Mustang to open own kiosks next year

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lanning to launch five kiosks by next year, brand Mustang is looking to focus on legwear, while also adding to its range range of scarves and gloves sometime in future. The company is also in the process of getting socks manufacturers together to form an association. “It will represent the socks industry.

It will help us talk to yarn suppliers. About six or seven manufacturers have shown interest. We are trying to get at least the bigger brands like Bonjour and Black Panther together. Smaller brands will follow. We plan to talk to AEPC as well,” explains Lubeina Shahpurwala, Director, Mustang Enterprises.

Opening Kiosks the next retail plan

“We may have five kiosks next year. These will be in Maharashtra and will help us showcase our range. Our range is in 2,500 MBOs like Amarsons, Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle. We also export to the Middle East and Europe and are looking at exploring the US. We do 60 per cent domestic and 40 per cent exports,” explains Shahpurwala.

Innovating with socks portfolio

Mustang produces a colourful range. “We have made socks an object of desire. And the Indian market is ready to accept it. We have warmers, floor socks, kids’ socks and cater to all age groups right from newborns. We have three dimensional socks and were the first to introduce leg warmers in India,” avers Shahpurwala.

The USP of Mustang is its innovative style, novel design concept, vibrant colours and shades, and fusion of all these concepts using perfect cotton quality and latest technology. Mustang’s constant innovation and evolution makes its products stand out. Besides socks and designer legwarmers it has tights for women and kids, specialty socks for diabetics, handkerchiefs, headbands, vests and undergarments for kids.

The company had also launched its first campaign called ‘Saddi Diili’ recently. This social media initiative was run until December 15, 2013 aimed to develop designs with Mustang fans based on the ‘Saddi Dilli’ theme after the successful response from their ‘Aamchi Mumbai’ collection in the past. Aamchi Mumbai socks had images of auto rickshaws, Gateway of India, BEST bus, local trains etc. And Saddi Dilli range has images of Qutub Minar etc.

Thermolite and Cool Max by Invista are some of brand’s launches. Thermolite socks keep the wearer warm because of the hollow pores inside. “At some point we will have scarves and gloves but our focus will be legwear,” opined Shahpurwala.

The brand launched by Shahpurwala 15 years ago has had a successful journey so far. As Shahpurwala says, “The brand was not in an organized structure. I saw it had tremendous potential. I wanted to make the product known. I set about organising the structure. We began because of the need to provide better quality socks. About 25 years back you had mostly nylon socks. We introduced the idea of cotton socks.”

Mustang caters to other brands like: Adidas, Ginger, Next, Debenhams and holds 10-15 per cent of the entire market share. With three operating units and a capacity of producing around 10 million pairs of socks, the company is looking at expanding and growing by 10-15 per cent every year. Plans are also afoot to introduce innovative socks styles for kids having latest technology.