– Central and Lifestyle tie up with Isabelle
Isabelle, the Delhi-based kidswear brand, has tied up with multi-brand retailers Central and Lifestyle.
Confirming the news to Indiaretailing, Vikas Khanna, owner of the brand, said, “We have tied up with Lifestyle and Central, who will stock our apparel range. We are also in talks with Brand Factory, and if everything goes well, we will soon be seen in other leading retail outlets in the country.”
Speaking about the brand, Khanna said, “We source products from designers based in Italy and some other European countries. Our brand has been getting a good response at the expo and we feel that we are going to be at par with other leading brands in the category.
Discussing about their target consumers, Khanna said, “We are primarily targeting the upper middle-class and have priced our collections at Rs 750 and onwards.”
Speaking about the competition in the market, Khanna said that India still has a lot of scope in this niche category, as there are only a handful of brands in the country. According to Khanna, joining hands with more established retailers can help kidswear brands emerge more forcefully.
– Taurus to open standalone outlets
At present, the brand retails through its shop-in-shops at Big Jo’s, Ritu Wears, Gyans, Moksha, Neeru’s and Mebaz. The brand has its presence in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Chennai, among others.
Speaking about this niche segment, Gupta said that there is a huge opportunity in this sector and the market can be tapped very easily. “But, for that, we require a more dedicated workforce to help us,” said Gupta.
– W targeting 100 new outlets
Womenswear brand W is planning to open 100 new stores in the next three years. TCNS Cloting, the company behind the brand, will invest about Rs 60 crore for these expansions.
“We are planning to open 100 new stores in the next three years. Each of these stores will be opened with an average investment of Rs 60 lakh,” TCNS Clothing Pvt. Ltd CEO Vijay Mishra said on the sidelines of Pure and Play. “We will also increase the size of our outlets by up to 1,500 square feet,” he added.
TCNS is also looking to foray into jewellery and other fashion accessories segment, and is presently talking to various players.
– Titan aiming to be a billion-dollar company
Backed by major expansion plans for its jewellery, watches and eyewear divisions in India, Titan Industries is aiming to become a billion-dollar company by the end of this fiscal year. Besides, the company is also planning to enter the US market with the Tanishq brand of jewellery by next month.
“Last year we had turnover of Rs 3,000 crore, and this fiscal we are looking at crossing the Rs 4,000-crore mark. By then, we would have become a billion-dollar company,” V Govind Raj, vice-president, retail and marketing, Titan Industries, told media on the sidelines of Pure and Play.
Sharing expansion plans for this fiscal, he said that about 40 new Tanishq jewellery stores will be opened. “In the watches segment, we are increasing the number to 300 stores from the existing 240, while in the eyewear segment we are increasing the number of stores to 60 by the end of this fiscal, from the present 20,” Raj said.
– Satrajit Sen
