Comments
American youth apparel brand Aeropostale is keenly looking at sourcing opportunities from India for both the domestic and global retail expansion.
The company, which has a licensing agreement with textile major Arvind Ltd, said it will use the latter’s omni-channel platform NNNow.com to scale up its presence in the omni-channel format even as it strengthens the brick and mortar retail format.
“We are looking at sourcing to cut the reliance on imports and keep the pricing competitive for the Indian market. We are in early stages of sourcing from India for the local market. India has a lot of opportunity and 75 per cent of what we source globally can be sourced from here. Besides a broad skilled opportunity, we can quickly react to the local market demands,” Kenneth Ohashi, Senior VP, International and Global Licensing, Aeropostale, told BusinessLine .
Ohashi said that international expansion was a key strategy for the company. “India is a very important part of our strategy. It serves as a cornerstone of our expansion here. In the next five years, we expect India to represent 20 per cent of our sales outside the US,” he added.
Aeropostale has presence in 300 locations and 20 countries outside of the US. Aeropostale has global sales of $1.5 billion.
Ohashi said the company has six stores in India. “We are also piloting our stores in Indore. This is a youthful brand and will have resonance with young consumers,” he added.
Arvind Ltd said its subsidiary Arvind Lifestyle will open 30 standalone stores and 25 shop-in-shops for Aeropostale over the next three years. The company will also launch an Aeropostale e-commerce site for the country.
J Suresh, MD and CEO, Arvind Lifestyle Brands Ltd, said Aeropostale had sold apparel worth ₹8 lakh daily on average in its first month of operations in India. “We are growing three times as compared to our nearest competitor. We are looking at a break-even in three years’ time with Aeropostale,” he added.
Arvind Ltd will make the investments in India for Aeropostale’s retail expansions. Suresh said the company invests about ₹4 crore per store. Aeropostale store size ranges from 3,500-4,500 sq ft.
Arvind retails brands such as GAP, Sephora, The Children’s Place, Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica and Ed Hardy.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.