Interviews
Existing brands will gasp for breath - CEO, Forbes Brands
22 Mar '10
3 min read
Forbes Brands, the apparel division of the Shapoorji Pallonji owned, Gokak Textiles is launching a new youth-centric brand; 'Facit', which is aimed at the men's category and the youth in particular by focusing on T-Shirts and innerwear segments. Forbes is targeting the larger mid-segment of the apparel market, again of which, a particular segment in the youth category. The T-shirts will be priced between Rs 300-400 to fulfill the market-demand for these products at those price-levels.
Of the total organized clothing industry in India, the T-shirt segment accounts for Rs 4,000 worth of business, but is highly fragmented, due to the high number of regional players competing for a bigger pie of the market for T-Shirts. Forbes Brands will also unveil a range of men's innerwear in the mid to premium category and will be pitched against the likes of Jockey and Hanes in the over Rs one billion middle to premium category.
Forbes Brands has invested Rs 35 million in the new brand till date and the investment has been primarily made into creating a world-class manufacturing setup, which will churn out around 300,000 T-shirts and five million units of innerwear products per annum. Utmost care has been taken to develop the best-quality products that will deliver best comfort year-on-year.
Fibre2fashion spoke exclusively to Mr Nischal Puri, Brand Creation Specialist and CEO, Forbes Brands to know more about this new venture. We began by asking him the strategy behind developing the new brand 'Facit', to which Mr Puri observed by saying, “54 percent of the Indian population is less than 25 years of age, which means, we are an extremely young nation and the youth has a very distinct and unique and ever evolving mindset.
“Innovations in outerwear be it denim or formal shirts has kept pace with the evolving needs of the young consumers, however the men's innerwear segment has not witnessed any substantial innovations. Present market leaders in the middle and premium segment have been taking consumers for granted, due to which it is of no surprise that father and son are consuming the same men innerwear brand while their preferences in all other apparel categories are very distinct.
“Facit is an unmistakably youth brand while other players in the market will copy the products and other marketing aspects of Facit, however, they will not be able to copy the DNA of the brand Facit”, he concluded by saying.
Revealing his expectations from the brand, he said, “We are confident that Facit will be responsible for major churning in the men innerwear segment as many of the existing brands will be left gasping for breath on the unique marketing mix that Facit will deliver and further to this, I am confident that the consumer will realize that they have been underserved by the existing brands in terms of product and the brand experience.”
When asked, as to how they expected to stand out in the clutter of various brands in the market, he replied by saying, “We believe in following the consumer, be it in terms of their buying habits or their brand selection methodology as consumers are the best teachers for the brands, since we also believe that the best brand vision is the consumer insight.
He closed the interview by tacitly saying, "We have some path-breaking consumer insights, that we have invested in the brand and we are sure that, post test-marketing, the brand has much more to offer to the consumer's, vis-à-vis existing players, which will make it impossible for the consumer, not to be delighted.”
Of the total organized clothing industry in India, the T-shirt segment accounts for Rs 4,000 worth of business, but is highly fragmented, due to the high number of regional players competing for a bigger pie of the market for T-Shirts. Forbes Brands will also unveil a range of men's innerwear in the mid to premium category and will be pitched against the likes of Jockey and Hanes in the over Rs one billion middle to premium category.
Forbes Brands has invested Rs 35 million in the new brand till date and the investment has been primarily made into creating a world-class manufacturing setup, which will churn out around 300,000 T-shirts and five million units of innerwear products per annum. Utmost care has been taken to develop the best-quality products that will deliver best comfort year-on-year.
Fibre2fashion spoke exclusively to Mr Nischal Puri, Brand Creation Specialist and CEO, Forbes Brands to know more about this new venture. We began by asking him the strategy behind developing the new brand 'Facit', to which Mr Puri observed by saying, “54 percent of the Indian population is less than 25 years of age, which means, we are an extremely young nation and the youth has a very distinct and unique and ever evolving mindset.
“Innovations in outerwear be it denim or formal shirts has kept pace with the evolving needs of the young consumers, however the men's innerwear segment has not witnessed any substantial innovations. Present market leaders in the middle and premium segment have been taking consumers for granted, due to which it is of no surprise that father and son are consuming the same men innerwear brand while their preferences in all other apparel categories are very distinct.
“Facit is an unmistakably youth brand while other players in the market will copy the products and other marketing aspects of Facit, however, they will not be able to copy the DNA of the brand Facit”, he concluded by saying.
Revealing his expectations from the brand, he said, “We are confident that Facit will be responsible for major churning in the men innerwear segment as many of the existing brands will be left gasping for breath on the unique marketing mix that Facit will deliver and further to this, I am confident that the consumer will realize that they have been underserved by the existing brands in terms of product and the brand experience.”
When asked, as to how they expected to stand out in the clutter of various brands in the market, he replied by saying, “We believe in following the consumer, be it in terms of their buying habits or their brand selection methodology as consumers are the best teachers for the brands, since we also believe that the best brand vision is the consumer insight.
He closed the interview by tacitly saying, "We have some path-breaking consumer insights, that we have invested in the brand and we are sure that, post test-marketing, the brand has much more to offer to the consumer's, vis-à-vis existing players, which will make it impossible for the consumer, not to be delighted.”
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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