Raymond’s big plans for Park Avenue Woman

Park Avenue, from the house of Raymond, launched its flagship store of woman’s range ‘Park Avenue Woman’ at Grand Galleria in Phoenix Mills, Mumbai yesterday. Inaugurated by Nawaz Singhania in the presence of Gautam Hari Singhania,

CMD, Raymond, the store offers the brand’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection for women. The new contemporary store format has been designed to exude warmth and facilitate a superior shopping experience at par with international standards, providing customers with ample space to browse through the display, and easier access to specific apparel categories.

As Gautam Hari Singhania says, “Park Avenue Woman is a new vertical for Raymond and we are here to do serious business in this category. There is enough room in the women’s wear market. We are a men’s wear brand but I think we will have enough expertise in the women’s wear segment too.” He points out that “Raymond has been contemplating retail and product development of all its major brands and the launch of Park Avenue Woman flagship store is a step towards this direction. Look at Raymond made-to-measure, we have invested in it and today, it is one of the best performing entities of Raymond. We will continue our expansion plans with all our brands.” Gautam Singhania goes on to say they have no plans to tie-up for any licensee agreement. “GAS was a good learning for us and we have realized that Raymond has the best portfolio of brands. We have huge plans with each of our brands, both in terms of retail and product development.”

Raymond’s annual results were announced yesterday and the company’s consolidated profits grew by 190 per cent to Rs 156 cores. And he is very optimistic about Raymond’s future. “Yes, the industry has definitely gone through a bad phase, but Raymond has been successful in posting a good turnover. That’s because of its long proven strength both in terms of fabric and ready to wear. We have the best of the brands in our portfolio. We have heavily invested and developed these brands. Raymond speaks about quality in every term and this has been recognized with our presence in every nook and corner of the country. For example, I had been to Bangladesh and saw Raymond fabric being used on Giorgio Armani swatches. This is our strength. We have tried to do what was wanted in that space.”

Launched in 1986, Park Avenue is Raymond’s formal wear brand. The Park Avenue Woman collection will be offering chic and sensuous formal wear for woman in lighter fabrics for summer 2012. Smart business jackets, shift dresses, narrow fitted cropped trousers and an elegant range of super premium white shirts are the major highlights of the range. The new store displays a new collection each month such as Apollo, Jardiner, Tube and Edit. Nawaz Modi Singhania goes on to add “We will soon be introducing a denim line for Park Avenue Woman. We have some great hand bags and purses and belts in accessories and wish to add to accessories to the segment. There is a lot we can do with our strength. We are positioned in the premium segment. With the new spring/summer you can see a lot of sun kissed color palettes and very fine fabrics that we have introduced. The brand is very close to my heart and I feel it is the best match for an upwardly mobile working woman.”