The Hindu Business Line : Womenswear brand W plans expansion

IT'S a Rs 4,500-crore market in the top 30 cities, and the business is a tightrope to walk as women are still rather conservative. But the salwar kameez dupatta market is growing at 11 per cent a year, and promises to expand considerably, which makes W, the womenswear brand, bullish about its prospects.

The brand, which claims to offer much value addition to the typical salwar kameez, is ramping up operations this year. It aims to be available in 250 outlets by the end of fiscal 2007. Now it is available in 120 outlets, which is a mix of exclusive stores, department stores and multi-brand outlets.

Speaking to Business Line here, Mr Vijay K. Misra, CEO, W, said the brand had been consolidating in the past year but was now eyeing rapid expansion "through every form and shape". This also includes a greater focus on the South. The company now has 32 exclusive outlets in 14 cities, with New Delhi alone accounting for 11. It aims to have 60 by March 2007.

It is also venturing into shop-in-shop format stores. The new outlets of the Lifestyle chain of stores will all contain W shops-in-shops. The brand is present in all the major department stores such as Pantaloons and Shoppers' Stop. The target is to have 90 points of sale across these kind of stores; that figure now stands at 60.

W is also present in around 30 multibrand outlets spread across cities and smaller towns such as Madurai and Kochi where exclusive outlets are not viable. It hopes to expand its presence in this quarter to a 100 stores.

The strategy is to be in the right retail locations, so much so that the Chennai outlet in Spencer Plaza, deemed too small for the range of its products, was closed down a few days ago and will relocate to another mall expected to come up next month, Mr Misra said.

Women have few options when it comes to office wear and W aims to fill that space with its Indo-Western `related separates', he said. Related separates are co-ordinated salwar kameezes sold as individual pieces that can be mixed and matched for multiple combinations, he explained.

Mr Misra claimed W was the first brand to evolve six-point sizing for its clothes after doing an anthropometric study of the human form. The clothes are kept trendy by combining international trends with Indian forms, he said. Also, the fits are slim, to flatter the wearer.

W is owned by the TCNS group, a manufacturer and exporter to some of the world's major brands such as Levi's, Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Saks and J. C. Penney.

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