Clothing Culture launches Monte Bianco a ‘Not So Formal’ brand

Clothing Culture, a part of the Rs 4,500 crores conglomerate-Balkrishna Industries popularly known as BKT has launched ‘Monte Bianco’, a collection that is ‘Not So Formal’ recently. Monte Bianco is a high fashion semi-formal brand, designed specifically for young professionals, it is a bridge to the aspirations of young professionals. The aesthetic, uncluttered and clean look makes Monte Bianco stand out. The brand exemplifies this and highlights the fact that whether at work or play, or anywhere in between, the essence of one’s personality both literally and figuratively is visible. During the launch, Vijaylaxmi Poddar, MD, Clothing Culture said, “Monte Bianco is a value added product. This is inspired by creative inputs from Milan, the fashion hub of the world. We have a design house in Italy. And we are tweaking the formal category with the punchline ‘Not so Formal’.”

Making a bold statement with Monte Bianco

The consumer profile for the brand is young professionals between 23- 35 years. These are urban youth who understand fashion and want to make a bold statement. Monte Bianco is priced right to meet the aspirations of its target group. The brand will be launched in more than 250 outlets with a combination of MBOs and selective LFS. The products will start rolling from end of July ’17.

The logo was unveiled by Poddar and Pooja Dhoot, Director, Cothing Culture. At the launch ceremony, the showstopper for the evening, Dino Morea, added a touch of finesse to the event. Talking about the brand Morea said, “Monte Bianco, is here to change the way we look at menswear. The fit and the comfort of the brand are to watch out for.”

Poddar adds, “Monte Bianco is more a semi formal range. We decided on this because of the big gap in the market. It’s not for the very young. We target first time CEOs, first time office goers, young professionals and business executives who are launching start-ups. Today, people want some detailing in their shirt. Shirt fabrics have cottons, linens and stretch. We have innovated fabrics with hand and feel. We added fabric blends and new designs,” she explains. And goes on to add “We are tweaking the formal category and our punchline is ‘Not so Formal’. In the formal space we give a differentiated product. Freshness lies in the idea, product, and category. This is an interesting option to the crisp formals, i.e laidback casuals. It is ideal for occasions that can’t be strictly defined as formal or casual.” Monte Bianco collection, in addition to shirts has non-denims, cotton trousers, chinos and khakis. A lot of 25 year olds wear these trousers. And the fit is denim. “It is a denim version of a product in cotton.

Clothing Culture also has an established denim brand Sin Jeans, which is total casuals and aimed at 16 to 27 year olds. The brand offers denim shirts with dobbies, double fabrics, prints, etc. Sin offers denim in slim and skinny.

Charting out a retail network

About the retail channel for both brands she says “We will have different channels and different distributors for the two brands. We will fine tune our presence in Monte Bianco. We are a specialized brand focused on this endeavor. There is no other standalone brand in this category and with this product positioning. At the most big brands may have extended themselves or have a sub brand. You can’t be everything to everyone. So we sensed an opportunity. Now it depends on how we exploit it.” Poddar explains they have access to the best technicians through their Italian arm. Developments are customised to requirement and market. “These will give us more strength in selling a pair of jeans. We are planning retail expansion. This is essential for a brand’s identity and footprint. We will take the brands to a bigger and better level. We will go across the country. The North is our focus of expansion. We will build a portfolio of brands. We will do backward integration to the level needed,” Poddar avers.

She goes on to say, they will provide international quality at Indian prices. “To enable us to do that we are setting up our own manufacturing and one plant is coming up in Daman. This will expand the production facility and will have state of the art technology like a washing unit and related processes.” Talking about changing consumer trends, Poddar informed, “I have seen changes in the last five years I didn’t see in many decades. Men have started experimenting with collars and colors like pink, white, violet, green, orange, lavender, etc. That means there are a lot of colours in the wardrobe. Wardrobes are expanding. Morning wear, office wear, evening wear, party wear, etc., are all different.