In 1992, two young entrepreneurs thought of launching their own apparel brand. The crusading Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were riding the crest of popularity then, having made their journey from comic books to TV to Hollywood, inspiring the owners to name their line of menswear after it. Turtle was thus born in 1993.

Nearly two decades later, the brand from the east (headquartered in Howrah, West Bengal) is now going through a second re-branding exercise to make itself more ‘youth-centric’. Re-branding began October onwards.

“Our logo now reflects youthfulness and international appeal. The new offerings are vibrant and stylish. Stores too are getting modern interiors and trendy fit-outs,” Amit Ladsaria, Director, Turtle, told BrandLine .

Turtle isn’t the only apparel major that has gone in for re-branding. Allen Solly, the Rs 500-crore Madura Fashion brand from the Aditya Birla Nuvo group is undergoing its first re-branding exercise after being purchased by the Birlas.

Besides the Ladsarias, the Jhunjhunwalas are the other family that own the Rs 123-crore Turtle brand. The new logo features the image of a ‘Turtle’ and the brand also sports its name boldly with the ‘R’ having a “wagging end”.

“The name symbolises our product. Hardy outside, soft inside,” adds Ladsaria.

And in sync with its new look, Turtle is now an end-to-end menswear player. Going beyond just formal wear, it now offers casual wear and semi-formals (that include denims and winter wear).

Ladsaria adds that re-branding will cost Turtle Rs 3-4 crore and it factors in the new logo design and remodelling of its 58-odd stores countrywide. The revamp is expected to be completed by March 2013.

New Look

Despite the 20-year long journey, Ladsaria has stuck to one point. Turtle won’t immediately sport its logo on all its offerings.

The formal wear range or trousers do not have a logo. Names/logo appear below the collar in shirts.

However, recent offerings such as winter wear (pullovers) and some of the casual wear range, such as jeans, do have the new logo.

“We are against using a logo on our apparel. We do not want the user to be a walking hoarding for the brand. We do receive customer requests for displaying the logo,” he adds.

Friday Dressing specialist Allen Solly too is treading the makeover path, beginning February.

Competition has necessitated the change, say market sources.Not only that, semi-formal wear in bright colours and varied fabrics has replaced the corporate world’s stiff and starchy formal wear look, so Friday Dressing ceased to have relevance. Company officials, though, maintain that the re-branding is primarily for better consumer connect.

The brand has roots in Britain. Earlier, a ram and a stag, symbolic of the British wool industry and the city of Nottingham, where Allen Solly sprung from, featured in its logo, but now, the New York-based Graj + Gustavsen, brand strategy consultants, have designed a logo that is a stylised stag. Aditya Birla Nuvo is looking to give 45 of its stores a new look by January this year.

Store interiors are being redone from scratch. After getting UK-based design consultants Dalziel & Pow to redo a Bangalore store as a pilot project some months ago, other stores are being revamped with the fresh retail identity and new interiors.

Store revamp will cost the company nearly Rs 38 lakh per 1,500 sq. ft. Rough calculations suggest store revamping is likely to cost the brand more than Rs 20 crore across 45 outlets.

“The remaining 100-odd stores are likely to be revamped soon but over a period of time,” says Sooraj Bhat, brand head, Allen Solly.

According to him, the company has already seen a 30 per cent growth in the revamped stores.

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