With Healers, Liberty Shoes to step into premium segment

Footwear company Liberty Shoes is set to launch a new sub-brand called Healers that will be positioned in the premium segment.

The company will create a separate retail identity for Healers with exclusive showrooms.

Anupam Bansal, Executive Director, Retail, Liberty Shoes, said: “We have reoriented our business strategy and the sub-brand Healers has been conceived to tap the premium segment. With the growing health and fitness awareness levels, Healers is targeted at modern consumers and is designed to give them comfort and style.”

Healers, which caters to both men and women, will be priced in the range of ₹3,000 to ₹10,000. The company plans to launch it later this month, in time for the upcoming festival season.

On the distribution strategy, Bansal said: “We have strategically decided not to club Healers with our regular Liberty range.

“We will be focussing on leveraging a separate distribution network for it. Initially, we will open about five exclusive outlets in Delhi-NCR and Lucknow, which will be gradually expanded to other key cities.

“We will also tie up with modern format and department stores and e-commerce platforms to sell Healers.”

The company, which is investing about ₹25 crore in launching the sub-brand, could also look at retailing it through the shop-n-shop format at select Liberty outlets initially. Liberty’s revenues now stand at ₹500 crore and it is aiming to increase it to ₹650 crore in two years.

Talking about consumer sentiment after GST implementation, Bansal said: “Post-GST, the market was in a bit of a lull. However, we are quite hopeful that it will bounce back. We believe GST will help in expanding the organised footwear segment.”

About 85 per cent of the country’s footwear market is currently unorganised. The organised segment is smaller, but growing at 10-12 per cent year-on-year.