Interviews
Clothing label brave hearts open new outlets despite slowdown
25 Apr '09
2 min read
It is said that the best time to expand your business is in times of recession, but how many of the entrepreneurs have the guts to believe in this adage is the moot question. But there is indeed a tribe of brave businessmen from the hosiery knitting and clothing industry are setting up new stores at a time when other major retailers are either downsizing or closing down operations.
Bison London, a Ludhiana based hosiery and garment brand is one such label which has expanded its retail footprint in recent months despite the adverse circumstances. The company Superfine Knitters recently opened showrooms in Ludhiana and Jammu and is planning to open more such outlets in Dehradun, Amritsar and Saharanpur.
Fibre2fashion spoke exclusively to Mr Vivek Lakra, Director of Superfine Knitters to know and understand his strategy. We asked him the rationale behind opening outlets in such difficult times, to which he explained, “We are opening stores in a very sensible way and on very reasonable costs in high potential area and we are rejecting deals where we predict poor sales and where we find costs are high”.
Next we asked him the unique selling proposition (USP) of his stores and his brand, to which he replied by saying, “Till date we have 7 stores operational and 90 percent of the feed back is fully positive on price, schemes we offer, product range, fitting, colour schemes, hand-feel of the fabrics, etc, which we consider as a excellent feed back and our USP is international clothing designed by global designers at genuine prices”.
To conclude the interview, we asked him his opinion as to when he expects the situation to stabilize, to which he said, “At least 1-2 years”. The other main reasons for this expansion by a few apparel brands is that store rentals have fallen by as much as 40 percent in some cities and towns and this could be the perfect time to open a store, before the rentals start moving northwards once again.
Bison London, a Ludhiana based hosiery and garment brand is one such label which has expanded its retail footprint in recent months despite the adverse circumstances. The company Superfine Knitters recently opened showrooms in Ludhiana and Jammu and is planning to open more such outlets in Dehradun, Amritsar and Saharanpur.
Fibre2fashion spoke exclusively to Mr Vivek Lakra, Director of Superfine Knitters to know and understand his strategy. We asked him the rationale behind opening outlets in such difficult times, to which he explained, “We are opening stores in a very sensible way and on very reasonable costs in high potential area and we are rejecting deals where we predict poor sales and where we find costs are high”.
Next we asked him the unique selling proposition (USP) of his stores and his brand, to which he replied by saying, “Till date we have 7 stores operational and 90 percent of the feed back is fully positive on price, schemes we offer, product range, fitting, colour schemes, hand-feel of the fabrics, etc, which we consider as a excellent feed back and our USP is international clothing designed by global designers at genuine prices”.
To conclude the interview, we asked him his opinion as to when he expects the situation to stabilize, to which he said, “At least 1-2 years”. The other main reasons for this expansion by a few apparel brands is that store rentals have fallen by as much as 40 percent in some cities and towns and this could be the perfect time to open a store, before the rentals start moving northwards once again.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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