Page Industries, the exclusive licensee of American clothing brand Jockey, says it expects to increase supplies from Bangladesh. The company entered the country about 18 months back.

“Bangladesh is the largest apparel supplier for all the major brands in Europe. It is advanced in terms of quality and the cost of labour is also cheap. So, our long-term vision is to increase Bangladesh supplies,” said Chandrasekar K, Chief Financial Officer, Page Industries.

This is even as Page is setting up a new facility in Odisha which will significantly increase the company’s manufacturing capacity. “The new unit in Odisha is expected to be completed by mid of FY23. It is spread over 6.5 lakh square feet and will add at least 20 per cent to our (manufacturing) capacity,” said Chandrasekar. Once the Odisha facility comes on stream the company will have 32 lakh square feet of total manufacturing space.

Page Industries is aiming for a revenue of $1 billion (₹81,00 crore) by FY26, the CFO added. The company reported revenue of ₹1,341.27 crore in Q1 and intends to expand its capacity to achieve its ambitious sales target of $1 billion in four years. Outlining how they would achieve it, Chandrasekar said, “We plan to double our capacity across the board. Moreover, we will increase our market penetration and focus on premiumisation.”

Currently, Page Industries produces 260 million garment pieces annually, with 70 per cent of the volume produced in-house and 30 per cent outsourced. It has 14 manufacturing units, the majority of which are in Karnataka.

Price Hike  

The company has not ruled out another price hike if needed. Chandrasekar said, “Although since April, the raw material prices have started reversing, there are other inflationary pressures. We wouldn’t take a price increase to improve margins, but to maintain the margins at 20-21 per cent.”

Prior to Covid-19, Page Industries would raise prices by 4 per cent annually to reflect factors such as rising input costs and wage costs. “In FY22, during the first quarter, we took a hike of around 5 per cent, and in Q3 of the same year, we took an increase of approximately 8 per cent,” he added.

Offline outlets

The company’s pre-pandemic offline footprint was 65,000 retail outlets, including both exclusive and multi-brand outlets. At present, it has around 120,000 retail outlets. The company said it has entered new geographies and tier-3 and -4 towns.

“We have doubled the channel presence because we were among the first brands to be back in the market and were ensuring that all the channel partners got the volumes. The reliability factor has helped us gain the marketplace,” explained the CFO.

Range of products  

The apparel company is also looking to introduce new lines of products that are durable and functional. “In men’s innerwear, we plan to introduce more products in the premium space in men’s underwear. For women – underwear and bras, we are exploring the functional space which is suitable for all occasions and needs of women,” said the CFO.

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