Replay Square to launch coats and blazers

Though Replay Square has seen a good booking season with 40 percent rise over the last year, the brand from Replay Fashions expects to register around 10 percent growth season. Stating the reasons behind this, R Kapoor, Director, Replay Fashions says, “We make jackets on single

 needle machines. So the labour shortage affects us. We had to revise our growth targets. Till last year, we had 30 percent growth but now we can’t hope for more than 10 percent.”

The company manufactures jackets for the young which are elegant and have subtle elements of fashion. “For men, we start from the age of 18 and go till 50 years. We also make jackets for girls in the age-group of 16-35 years,” explains Kapoor. The brand plans to add a line of coats and blazers under its product portfolio.

Coats and blazers the new additions

Replay Square only deals in jackets in price range Rs 2,300 to Rs 4,000. “We are doing research to test coats and blazers under our portfolio and are soon preparing to launch these,” avers Kapoor.

For Autum/Winter 2013 the jackets on offer are in vibrant colours like a lighter form of blue, green since there is a demand for brighter shades this time, apart from the usual dark colours. The brand’s representatives travel to China and Turkey to study the latest trends in jackets. Then they prepare their own sample sets. “These international markets give us knowhow about raw material and accessories. The latest trends have shifted to cotton jackets, cotton coated, plain twills etc. We are developing some fluffy jackets which are very popular internationally. Last year, the colour story was black, olive, brown etc,” elaborates Kapoor.

New store additions

Replay Square goes to every part of north India where it’s cold. The brand has agents and distributors in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Assam and supplies to approximately 225 MBOs. “We are not dealing with the large format stores because they want everything on a consignment basis, which we are not ready to do yet. On the other hand, we feel that the concept of jackets category is not understood well by the corporate large formats. We try and add at least 10 to 15 percent shops every year,” Kapoor explains.

Replay Square was established in 1994 in Ludhiana and it started off by making jackets, which generated a good response in the market. Kapoor also started manufacturing denims and ladies tops but later decided to concentrate only on the jackets category as he felt this itself could give volumes in his business. “My product has been well accepted and we have had a fantastic journey so far,” he sums up.