stores, one each in the state of Bihar and Uttarakhand.

With this, the total number of stores in Bihar has gone upto 33 fashion stores and 5 composite stores, while in Uttarakhand it has increased to 7 fashion stores. The retail chain now owns 177 stores across 149 cities in 14 states covering approximately 14.8 lakh sq. ft. It will further open around 35

retail groups in the country having retail formats like Lifestyle, Max, Spar, etc under its umbrella. The brand endeavours to expand its network across the state and is looking forward to open more stores to build a strong presence in Telangana value fashion market.

Easybuy exclusive stores are of approx 4,000sq ft -5,000 sq ft in size and have a wide range of quality clothing in Menswear, women’s wear, kids wear, footwear and accessories under “Easybuy” label. Easybuy is also available at select Spar Hypermarket across India. It is available as “shop-in-shop” in 15 Spar Hypermarkets across Metros and Non-Metros. Today, Easybuy operates 51 stores and another 20 stores are in pipeline in two years.

new stores in the current fiscal.

Besides, V-Mart will also upgrade its products and services to meet the changing customer needs, and has also launched a loyalty program to retain customers in its fold.

It will focus on improving its inventory cycles, integrating technology at warehouse, supply chain and adding values in customer experience with the introduction of many new services aimed to enhance customer shopping experience.

Two new stores for V-Mart Retail

Meena Bazaar to revamp its retail design

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27

expanded its reach in India’s booming Tier II and III markets with it’s first-ever store in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

Meena Bazaar will soon launch its biggest flagship store in Gurgaon with a refreshed design using variations in heights of each level at the store while infusing pop colours and digital elements. By the end of this year, the brand will add about 20 stores with new design.

Meena Bazaar, is a 50-year-old women’s ethnic wear brand. The new store across approx 10,000 sq ft and designed by Chromed Design, will be the brand’s largest store and first store to engage young audience. With a pan India presence through 100 stores, the brand has also revealed plans to add about 20 stores by the end of this year.

Sameer Manglani, CEO, Meena Bazaar, says that the brand has always achieved regal fashion of design in all the stores, while adding various elements time to time. The upcoming store will present a complete new look as the brand is attempting to connect with the young and knowledge business.

The design will infuse bright pop colours, different heights of levels to accommodate long garments, raised platforms, video walls, etc. The plan will be to take the design to select upcoming stores.

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28 COVER STORY

Juliet : a complete lifestyle experience for women Intimate and women’s wear brand Juliet offers products that compliment the New Age women in every way. The brand has chalked out a strong growth plan with new store openings and international collaborations in the offing, finds out Shraboni Mukherjee

J

uliet, a brand that celebrates femininity and the spirit of women was incepted in 1976 by Shashikant Trevadia - a small town boy from Gujarat who came to Mumbai with an aim to create a revolution in women’s wear.

This, along with his unique vision of creating employment, resulted in Juliet, a brand that women trust their most intimate needs with.

• Spreading its wings across the national and international markets • Juliet plans to set up 50 EBOs across the country • Will open regional offices pan India • International collaborations

As Trevadia says, “Juliet creates intimates and apparels that compliment a woman’s lifestyle, dreams and aspiration in every way.”

A pioneering brand in maternity wear, Juliet enhances the experience of motherhood through its ‘Feeding Bra’. It also heightens the joys of womenhood through its range of period panties.

The brand further magnifies a woman’s desires through its collection of night wear, ethnic, western wear, lounge and sportswear. Its unique endeavor is the launch of Mastectomy Bra for various stages in cancer treatment. These bras incorporate a prosthetic device, especially silicon or breast pads to feel like a mature breast tissue.

Unique employment generation endeavors Juliet has a unique vision of creating employment for maximum number of people. The brand’s fully air-conditioned

Awards at a glance 2000: Best Display Award conferred by The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India at 43rd National Garments Fair.

2003: First APEX Award for Best Lingerie Brand instituted

by The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India.

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COVER STORY

29

Shashikant Trevadia, Managing Director, Juliet Apparels

manufacturing unit in Bhiwandi, Mumbai produces over three lakh garments a month. Spread across 2.5 lakh sq. ft., the unit employs over 2,000 people. Around 90 per cent of employees are women, while men constitute the remaining 10 per cent, thus emphasising the importance the brand gives to women’s employment and empowerment.

The brand also supports its small vendors, who have stood by it through thick and thin, and believe they have the potential to create more employment.

Having a massive network of agents, Juliet enjoys a pan India presence. The brand has over 6,000 regular retailers and follows the organised retail method of working.

Bookings for a particular season are done in advance to avoid chaos. The brand exports to countries like Europe, Middle East, South East Asia and Africa.

and offer complete customer comfort. These stores will offer a wide range of garments, good service and a comfortable trial room.

The brand understands the requirements of women and accordingly customises stores and garments to suit their needs.

Brand Collections: Winter a special time Juliet’s winter collection has always drawn special attraction. This winter, Juliet is offering a huge collection of full sleeves T shirts and nighties with long sleeves for winter. The brand’s color pallet changes every season. In summer, it uses light shades while darker shades are reserved for the winter. The winter collection offers more variations in terms of color and quality of fabric. The main motivation being

“GST was an unwelcome application. It had teething problems. Organised players had no problem as business became more transparent and paperless. The unorganised sector had problems as they were unable to evade taxes.

Implementation of GST has brought in a systematic way of working, business has increased and the market is pulling up.” customer satisfaction, Juliet plans to focus on improvising the quality of its products rather than increasing categories. The brand will continue to focus on women’s comfort besides striving to incorporate international styles and fabrics.

Retail Footprint Neither tech savvy, nor comfortable with the EBO, MBO and LFS format of business, Juliet is looking to open its own chain of franchise stores by 2020. Initially, the plan is to open 50 franchise stores that on an average are spread over 400 to 1,000 sq. ft.

“Juliet as a brand has served customers to the best of its ability. So when it comes to their own stores, they want it better than the best.”

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32 IF EXCUSIVE Duke’s Shirts, Trousers & Denims collection’18, for Work and Play

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nspired by the fashion culture of New Zealand, Duke has established an impressive collection of various styles, colors and sizes in Shirts, Trousers & Denims in its summer’18.

The collection’18 offers relaxed office wear and weekend casual wear. It includes a complete array of fine-crafted washed cotton shirts and formal trousers involved with a unique and creative design process.

Multipurpose garments

Known for its standardised fits, superior quality, wide range and ‘fashion-right’ styles in its segment, the Dukes range offers clothing for daily office wear which can double up as smart casuals for an evening out after.

This range

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showcases bright and effected colors in formal shirts that have snug and tailored fit comfort, fine detailed garment and these shirts provide the comfort and convenience of cotton, and yet are easy to maintain.

There are button up shirts, which get cotton or poly cotton fabrics in breezy tones that sets the mood for those who love to go casual. On the other hand, the trousers have clean look, narrow fit and hidden detail inside waistband. Apart from these, Duke Denims’ offers durability and versatility.

The price range of the ‘Shirts, Trousers & Denims collection’18’ starts from Rs.595/onward which is cool on the pocket.These are creatively crafted in different sizes and the whole collection is a value for money option and always makes a style statement.

Special specialiSed finishing techniques has resulted into marvelous product parity as the entire range is specially designed and crafted by team of experts considering the Indian climatic conditions.

The shirts, trousers anddenims are available at all Duke exclusive showrooms and leading multi brand outlets.

Duke new collection of sports shoes encourages for the long run

uke seems to be going with popular idiom: ‘Run a mile every day’. The popular footwear brand has launched its new Sports Shoes Collection’18 inspired by the culture of New Zealand.

Offering a fine blend of antiquity and modernity, this collection is not just stylish but also offers cool factors to its customers.

Known for its amalgamation of latest fashion trends and classic charms in men’s footwear, these sports shoes provide comfort, exhibit a sporty style, and guard its wearers from rough surfaces and tough movements. Not confined to people indulging in only outdoor physical activities, these shoes ensure smooth movement, durable traction for high-energy workouts and offer enhanced foot motion.

Designed to perfection

The collection has been branded keeping the minutest details in mind. The shoes offer a breathable mesh with high quality P.U made onphylon rubber solefrom high quality raw materials using stroubleand stuck on techniques.

These shoes offer great cushioning and have excellent lightweight structure for performing different activities. The excellent strength of these sports shoes protects the runner from injuries as well increases

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With the needs of the fashion industry changing constantly, we are always looking towards the product that can deliver a high degree of style and quality. The way we do business is a way of redefining what business can mean and the effect it can have”.

The Sports Shoes collection is available in a wide array of styles, colors, and sizes. The range is available at selected Duke Stores and online and is priced between Rs. 999/to Rs 3,599/-. stability and power transfer when the foot strikes the ground.

“Duke’s target audience,” according to Kuntal Raj Jain, Director, Duke Fashions (I) Ltd, “is today’s youth which is looking for trendy and stylish range that is sync with international designs, fashions and quality. Duke is a value for money brand and our mission is to make available the international designs and styles at highly reasonable prices.

Rightly rewarded

Duke Fashions (India) Ltd, has been conferred with the President award; three national awards i.e Excellent Quality Readymade Garments, Outstanding Entrepreneurship and Quality Garments; crowned with Indian Power Brand at USA. Duke has got these awards for its innovation, product quality, most preferred apparel brand and inspirational leadership who has shaped and continue to shape India’s destiny.”

Duke has an unbeatable marketing network comprising of over 4,000 multi brand outlets and 0ver 360 exclusive stores across major cities in India. Moreover the products are also exclusively placed at big chain stores and on online shopping portals.

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Classic Polo to add 20-30 stores next year in Tier II and III cities

lthough the market for T-shirts is mainly concentrated in the metros, Tier II and III cities are growing equally in volume.

The price range too varies with the target market. While in metros competition is high with organised sector, in non-metros eco and mid segment categories move better along with regional brands as they can only afford price advantage. But Tier II and III

are off late gearing up for big brands, thus contributing to the growth story. “T-shirtsare not six day week products while it is a leisure wear category with limited usage unlike shirt/ trouser and denims. It is rapidly growing from the past 3-4 years, where all major pan Indian apparel brands whose core strength was only woven range are launching T-shirts category in a big way. The marketsize is around

Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000 crore. Organsied business is very less comparatively. And the market is growing at 10-12 per cent year on year for past 2-3 years. Indeed, it a very promising category as it compliments denim which again is aggressively scaling up sales,” explains UshaPeriasamy, DirectorOperations & Brand.

Making a strong style statement

With a positive growth of 40-50 per cent Classic Polo is keen on building a strong style statement with unique identity to set in the minds of people. It also aims to conceptualise the seasonal S/S19 themes with clear product category and innovative designs that are acceptable by the audience, giving them a personalised feel of comfort and trendy fashionable clothing with affordable prices.

The brand plans to ramp up its retail with 20-30 stores next year mainly in Tier II and III cities. Although, focus is mainly in and around Chennai/Mumbai/Kolkata with plans to open 15-20 stores in these cities, its retail mapping is spread pan India with 115 EBIs. The brand is also available in 450 large formatsand 5,000 MBOs.

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Groversons launches new logo, adds to its product line

ith the launch of its new logo at a glittering event, all eyes are on Groversons’ renewed strategy. Completing six decades in the intimate apparels segment, and carving an inimitable position for itself, Groversons is one of the most trusted brands in innerwear. For the brand owners, redefining the logo is symbolic of what the new image of the brand stands for as the company envisions bringing a change in the market by providing a modern touch to their contemporary products. The company launched a new merchandise range, new systems and policies, which have led it to redesign the new logo to help signal a new direction for the brand.

The Group’s success is attributed to its competitive and uni-directional approach, innovative techniques to manufacture iconic products, and the philosophy of being conventionally contemporary.

Siddharth Grover, Director, Groversons Group, stated the new logo has been really appreciated by everyone from customers, to dealers, distributors and retailers. People have loved the new look and the image that the brand has undergone. The brand has stood strong for its well-developed in-house design and manufacturing facilities.

He pointed out the ideology behind the new logo was to communicate the

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company’s new vision and mission values.

It took months to visualise the new logo with the brand’s image. Certainly it was challenging as they didn’t want the new look to render the heritage of the company.

Having said that, in today’s time, the only thing that is constant in the world is change. It was never more applicable than in today’s fiercely competitive fashion world where trends are born every day and are replaced by the next best thing. What really transforms and makes the difference is the

ability to market oneself most distinctively and innovatively.

Savvy product launches

The launch event also saw the company innovating with new trends and designs to keep up with the modern woman. A fashion shows the brand’s ‘International Collection (IC)’, which had different and gorgeous designs and luxurious fabrics. The collection has products of international standards and quality.

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34 IF EXCUSIVE

Dollar aims to be a Rs 2,000 cr company by 2024

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he new and emerging consumer trends and product advancements has helped innerwear evolve over from just being a conventionally utilitarian product. The advent of new shades like pop colours, glow shine waist bands; abstract patterns and stretchable and quick dry fabrics, sleepwear, active wear, intimate wear, athleisure, maternity wear in the inner wear industry, has made it the new fashion essential.

Taking this into account, Dollar Industries,

in its current season, has introduced Bigboss Heavy Duty Style, J-Class under the Dollar Bigboss, made of Egyptian cotton, best longstaple cotton in the world with extremely soft and agile entwines. The brand also launched J-Class around 3 months ago which has reported satisfactory sales along with the rave reviews from the consumers.

Active wears and graphic tees for women, leggings in various trendy color and patterns, glow shine waist bands for men’s

brief, bold graphic printed tees for men, and stretchable and quick dry fabrics have also been recently introduced.

Retail Footprint

MBOs are the most significant retail format for the innerwear category though women are becoming increasingly comfortable walking into EBOs mostly in major cities.

Dollar products are available in over 80,000 MBOs across 800 cities/towns of India “Dollar enjoys a massive goodwill among customers in India. Our products areavailable in over 800 cities across 26 states through 80,000 and more MBO’s. We also have online retail platform as a wing of our product distribution channel.Presently we are eyeing EBO’s and LFS,” says Vinod Kumar Gupta, ExecutiveManaging Director, Dollar.

Exploring new avenues

Many brands prefer to sell discounted items online. Customers select the style and brand online and visit a nearby innerwear store or any of the large format stores to have a first-hand experience and then buy the product. This has led many innerwear brands including Dollar to enter into omni- channel retail which launched its own e-commerce retailing section three years ago.

Alcis Sports to open more EBOs this year

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he active wear and athleisuremarket in India is poised for big growth as it’s passing through an exciting and interesting phase as the line between performance wear and lifestyle wear has almost disappeared.

With more and more Indians inculcating an active lifestyle, it is giving boost to the active wear market. The market size for this segmentpegged with the sportswear market is estimated at around Rs37,000 crore, growing at a CAGR of 23.7 per cent. Tapping the huge growth potential homegrown brandAlcisSpots showcased its A/W ’18

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collection comprising 149 men’s styles and 135 women’s styles, across various categories like running, training, racquet sports and yoga.

The collection will eventually consist of 695 styles. The thought behind the A/W ’18 collection is to explore a growing fascination with technology in apparels and challenging the limits of performance. Alcis believes products and fitness experiences stimulate all senses, and technologies and materials represent a new area of development, adjusting to the wearer’s needs, tastes and habits.

Athleisure a growing market

Explaining more, RoshanBaid, MD, Alcis Sports says, “An active market consumer essentially seeks comfort and style whereas a performance wear consumer is looking for

specific technologies and product features to enhance the performance in a particular fitness and sports activity. Several factors are sparking growth in this segment from relaxed dress codes at work place to a remarkable rise in people indulging in various recreational as well as amateur sports, fitness and outdoor activities. As a direct consequence, the active wear market is also growing in at a healthy pace.”

Speaking about the company’s growth, he adds, “At Alcis Sports, we are witnessing demand for both men as well as women’s wear. The demand for women’s active wear is growing at a much faster rate compared to men though overall the men’s market is bigger at the moment.”

He points out people today want fashionable, trendy and high quality apparel for specific activities. “At Alcis Sports, we have a range that is unparalleled in categories like running, training, yoga, racquet sports and core. Each of these is different and custom-made for specific activities. We don’t just make clothes but make equipment for our customers that can be used for both performance and active wear,” he elaborates.

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Celio adopts innovative branding strategies in India is not available, it can be ordered in store and delivered to their home. This feature has just been introduced in India as well.

As per Marc Grosman, Founder, Celio, marketing is even more important in India than it is in Celio’s home country as he explains, “In Europe, we are notoriously well known. Here, we have to establish our brand.” What’s come as a surprise is how brand-oriented Indians are.

And so Celio has played up its logo on the Indian range, allowing the brand to become a statement of sorts. This approach also extends to advertising — in India.As SnehasisBasu, Senior VPPlanning, Saatchi & Saatchi, Celio’s agency points out, “People were moderately aware of the brand but not aware of its source credibility.”

rench brand Celio is very upbeat about India as the country is one of its fastest growing markets, clocking in 35 per cent profits annually. The brand is remarkably popular in French countries, territories and former colonies in North Africa, besides having a significant footprint in Italy.The company, which began its India operations via a joint venture with Future Group in 2009, has 300 points of sale including 39 standalone stores, and is present across 109 cities.

Unique retailing methods

The brand’s global performance can be attributed to its ambitious omni-channel strategy, which allows customers in Europe to visit the site before they make it to the stores. As SatyenMomaya, CEO, Celio India point out the company allows people to pick what they’d like to see in the store they intend visit. It makes the shopping process a lot quicker.

Conversely if something they want

Numero Uno’s latest collection is all about ‘Real You’ R

ealising the need for crossover products and hybrid silhouettes for changing lifestyle needs, Numero Uno has carefully curated the collections for this season.

There are smart casuals, fashion casuals and classics that are durable and transseasonal.

Season’s Collection

Numero Uno’s S/S season’s line is an expression of oneself, celebrating the ‘Real You’. “Our day wear casuals are inspired

by Mediterranean coastlines soaking in every bit of the marine mood. Think Regetta and Breton stripes in a modern twist. Move across the ocean straight to Mexico for the Baja Stripes and then delve into historic seafaring voyages for prints and trims to create the Modern Mariners line. Holiday collection ‘Sunset Chameleon’ is wrapped around tropical skies in sun bleached colours. The flora and humid heat of tropical islands inspire camouflage and floral prints that are textural and tonal for round necks and polos. Detailed embroideries and embellishments create a luxurious dreamy mood for girls’ tops,” says NividaKohli, Design Manager, Numero Uno.

Style statements

Talking in detail about the brand’s style

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statements Kohli says, “We realised the need for crossover products and hybrid silhouettes to be omnipresent as per changing lifestyle needs.

We have accordingly curated the collections for this season.” Elaborating on the ratio of fashion and basic knits in their collection she says, around 30-40 per cent is core comprising of wardrobe essential classics with updated look that are trans-seasonal.

The demand for fashion and newness in fabrics and printing techniques is a big opportunity for this category to grow. The complexities that come with it have to be streamlined in this fast-growing competitive category to be able to cater to ever changing needs of consumers.

Retail expansion plans

With over 200 stores across India, Numero Uno has spread retail all over the Northern

region being a north centric brand. The brand now intends to expand its retail footprint in the Eastern, Western and Southern region.

The company aims to grow by 10-15 per cent annually across all categories.

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TT on an aggressive distribution network enhancement

T is a longstanding brand in the knitwear industry has added focus on front retail and brand end of cotton knitwear / hosiery segment. “We have a robust list of products ranging from hi-fashion outerwear products for all genres to innerwear products be it men / women / children. In past years, the company had focussed more on backward integration with exposure in yarn / fabrics for intermediate supplies. Lately we have shifted the focus on to the value-added finished garment segment.” says Sanjay K Jain, MD, TT Ltd. “The total hosiery market in India is around 25000 crore, growing at the rate of 15 per cent per annum, out of which only around 30 per cent is in the organised sector. So, the potential is huge for any organised player to harness. TT intends to strengthen the distribution network, be it channel sales through MBOs / sales through EBOs / sales through LFSs / online sales,” adds Jain.

Offline or online?

Hosiery segment especially innerwear

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having FMCG nature, is best dealt offline through channel sales in MBOs. Being FMCG, the need is for a geographically penetrated distribution network across the country. To support this format, other ancillary formats of sales through EBOs / LFS sales and online sales are used for urban markets, but rural markets, which account for a major volume in the industry is served through channel sales.

Talking about the online expanse, Jain says, “Online sales are emerging as a promising segment but has the drawback of being restricted to urban literate population who account for a small percentage of the whole sales especially the mass innerwear segments.

Online format undoubtedly is a great tool for brand building ultimately appending the channel sales format. We also have a fully integrated online presence for our products

Mustang to reach out to customer directly through e commerce

ivulging on the new collection, LubeinaShahpurwala, co-founder, Mustang Socks & Accessories, says, “We are currently looking to set up and develop our e-commerce platform through which we want to be able to reach out to customers of all age – men, women and children.We aim to be one of the best apparel brands.”

For the current and upcoming season, spring and summer, we have planned to incorporate bright vibrant hues in our products. The new designs will also be bolder.

“Mustang is currently present in 8000+ MBOs.We have a robust distribution network with 36 distributors present across

India. We are looking at fortifying it further this year. This would mean increasing our presence in all B+C territories other than strengthening our presence in the metros.” adds Shahpurwala.

On the changing dynamics of socks segment, Shahpurwalasays,“We have witnessed incredible surge in the knitwear industry due to the product and fibre innovations. Formal outerwear is also being manufactured in knitted fabrics where comfort and fashion are the main factors in the design element. The same concept has filtered down to the accessory segment in knits as well. Socks have become more fashionable, comfortable and easily accessible.”

Online retail catching up?

A lot of our customers want comfort to be a major component of their fashion statement, says Shahpurwala.

“They are completely aware and sure of what they want. This has led to a great outlet for our fashion product line and also immediate feedback

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serviced through our facilities in Delhi NCR.” “Online format at best is a supportive sales platform for channel sales. Hence, we peg the price points at the general retail selling price points with a promotional bargain bundled with it. Traditionally a price point ranging at the midpoint of the MRP and wholesale price point is the most ideal fostering a good sales on this format and in turn not cannibalising the channel sales.

As online retailing has a cascading brand building impact, therefore we can foresee a robust growth in the knitwear industry as a whole riding on the growth of online sales.

on our designs. Although the conventional trade has apprehensions about the trendier range, but this channel has reinforced our belief in the fashion business and has also helped us build dealer confidences.”Talking about the range, she says, “We plan to showcase a mixed range of products where we presentbasic value packs as well as our fashion line. By this, we will be able to ensure that our both our existing customers who want our basic and fashion line, get access to the same and the youth get access to the trend line.”

Export scene in India

“India is now numerounoin garment export to the US, where men’s/boys’ cotton knit shirts are concerned. We overtook China for a while in 2016, for the first time and this was only because of the dip in their exports of knitwear. The slouch opened doors for not only India, but also other developing countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh.

Like us, these countries too have an increased market share in segments like women/girls knitwear, men/ boys’cotton trousers, shorts, nightwear, etc.However, India is finding it difficult to compete with nations like Europe and other parts since it does not enjoy benefits like Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and others under trade agreements,” elaborates Shahpurwala.

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Siyaram launches two apparel brands

iyaram has launched two apparel brands: Mozzo and Inspiro. Mozzo is a casual apparel brand which offers jeans, chinos and a stunning range of casual shirts in attractive core items like plains, prints, checks etc. Inspiro is a formal brand meant for professionals and lends an aspirational charm with its smart yet stylish range of formal wear shirts and trousers made from the finest cotton yarns.

The collection of garment offerings encompasses a vast range of designs and color combinations for formal and office wear.

Both brands are aimed at today’s fashion conscious youth who not only follow international trends but also dare to incorporate new styles in their wardrobes.

Both have the latest designs, attractive colors, luxurious feel and lustrous fabrics, are in line with global trends and are attractively priced.

With its strong brand image and its

dynamic marketing strategies, Siyaram is geared up to raise the bar for all-round growth. Siyaram is India’s largest producer of blended high fashion suiting and shirting

fabrics, manufacturing over 60 million meters of fabrics annually. The company’s state-of-the-art manufacturing plants are at Tarapur, Daman and Silvassa.

Dobbies and prints are major highlights for Turtle this season O

ne of the oldest menswear brands from Eastern India, Turtle started its journey with manufacturing shirts.Today,it caters to the full range for men’s apparel.

It has two brand: ‘Turtle’, the mother brand catering to 18 plus age group and ‘London Bridge’ for 16 plus. The brand offers aa wide range of products from shirts to trousers, denim, T-shirts, socks, ties etc.

Season’s Highlight

Turtle has a range of jacquards and a basket of engineered dobbies. Also included is a capsule collection of prints on two tone pique. The color pallet is pastel bright with ample beige, white and cream. T-shirt fits are silhouette, cut close to the body, and slim fit. For Turtle polos make up the biggest share. Highlighting the trends, Narinder Kaur, Design Head, Turtlesays, “The major theme in T-shirts is ‘Men in Pink’, which celebrates the colour pink this summer. Dobbies and prints on dobbies are major highlights.

The Fuse collection has vibrant tones with prints and engineered dobbies.

Mandarin collars, polo with stylised collars and printed graphics in crew necks are on the shelf. In crew neck, Turtle has played with the brand name and logo, like a stylised statement crew. The color palette

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for summer is soft and vibrant. From lemon to peach mint and aquas, Turtle has it all.”

T-shirt innovations

Innovations are different value addition in fabrics like Tencel, Modal and linen in knits apart from jacquards and indigo.

Special technical finishes are also being introduced like anti-bacterial. Mandarin collars in all forms and styles are also one of the new offerings. Mercerised T-shirts are more in polo since its fine and superior in the higher price bracket.

Fine dobbies and prints are being done on mercerisedpolos. Basic and fashion knits generally have difference in yarns.

Fancy yarn and finishes are the order of the day. Mélange, neps, indigo, jaspe are the fancy bases, which differentiate from the regular core products. Turtle also does surface ornamentation like print and washing.

Although Turtle retails pan India but has a stronger presence in the East. Its retail format includes EBOs, MBOs and all leading LFS such as Pantaloon, Central, Brand Factory, Reliance, Shoppers Stop to name a few. It also has online presence with Flipkart, Jabong, Myntra, Amazon, etc. Apart from this they also own an online store.

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40 IF INSIGHT

CMAI Annual Apparel Index at 2.56 Points, It’s the Lowest Growth in Four Years

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OINTERS • Lowest growth this fiscal year in four years • The annual index value dipped to 2.56 FY 2017-18 from 3.43 points in FY 2016-17 • The entire fiscal year was marked by low business sentiment • Even the festive period did not bring much cheer • Q4 was the best quarter, reflecting a recovery In all four quarters this fiscal year (201718), the index values were much lower than

this fiscal, indicating a recovery. The positive aspect is: the Index has been growing in the last two quarters.

rates for all performance factors over four quarters.

A dip in Sales Turnover, Sell Through and Investment graph and index should not be mistaken as a dip in sales, instead it indicates the rate of growth slowed down but in value and absolute terms there was growth in sales turnover.

Trendspotting: Four year low, it’s a dipping Annual Apparel Index

All quarters are reviewed and compared to previous year’s quarters and the comparison is done at the assumed base value of 100.

The average off our indices belonging to four quarters of the financial year is the final annual apparel index value.

Slack indices add to slowdown

Annual Year Index Value

The Sales Turnover graph over first two quarters followed a downward trend; the fall in July-Sept 2017 was the highest, it then moved up in the remaining two quarters OctDec 17 at 1.52 and Jan-Marc ’18 growing to 1.60. Overall, Sales Turnover was never high throughout the fiscal.

comparable quarters in previous fiscal. The annual index value dipped to 2.56 in FY2017-18 from 3.43 points in FY-2016-17, 5.32 points in FY-201516 and 7.28 points in FY-2014-15 -- reflecting ‘dismal’ growth. The entire fiscal year was marked by low business sentiment including the 8 festive period, perceived as best the time to make 7 up for turnover losses, 6 when buying is high.

The index value was the lowest for JulySept 2017 (Q2) at 1.87; followed by 2.71 points in Oct-Dec 2017 (Q3);Annual Index Graph 1 2.77 points in Apr-Jun 2017 (Q1); and 2.87 points Jan-Mar 2018 (Q4). In fact, Q4 was the best quarter

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A closer look at the last four financial years indicates Apparel Index was much higher in FY 2014-15 and FY 2015-16 at 7.28 and 5.33 respectively compared to FY 2016-17 at 3.44 and 2.56 in FY 2017-18 , which is almost 35 per cent growth rate of what it was in FY 2014-15.

Sell Through, Investments and Inventory Holding though not very dynamic, were never strong enough to influence the index greatly, as the graphs indicates.

The onus for the dismal performance in the last two years could be attributed to demonetsation and implementation of GST which have disrupted market sentiment and overall growth.

The graph below shows varying growth

Index Value 7.28 5.33

5

3.44

4

2.56

3 2 1 0 14‐15

15‐16

16‐17

17‐18

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Giant Brands Lead Growth While Small Brands Struggle

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MAI’s Apparel Index for Q4 Jan-Mar FY 2017-18 indicates a growth recovery at 2.88 points. All the three sized brands termed as Big brands (Mid, Large and Giant) together recorded a growth of 7.61 points. Amongst these, Giant brands, with an impressive growth at 10.00 points led the way. While mid and large brands too were not far behind with growth of 6.26 and 8.50 points. Small brands, however, at 0.75 points, seem to be struggling for growth. This indicaties the gravity of recession pushing down these smaller players, who are not in a good position to outsmart their business practices, just yet.

Commenting on scenario, SatyenMomaya, CEO, Celio, that is one of the Large brands avers, “Stronger GDP growth rates in the last quarter and the current fiscal year have translated into handsome growth for discretionary categories such as apparel”.

Talking on the similar optimism underling

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their product line, Neha Shah, Marketing Head, Pepe Jeans India says, “The denim industry has witnessed a slow and gradual growth over the last few years. However Pepe Jeans has witnessed a steady growth in the last couple of years by expanding into online channels and omnichannel retailing.

A comparison between Small and Big Brands index value 0.75 and 7.61 respectively, indicates a very big gap inApparel Index Graph 1 the growth performance. The biggest gap is in sales turnover. Big Brands increased their Sales Turnover to 4.90 points, against insignificant growth of 0.12 points for Small Brands.

Increase in Sales Turnover

Sales turnover in Q4 reflected an index growth of 1.6 points. Nearly, 54 per cent brands reported an increase in sales this quarter. Giant and Large Brands, which grew at 14.3 per cent each. “The reason

for an increase in our sales turnover was , we focused on increasing and streamlining our product line by categorizing production to increase productivity, explains Blazo’s owner Niyam.

Improvement in Sell Through

Nearly 54 per cent of the brands reported an improvement in their Sell Through in this quarter, while for 40 per cent brands the Sell Through remained the same, and around 6 per cent brands recorded a dip. In order to manage better growth and performance brands have been maneuvering their business, as RadheshKagzi, President, Creative Lifestyles Pvt. Ltd says, “We have reduced our quantities per style and done ISTs for goods. This has resulted in better Sell Through and reduced Inventory Holding/investment.

Inventory Holding: Inventory Holdings for almost 45 per cent

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Indian malls lure customers with complete retail experience

ith Indian retail sector on fast forward growth track the segment is going through a lot of changes. Experts say, Indian retail sector is pegged to grow by 60 per cent to $1.1 trillion by 2020. The booming retail market alongwith diminishing entry barriers has attracted the attention of many overseas retailers, who are exuberantly expanding their operations especially in Tier II cities like Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Jaipur. By 2017end, there were more than 600 operational malls across the country. What’s more over 30 new shopping malls covering nearly 14 million sq. ft. area are expected to come up across top eight cities by 2020.

Retail trends

The top-performing shopping malls are essentially mixed-use businesses that incorporate social entertainment options.

With their use of new age technologies from design and construction stage to final enduser experience, they have now become stand-alone brands. In fact, some leading malls in and around NCR offer unique experiences like the DLF Mall in Noida that

inBengaluruandChennaioffer holistic and premium experience for retail, entertainment and movies, and F&B.

Mapping all corners

has an indoor ski-range or the World Trade Park in Jaipur that has a unique display feature wherein 24 projectors create a single image on its ceiling. The Grand Venice Mall in Greater Noida is a tourist attraction with its Venetian theme which includes gondola rides and provides a distinctly European feel while the Lulu International Mall in Kochi - touted to be the largest mall in the country - creatively uses technologybased novelties like geo-fencing, beacon technology and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR). Established as lifestyle and entertainment destinations, thePhoenix Market Citychain of malls

The Western region of the country, especially the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, houses some of the most iconic shopping centres such as Inorbit Mall, High Street Phoenix and Infinity Mall, among others.

Similarly neighbouring Pune, has generous amounts of land available, is home to prominent malls like Phoenix Market City, Amanora Town Centre and Seasons Mall.

The phenomenal success of malls across the metros has encouraged Tier II cities like Thiruvananthapuram and Mangalore to embrace the mall culture, with the former seeing the launch of Mall of Travancore early this year.

Indian malls today strive to become prominent ‘shoppertainment’ locations by focusing on their own inherent strengths and advantages. This results in the shoppers being spoilt. However, matters can change quickly in the rapidly evolving world of organised retail with a lot depending on government’s actions in terms of infrastructure and policy. So far these have been positive with the Great Indian Mall Story firing on all cylinders.

Mall spaces in India to go up by 20 million sq. ft. in next three years: JLL

T

he number of malls in India is set to increase on the back of rising consumption in brick-and-mortar stores and increasing private equity funding. As per JLL, an estimated 7.8 million sq. ft. of space has been procured to construct malls, the highest since 2011, and 40 per cent higher than 2017. JLL says the next three years could see around 20 million sq. ft. of mall space as all big developers such as DLF, Prestige, Brigade Phoenix Mills, L&T, Nitesh Estates and a host of regional and local developers are building new malls. While Blackstone-owned Nexus Malls is adding 2 million sq. ft. to its portfolio, Phoenix Mills, the largest mall owner, is looking to double its portfolio of over 6 million sq. ft.

L&T Realty, the real estate arm of L&T, is building four malls in Hyderabad.

As per JLL, the retail sector is estimated to grow to Rs 1 trillion by 2020, at a CAGR of approximately 12-15 per cent. Malls have seen investments of over $750 million in 2017, almost double of what the segment saw in 2016. Ramesh Nair, CEO &Country Head, JLL India, says “encouraged by urbanisation, young population and rising

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proportion of nuclear families in urban locations, over 70 per cent of consumption growth in the next 15 years is expected from population aged 15-59 years, with increased per capita consumption. This along with the opening up of the FDI route for retail brands entering into India, will further boost retail investments.”

RiturajVerma, Partner, Nisus Finance Services points out, “there is an acute shortage of mall space in the country and vacancy is at aall time low.” Very few malls have started operations in the last five years and mall developers are scouting for land as most of the land bank they had has been used up. Having said that, developers have been impacted by a slump in real estate and

most malls are more likely to be completed in 2019.

Sid Yog, Founder, Xander Group, observes real supply of well planned, well located, well-capitalised projects is far lower and the capability to operate when built makes the real operational supply likely to come on line even smaller. It takes 6-7 years to build a new mall of any scale/size.

So these projects (if real) must have been planned in 2010-2011. They can’t have come up suddenly. It’s just that they are suddenly more visible in the media. Separately, six million sqft a year for the next three years is hardly much supply for a country the size of India with 10 major cities and 20 mid-sized cities.

JLL’s report indicates 2017 has seen some rationalisation of mall space as well.

The year saw a withdrawal of nearly 5 million sq ft of retail space with a closing down of 28 malls. Most of the rationalisation took place in the markets of Delhi – NCR and Mumbai owing to the fact that these markets have significant mall stocks with a considerable percentage of the same performing below par.

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46 TECH TRENDS Arvind launches omni channel technology solution

Arvind Internet Limited, a division of Arvind Limited has launched India’s first true omni-channel fashion portal ndash; NNNOW.com. NNNOW.com seamlessly integrates online and in-store shopping moments to bring a new way to shop to the Indian market ndash with features such as same-day delivery; store pick-ups for online orders, same-day hassle free returns at stores, and Indiawide inventory access to customers.

The portal focuses on experiential commerce by building richer, connected online+in-store journeys that help

Fabindia taps CIIMS intelligence

Fabindia has unveiled an ongoing project called Customer Information & Insights Management System’ (CIIMS), a human intelligence system in which all consumerrelated data collected across channels is viewed by a single team, and the insights from each are connected and analysed as a unified consumer portrait rather than in pieces and silos.

The CIIMS human intelligence team shows how data and conversations, when pieced together, can unravel a whole new world of opportunity. That is essential if the brand is to achieve its ambition of becoming a Rs. 3,000 crore business. It also highlights

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solve core customer fashion shopping needs most effectively. This approach, contrasting directly with the winner-takesall-GMV-at-all-cost models focused on immediate conversion incentives, leverages Arvind’s end-to-end network to tackle consumers; perennial fashion shopping headaches. NNNOW.com also brings a new way for customers to experience their favourite brands through dedicated brand stores that offer the most comprehensive collection and rich content and curation directly from the brands.

availability. Stores display about 40,000 SKUs of inventory. With the introduction of the endless aisle, overall inventory is magnified by more than 2.5 times.

Max stores in Bengaluru are equipped with digital kiosks that enable the store staff and customers to browse and order products. There are a total of ten Max stores with endless aisle.In six months, Max has assisted customers to order via kiosks. Number of orders from digital kiosks has added to overall store sales.

Kiosk sales contribute four per cent to sales in Max stores.

Max is Landmark’s leading value fashion brand. It offers clothing, accessories and footwear for the entire family. Launched in 2004, the brand is known for everyday fashion and its ability to offer discerning shoppers a vast range of choices at affordable prices, international styling and great quality.

Lifestyle stores to have endless aisle from 2020

a large untapped opportunity in the men’s casual western wear market. In future, pen portraits based on customer behavior and qualitative feedback will help the retailer to build relationships and experiences for consumers, rather than just dealing in transactions.

Max deploys endless aisle

Max Fashion along with Ace Turtle deployed the endless aisle in select stores in Bengaluru to provide assisted sales service to their customers. These will help them to order products in-store with the option of home delivery or block and collect at another Max store.

Endless aisle is a technology that customers can access through an interactive screen in-store, to browse and buy a variety of products regardless of physical

Lifestyle has recently refreshed its design ID at a couple of stores before copying them in other metros. The brand is planning to introduce an ‘Endless Aisle’ feature from next year amongst a number of digitised instore experience.

The brand has been taking its digitised store concept ahead and will bring Endless Aisle technology to its stores by 2019.

Lifestyle recently revamped its retail design ID in Pune and Bengaluru and taking the refreshed concept soon to other metro stores. The new ID features open lingerie section to bring the segment close to fashion and elevated beauty zones.

Vasanth Kumar, Executive Director, Landmark Group, stated that the company is one of the first brick-and-mortar retailers to introduce omni-channel, it is incorporating a bunch of tech-integrated elements in the stores. With Max, it was easier to introduce Endless Aisle, as it deals in private labels.

Amongst other digital in-store experience, Lifestyle has digitally-assisted trial rooms at 25 outlets where the shopper can use a pager-based system to notify store staff to bring alternate style for trial.

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48 PREVIEW Texzone to organise HGH India 2018 T

exzone Information Services will organise HGH India 2018, India’s leading annual trade show for Home Textiles, Home Décor, Gifts & Houseware from July 03-05, 2018 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai, India.

The trade show will provide a focused marketing platform for designer, branded and mass produced goods, enabling the sellers to reach out to retailers, distributors and institutional buyers across India.

The product range will include categories like home textiles, furnishing fabrics, home décor products like wall papers, blinds, rugs and floor coverings, fragrances, spa products, handicrafts; houseware products like cookware, tableware, kitchenware, kitchen appliances, cleaning, health & hygiene, storage and outdoor products and a variety of innovative gift products.

The event is expected to be attended by 550 exhibitors from 30 countries

Ludhiana to host YFA show in August Y

arn Fabric & Accessories (YFA) show will be held in Ludhiana from August 30 to September 1. This is Ludhiana’s first ever exhibition of fibers, yarns, fabrics and accessories.

It aims to redefine the way fiber, yarn, fabric and apparel accessories are sourced.

It will bring renowned suppliers from these four segments closer to buyers and also offer buyers a one-stop place to source all their requirements.

The show is a gateway for companies to enter the attractive and lucrative north Indian market and grab a slice of the evergrowing market for textiles and apparels. It

is taking place in a northern region of India, which is one of the biggest Indian hubs for

manufacturing textiles and apparel.

For exhibitors to get full advantage during the course of the three-day show, the organisers have also planned several B2B meetings between exhibitors and visitors and invited business delegations from various parts of the country. Ludhiana and its surrounding area is the headquarters for several renowned Indian and global apparel brands and also home to thousands of knitting, spinning and weaving units as well as garment manufacturing units.

Exhibitors will have access to the most exclusive buyers ever seen in any other exhibition of this category.

Gartex to have denim section Gartex will be held in New Delhi, August 18 to 20, 2018. This is a trade show dedicated to garmenting and textile manufacturing solutions and technologies.

Broad exhibit categories at Gartex 2018 include embroidery machines, cutting and sewing machines, fabrics and accessories, needles and threads, laundry and washing equipment, finishing equipment, laser cutting machines, digital textile printing machines, automation and software.

The show is expected to add value to the entire value-chain of the denim industry encompassing accessories like zippers and buttons, besides highlighting the latest in finishing and washing technologies. It will be a great opportunity to denim fabricators,

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garment manufacturers, apparel brands, buying houses, merchandisers and other industry players to interact with India’s leading denim mills to witness the latest range and innovations in the denim sector.

A trends zone will display the latest technologies and advances taking place in the industry and the moves that denim industry must make to achieve sustainable growth.

A knowledge forum will focus on sustainability, design inspiration, trends emerging in the denim industry, improvements in washing and finishing techniques, apart from other relevant industry topics.

Companies like Aarvee Denims, Bhaskar, Jindal, Ultra Denim, Modern Denim, Mafatlal, Oswal Denims, Nandan Denim, Suryalakshmi Cotton Mills and many more are showcasing their product range in the denim show.

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50 BUSINESS NEWS India to see 34 new malls by 2020

India will see close to 34 new malls by 2020. Totaling 13.6 million sq ft, the new supply will add approximately 20 per cent to the total available mall inventory in these cities.

The retail sector has been encouraged by an upward trend in mall space leasing,

Govt to consider national policy for retail trade

The government is considering a national policy on retail trade with a view to guarantee orderly growth of the fast growing sector.

According to the commerce and industry

ministry, it has written to the department of consumer affairs to set up a task force for framing the policy.

In a letter to Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu stated that the job force must have representations from different stakeholders.

Retail trade is crucial for growth of Indian economy and the policy should be formulated to promote trade without sacrificing the interest of consumers.The Consumer Affairs Ministry is the nodal agency for regulating internal trade.

The ministry is already in the process of formulating guidelines on e-commerce and hence it would be appropriate for the ministry to come out with a norms for retail trade.

The commerce ministry should also

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which was up by 55 per cent in the period January-September 2017.

Malls have evolved from shopping venues to social places where people relax and unwind. Today a shopping malls not just about the shopping - it’s an integrated lifestyle destination.

take on board state governments while framing the policy norms as retail trade is also governed by the Shops and Establishment Act. The matter assumes significance as Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has requested the government for the policy and formation of a separate ministry of internal trade.

It has also mentioned that these steps will not only strengthen the domestic trade but also improve export performance of the country.

According to them, over 6.5 crore small businesses are engaged in the sector across the country.

Mall leasing up by 69 per cent

Net leasing of retail space in shopping malls increased by 69 percent during the first quarter in seven major cities. This is the report from malls in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune.

Supply of space in malls, however, fell by 87 per cent in the seven cities.The Delhi-NCR market accounted for 84 per cent of total leasing of retail space in malls.

The other markets that saw some decent absorptions were Hyderabad and Chennai.

Brandsare is planning to increase their presence in key markets. They are also discerning about the location of their stores and are therefore choosing to align with retail malls that have higher footfalls and better conversion rates per footfall.

Vacancy levels across mall spaces remained stable across most markets with

the exception of Delhi–NCR (18 per cent), Hyderabad (11 per cent) and Chennai (seven per cent). Delhi–NCR emerged as the most active retail market for the quarter with the completion of two new malls, while no other city saw any new completion.

Malls that close are typically those which were constructed many years back and did not go through periodic modifications to suit changing requirements of retailers and shoppers.

Mumbai, too, saw the closure of mall

spaces, contracting the available retail space and bringing down the vacancy to a manageable 10 per cent in the quarter as against 13 per cent in the quarter of the previous year.

Textile ministry seeks proposal for cotton branding

The Union Textile Ministry has directed the domestic cotton industry to draft a proposal for branding of cotton in India, primarily aimed at the export market.

Unlike in US, China or Egypt, Indian cotton is not branded and hence is unable to carve a niche and earn a premium. The Suvin cotton produced in Tamil Nadu and Shankar 6 produced in Gujarat are both good quality cotton and can be projected as a global brand. The matter is in the deliberation stage.

The proposal, once ready, would be placed before the Textile Ministry as well as the Commerce Ministry.

No e-way bill for textile & apparel jobwork

The government of Tamil Nadu has exempted jobwork and services relating to yarn, fabrics and garments from generation of e-way bill. Tiruppur knitwear cluster produces Rs 42,000 crore worth of garments

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Western and Southern markets. At present, 46 per cent of the revenue comes from North region and 30 per cent from East.

Sales from Central, South and West India regions together account for 24 per cent of the total revenue. It’s also expanding its product offerings in home furnishing and kids segments in order to reduce the overall seasonality impact.

52 BUSINESS NEWS

of Italian style makes a return in the proportions of structured but casual shirts, coats and jackets, and in the silhouettes of pants and outerwear with fluid, relaxed lines. Jeans are deconstructed, cut and asymmetric, while the new cargo pants in sandy-colored textured cotton are given a work-wear touch with maxi accordion pockets.

inadvertent and unintended. The company also announced it had withdrawn the kurtis from retail stores. The ladies kurtisuits were available in different shades and colours with the holy ‘Navkar Mantra’ printed on the front upper side, which were displayed prominently on mannequins and in showcases.

Consortium set to buy VishalMega Mart

Dollar profit up 48 per cent

alternative investment fund. Up to 51 per cent FDI is allowed in multi-brand retail in India. Consequently, Partners Group teamed up with Kedaara Capital to acquire the firm with the majority of the investment coming from Partners.

Vishal Mega Mart is a fashion-led hypermarket chain with a footprint of over 229 stores across 110 cities and towns in the country. Apart from apparel, footwear and lifestyle accessories, the firm also offers grocery products and general merchandise.

The retailer slipped into a crisis due to aggressive expansion of its stores, leading to piling of debt on its books.

Vishal Mega Mart was bought by TPG and Shriram Group in a distressed condition for Rs 70 crores in 2010. The valuation of the company has risen more than 70 times in the last eight years. Over the years, TPG has infused over Rs 760 crores. Investor interest in India’s fashion retail business has seen a significant increase and valuations are expected to remain expensive.

Dollar’s profit after tax for the year has risen by 48 per cent. while its profit before tax increased by 43 per cent.

Dollar Industries, based in Kolkata, is one of the top hosiery companies in India. The company has brands like Missy, Bigboss, Champion, Force NXT and Force Go Wear.

Ultra thermals are under the brand Dollar.

The company is currently focusing on expansion of Force NXT and Dollar Missy.

It is also aggressively looking for inorganic growth through mergers and acquisitions.

To boost growth further, the company is eyeing a substantial number of EBOs, shopin-shops and kiosks across major cities of India.

Dollar has active wear and graphic tees for women, various trendy colors and patterns in leggings, glow shine waist bands for men’s briefs with abstract patterns, bold graphic printed tees for men, and stretchable and quick dry fabrics. The goal is to be a Rs 2000 crore company by 2024 and the mission is to emerge as India’s best loved hosiery brand and make outerwear and innerwear fashionable yet affordable.

Brand Dollar is active in 800 cities and towns across 26 states in India through 80,000 MBOs. It also has its own online retail platform. Two per cent of Dollar’s sales come from e-tailing.

TheLcompany operatesinvests 231 exclusive brand Catterton outlets across the country and sells products Rs 170 crore in Future through over 2,300 multi-brand outlets such Lifestyle Fashion as Shoppers Stop. It will also focus on online sales through own portal as well as tie-ups with e-commerce portals such as Flipkart, Jabong, Snapdeal and India Shopping.

United Colors of Benetton unveils Autumn/Winter 2017 collection

L Catterton Asia, the Singaporebased private equity fund by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has invested Rs 170 crore into Future Lifestyle Fashion (FLF).

FLF, which runs Central, Brand Factory and more than a dozen brands including Indigo Nation and Lee Cooper, is the largest department store chain in the country.

The company, with a total retail space of 5.4 mn sq ft spread across 90 cities, has a diversified portfolio of over 30 brands straddling different segments and price points.

The company has been recording double-digit same store sales growth in past four quarters and outperforming industry due to better inventory management and focus on premiumisation.

Within its portfolio of owned, licensed and investee brands, the company has identified six power brands to drive growth, which are currently contributing about 64 per cent of FLF’s total brands.

annually because of the crucial support extended by the job working units. The decision will help boost growth momentum for the Tiruppur cluster.

Before a garment is packed, for preliminary processes like knitting, dyeing, compacting, embroidery, printing, checking, ironing and packing,etc, the product is transported from one place to another for at least five to six occasions.

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A consortium of Kedaara Capital and Partners Group is set to buy retailer Vishal Mega Mart. While Kedaara will look after front end operations at the firm, Partners will manage the back-end.

Partners is based in Switzerland.

Kedaara Capital is an India-registered

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INDUSTRY BYTES

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54 NEWS 124BUSINESS Industry Bytes financial services and pharmaceuticals. The Aditya Birla Fashion Raymond opens linen facility names Ashish Dikshit, MD, 51-year-old, holds a graduate degree in pharmaceutical sciences and a management and indirect employment for 800 people.

Jagdish Bajaj as CFO degree in marketing. Pendurkarhas been on

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL), which retails brands like Van Heusen and Louis Raymond Philippe, named a new managing has opened a linen director (MD) and chief financial officer (CFO) manufacturing facility in Amravati.The for the company after a board meeting. facility is expected to produce 1,200 tons ABFRL named Ashish Dikshit the business of world-class linen yarns and million head of its Madura Fashion and4.8 Lifestyle metersasof its linen andMD, blended fabricsfrom per division new effective annum.forIt five is expected to generate direct February, years. Dikshit will continue to be one of the key managerial personnel of the company. The current managing director, PranabBarua, stepmega down from January T T to setwillup 31.

The board, however, garment plant as has it appointed Barua as an additional director for his moves from spinning to “vast knowledge and experience”, and has garmenting proposed he be appointed a non-executive The Board Directors of Trotation.

T has setThe up director liableofto retire by a mega garment plant as aand diversifi cation appointments of both Dikshit Barua are move from spinning approval. to garments.

The subject to shareholder The board has appointed Jagdish Bajaj, who has over two decades of experience with the Aditya Birla Group, the new CFO. These changes come only four months after the resignation of the CEO of ABFRL’s Pantaloons division, Shital Mehta.

Raymond already has seven plants the list of Impact’s 50 most influential women operational in Maharashtra. The company in media, marketing and advertising for four has also set up a manufacturing facility consecutive years from 2012-15 and has in Ethiopia. up with an investment of been listed inSet Fortune’s most powerful women over $US 14.83 million, this foray years is in line in business for four consecutive from with the She group’s to expand its 2011-14. wasambition the chairperson of FICCI presence across Committee, international2015 markets.

Food Processing and the co-chair 2013-2014.

The newinplant will generate employment for over 2500 people.

Nike reshuffles topcompetitive In order to be globally price for the export hierarchy market, setting up marketing a garmenting in van Ethiopia is a Dutch executive plant Dirk-Jan Hamerenhas strategic move the to ensure duty-free been appointed new Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer atsuch Nike,he access to key export markets as thehas been involved in several of the group’s key US and Europe. businesses.

He has been working for nearly Raymond is one of the most widely 25 years with the USretail sport formats group. The CMO available exclusive in the was in charge of Nike’s sportswear division fashion apparel category in India. The until recently. The group stated in a press company“[van is a Hameren] manufacturer finest release, and of histhe team have worsted suiting and cotton shirting fabrics completely redrawn Nike’s sportswear and a signifi cant player in connection branded business.

Establishing a strong apparel. with consumers through iconic models such as the Air Max and Air Force 1, as well as

Iconic Vama store lands in bankruptcy court

Vama, South Mumbai’s apparel store for the well-heeled, has landed in bankruptcy innovations like the Fleece Under court, as Italy’s GasTech Jeans triedline. to recover his leadership, the category’s revenue unpaid dues under the Insolvency and has grown by three billion dollars.” Before Bankruptcy Code (IBC). leading sportswear, van Hameren was In the case originally led in Bombay high part of the US giant’s fiWestern European court inexecutive 2015, Gas Jeans, the Indian unit senior team and had also been of charge the Italian company, has claimed in of the Nike ID project and ofdues the of Rs 22marketing lakh. Afterinitiatives the enactment of the brand’s and events internationally. now reports to Insolvency and He Bankruptcy Code,directly the case Trevor Edwards, Nike’s Brand President. was transferred to the National Company In another Law Tribunalchange, (NCLT). Greg Hoffmann was appointed Vice-President, Brand The 25,000-sq. ft Vama Global Departmental Creative and Marketing Innovation. He will Store at Cumbala Hill is located in the same be responsible for Nike’s brand content complex as Kanchanjungaone of the city’s and design.

Hoffmann is another Swoosh landmarks designed architect veteran, having worked by withnoted the BeavertonCharles Correa bungalow based group for and overa20 years. ‘Bella Vista’.

SangeetaPendurkaris the new CEO of Pantaloons division

diversification move would help TT enjoy benefits of central subsidies and incentives as well as special subsidies and incentives declared by the new Textile Policy of Uttar Pradesh. The company is restructuring its business as it is exiting spinning and entering garmenting and fabric business SangeetaPendurkarhas beento double appointed on a massive scale. It plans the the Chief Executive Officer, Pantaloons garment and fabric turnover by 2018-19.

Division of AdityaisBirla anditsRetail The company also Fashion expanding retail from December 18, 2017.Pendurkar, was stores under the brand T T Bazaar. As many last associated with Kellogg as the Managing as 50 stores have opened, and Director, India till Junealready 2017. She has over 50 years more will be added soon. the 25 of marketing, sales By and2019, general company plans to open 250 such stores, all management experience, spanning across of which of would be on thefoods, Franchisee model. sectors packaged beverages,

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56 MEDIA QUOTES Nina Lekhi, MD & Chief Design Curator, Baggit “We are already present in 100 cities through brick and mortar outlets and to reach out to the last mile audiences, we are also available in the leading online marketplaces of India, in addition to our own e-commerce portal baggit.com.”

Philip Auld, Managing Director, Trent

Harkirat Singh, Managing Director, Woodland

Asfar Zaidi , Managing Director and Co-founder, HRX

“Westside has larger plans for East zone and Kolkata is a very fashionable market where we decided to come up with this large format store, which stands as a testament to our brand.”

“We have recently expanded our business in collaboration with Aokang International to enter China. We are planning similar collaborations in some South African countries and Canada.”

Rajesh Jain, Managing Director and CEO, Sports and Leisure Apparel Ltd

Sundeep Chugh, Chief Executive Officer and MD Benetton India Sean Van Wyk, Senior Marketing Director, Adidas India

he brand sees itself much as the creator sports brand. All its products have got mazing innovation, fantastic technologies he thebrand received encouraging nd best product franklyanin the market right now. esponse for its Cult programmes and is ooking to expand pan-India by setting up more than 500 Cult centers across 15 key markets.

8-10 months. the company will add 40-50 new stores each year until it gets to 200.

INDUSTRY BYTE

Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Dilip Gaur, Award for Grasim Business Director,

Shilpi Modi, Director, Vedant Fashions

Pulp and Fiber Business, Aditya Birla Group

Liva ProtégéJabong is an excellent initiative, is expecting to which see ashowcases 55 per cent is heartening, how women across cities, young fashion designers to be mentored bywhich renowned revenue growth during FY19, is a 20 ountries have welcomed Mohey into their designers gives opportunity to begrowth perand cent pointthem jumpanover its estimated ashion and their life. Numbers simply reflect industryfinancial ready. year. for the current hat.

G

rasim Industries, the flagship company of the $43 billion Aditya Birla Group, has bagged the Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Award 2018 for its stellar performance in the textile sector. the award honored leading companies in India this year for being ‘Champions of Change’ in the transformation of the country.

Instituted in 2006, the Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards recognize outstanding Indian corporate.

Sushil Agarwal, whole-time director and CFO, Grasim Industries Limited

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“We are keenly watching the premium developments in Tier-I and Tier-II cities both in terms of consumer demographics and psychographics and also relevant retail developments.”

“India isSadhwani, our most important Suresh Business Head, market outside Italy. It is the Ananth Narayanan, CEO, Myntra and Brand Factory number one subsidiary outside Jabong The retail Italy chainand is set to open 40 new stores there is a lot of focus on to touch the the 100-store mark over the next Indian market.”

accepted the award on behalf of Grasim from Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State for Finance, Government of India.

Grasim recently made a paradigm shift in its manufacturing idiom and customer centricity. It morphed viscose staple fibre (VSF) from a commodity into a highly aspirational brand – Liva, currently tagged in over 30 million apparel.

Likewise, sustainability has come to be at the core of brand’s manufacturing, from forest to fibre to fashion.

J

NIFT to set up a campus in Jharkhand

harkhand will have a National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). A pioneer in fashion education, NIFT is headquartered in New Delhi.

NIFT was set up in 1986 in technical collaboration with Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. NIFT Delhi has produced a number of eminent alumni over the years like Rohit Bal, Ritu Beri, Manish Arora.

There are 15 such campuses

gateway to fashion world in the country with its proximity to Bollywood and fashion hub.

NIFT Mumbai has attained national repute for its preeminent status as an industry oriented state-of-the-art training centre and has reached the pinnacle of academic excellence and thought leadership on different fashion platforms.

NIFT is a statutory body under the textile ministry. The ministry

across the country.

For instance NIFT, Mumbai, due to the presence of the glamor world, major national, international fashion brands and retail houses provides an ideal environment for fashion students for industry exposure, classroom learning, projects and placements. It is the perfect

proposes names for the positions of Chairman and board members, and the president approves them. People from varying backgrounds come together and create a diverse yet collective environment. A variety of teaching and learning techniques are employed to impart knowledge and skills to students.

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