Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Apr 20, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Apr 20, 2006 |
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Marketing
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Brands Global kids wear brand Whoopi to enter India Our Bureau
Chennai , April 19 Whoopi, an international kids wear brand, will shortly be launched in India. Hucke AG of Germany, which owns the Whoopi brand, has tied up with the Hyderabad-based Novotex Exim (India) Pvt Ltd to launch the garments for children up to the age of 12 years. Novotex Exim will commission in June a factory in Hyderabad where it will manufacture garments under the Whoopi brand. Novotex has an agreement with Hucke under which the German company will buy back a bulk of the garments produced by Novotex, according to its Executive Director, Mr Venkat R.V. He told a press conference here today that Novotex would invest Rs 4.5 crore on the plant, which would have a capacity of 50,000 pieces a month. In the second phase, Novotex would invest about Rs 8 crore on a dyeing and processing plant to ensure that the garments used anti-allergic dyes. Novotex would invest another Rs 4 crore in setting up retail stores across the country and in brand promotion. Mr Venkat said that about 45 per cent of the investment in the first phase would come from him and his family and the balance through debt. Novotex was the master franchisee for Hucke for South Asia for all its brands. Apart from Whoopi, Hucke has brands like More & More, Steiff Collection, and Harry Potter Collection, he said. He said that Novotex planned to set up 20 exclusive Whoopi stores this year across the country and 200 shop-in-shops in leading multi-brand outlets. Mr Venkat said another Novotex group company was supplying Hucke for men's wear for the last few years. This business was worth about Rs 10 crore. In the first year of operation of the kids wear business, Novotex hoped to achieve a turnover of Rs 25 crore, with Rs 15 crore coming from exports. Over the next three years, he hoped that sales would touch the Rs 100 crore market, with about Rs 30 crore coming from domestic sales. Apart from apparels, which would be available in the price range of Rs 200 to Rs 1,500, Novotex would also sell other Hucke accessories such as belts, sandals and sun goggles. Mr Venkat said the size of the Indian kids wear market was estimated at Rs 8,700 crore, with branded apparels accounting for just 7 per cent. While the Indian kids wear market had about 300 designs, Hucke had close to 6,000 designs, which was a major advantage that Novotex would enjoy, he said.
More Stories on : Brands | Readymade Garments | Children & Parenting
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