The Hindu Business Line : Raymond unveils Chairman's Collection in South

Raymond Ltd has unveiled its top-of-the-line range of suiting material, including the Chairman's Collection, in the Rs 4 lakh a suit price range, for the south Indian market.

At the launch on Sunday, Mr S.K. Singhal, President - Textiles, Raymond, said that the Chairman's Collection range puts Raymond in the finest of wools club and in the top bracket even among the finest European brand names.

But, what makes a suit length cost Rs 4 lakh ... Nature, says Mr Singhal.

Exclusivity

The wool purchased from Australia last year was one of a kind. Due to whatever quirk of nature, last year some sheep produced the finest wool about 11.8 micron thick... or thin (a micron is one millionth part of metre and refers to the fineness of wool). It was finer than human hair.

Only 90 kg of that kind of wool was produced and available at the auction.

Raymond picked it up at Rs 1.80 lakh a kg in competition with some of the biggest names in European fashion brands, he said.

So that brings in another factor, exclusivity. Any one buying a suit length can be sure that it is only one of 50 of its kinds in the world.

Now the buyer gets to carry the material away in a leather bag with a set of buttons, luxurious lining material and a coordinated silk tie. Raymond has sold over 35 of them and the sales is going fast.

The Chairman's Collection starts at about Rs 85,000 a suit length and includes fibres such as Vicuuna and Pashmina.

On show for the Raymond retailers, including the multi-brand outlets, was an entire range of material that costs a few thousand rupees a metre to a few lakh.

New strategy

According to Mr Kishor Bhatia, Senior Manager, Product & Outsourcing, Raymond, is trying out a change in its marketing effort.

Earlier it would allocate designs and materials for specific markets. But this time the show has the entire collection for the retailers to choose from.

To give a scale of what that means for the market, he says: Raymond releases up to 20,000 SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) a year. For the buyer it means 20,000 distinct designs.

The roadshow started in Kolkata and is now in Chennai. It will move to Delhi and Mumbai next. South is a major market for Raymond.

Mr S.L. Pokharna, Vice-President - Marketing & Commercial, Raymond, says that over 42 of Raymond's 300 exclusive outlets in India are in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The market here is booming.

Among the range on show was the Lineage Line, a collection of fine wool blended with fibre such as Cashmere, Camelhair and Mohair.

The Rennaisance Collection offers wool-rich fabrics and the Tasmania Collection of Tasmanian wool is a trendy range of business suits.

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Raymond unveils Chairman's Collection in South