Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Oct 28, 2006
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Oct 28, 2006 ePaper |
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Marketing
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Brands Industry & Economy - Knitwear & Hosiery States - Tamil Nadu Tirupur exporters keen to knit a strong retail network G. Gurumurthy
`Brand' wagon Exporters face shrinking margins and looming threat of Chinese competition Plans for branded products, retailing to tap domestic market
Coimbatore , Oct. 27 Tirupur knitwear industry may have missed out on an early opportunity for a `generic' branding of its products. But now, some knitwear exporters want to establish their own identity either through product branding or branded retailing. Their move owes partly to the evolving trade scenario — creation of highly productive infrastructure on the manufacturing side and shrinking margins in export merchandises. The likely change in the global garment market beyond 2008, when China's massive textile industry will be freed from quota restrictions, is also prompting Tirupur knitters to look for an alternative stable market through the branded product platform. There are at least three emerging groups of knitwear exporters in Tirupur who are seriously attempting to join the `brand' wagon, according to Mr Shashi Menon, a branding consultant. The first kind want to develop their own brands and the Royal Classic Group, which is steadfastly building `Classic Polo' men's apparel brand, is one of them. The second kind want to explore the domestic market. The third kind appear more interested in promoting organised retailing, which besides offering a sustainable market for in-house products will also help provide retailing solutions for other labels as well.
Domestic forays
This last group of knitwear producers, who have already established themselves as high-volume garment suppliers for global retailers/ labels, now have the potential to team up as trade partners with their overseas principals or take up franchisee retailing for the foreign labels. This group is readying its plans for domestic retailing by buying out existing domestic brands. The game plan is to further expand the branded outlets/multi-brand stores/ shop-in-shops under the existing retail network. The Royal Classic group, which first set up an exclusive showroom in Hyderabad in 2004, understands the growth potential for domestic apparel brands, despite the pains associated with the brand-building. "With just `T-shirt' we could not sustain a showroom initially. So we slowly got into shirts and now into trousers along with T-shirts. Every day we introduce three new styles in T-shirts. But no shop-in-shop will allow me to do this, hence the need for own brand and exclusive showrooms," says Mr Sivaram, Executive Director of the Rs 225-crore Royal Classic group. Branded retailing does fuel growth for the company's products but also requires adequate funding, he says. Eastman Exports, the garment export flagship of Eastman Exports Global Clothing (P) Ltd, is another knitwear major waiting to enter the domestic market. The Rs 600-crore company, which supplies many major EU/US retailers and European brands, was recently approved as the licensee for Tommy Hilfiger's inner-garments and boxer-shorts for the Indian market. "We have definite plans for the booming domestic market," says Mr Chandran, Managing Director of the company. But how steadfast are the Tirupur knitters in pursuing the brand-building route. The brand promotion efforts are at a nascent stage, according to Mr Menon, who says that the players' possessiveness over their `brands in-progress' prevents them from using the services of professional brand managers. "But we expect this phase to end soon as the Tirupur market may require the services of at least 50 brand managing professionals in the coming days," he says.
More Stories on : Brands | Knitwear & Hosiery | Tamil Nadu
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