Hard Currency: Looking to scale up business across states

Denim brand Hard Currency from Aru Enterprises is buoyant about the festive season ahead. As Paresh Chandan, Director, Aru Enterprises, “The market has been growing in terms of sales. I am hoping the fair season goes off well compared

to the beginning of the year. Apart from the states we are present in, we have started distributing in Bihar and Maharashtra and have launched our first season in Gujarat; Madhya Pradesh is next in the pipeline.”

With denims as its core range, the brand has been playing around with different styles in denim to fulfill the consumer demand. As Chandan points out, “We are a brand that caters to all age groups. We have a range of core products that include silky denim and ecru -- a stretch garment that comes in various colours. We make 80 per cent stretch garments and 20 per cent non-stretch and have changed our fits, designs, washes, to cater to the north Indian market.”

Hard Currency also uses a lot of accessories like leather, rivets, buttons, labels, tags, fancy back patches, tags and fancier washes. The fashion of subtle looking garments, according to Chandan, is no more in vogue so brands use brighter threads, printing and embroidery on the garment.

Hard Currency collection is present in more than 500 MBOs across India. The focus is more on distributors and agents and less in direct retail side of business. Commenting on the previous dull seasons, Chandan says, “If we were faced with low demand last year, I am sure even others retailers did the same. Now that consumers have accepted higher prices, I am sure retailers will benefit from it. Since there isn’t much difference between prices of similar products, sales should be stable.”

The brand enjoys considerable popularity in smaller cities and the share of sales from Tier II cities is higher compared to metros. Citing the reasons behind this, Chandan says, “First is that our prices are reasonable. Second, not many brands are present in Tier II cities moreover Tier II consumers don’t like too many fancy washes on the garment since they believe that constant washing will increase the chances of garment getting torn easily. When they buy a product they want value for money and durability, which our collection provides.”