CottonKing firms up retail expansion plans

Pune-based clothing manufacturer CottonKing is on expansion mode. The firm is looking at doubling the number of stores next year and by 2020, it is targeting 200 stores in the franchise model. Already, the company has started expanding in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In addition, they will also explore overseas markets, especially the UAE.

The brand is also looking at a modest growth in revenue at 15 per cent. CottonKing manufactures jeans, T-shirts, formal shirts and trousers. Every day, some 6,000 garments are manufactured. However, it’s the category of formal shirts which contributes 50 per cent to its share – producing 2,500 shirts. CottonKing specialises in 100 per cent cotton shirts and the selling ratio of shirts to trousers is 2:1.

Cotton rules the roost

As the name suggests, all products of CottonKing are made from fine cotton. The concept of carbon peach has been adopted for the first time in the clothing section and it continues to be a popular segment. The other popular type of cotton shirt is the liquid ammonia finish shirts. For the coming season, the company will be introducing light weight shirts. In this category, the weight of the shirt is reduced by 15-20 gm on the whole. How this is done is by reducing the button weight along with other elements. Presently, the cotton shirts weigh 800 gm. The shirts are available in both slim fit and semi-formal. Both these come under the smart casual category.

Value growth not affected by inflation

If CottonKing and other similar brands have grown is because of the high volumes in sales and not inflation. The shirt which cost Rs 1,000 three years ago, still costs the same. So, even if there has been a rise in labour cost and raw materials, it hasn’t reflected in the prices of the end product. CottonKing has been able to manage this curb because it has its own manufacturing unit. So, it is able to avoid any intermediate process that would add more to the final cost.

Koushik Marathe, Director, CottonKing is fine with not being present in the large format stores. His argument: “We have exclusive brand outlets and but are not available in LFS. As of now, we want to follow only the EBO model. The reason we are not into LFSs is that we already target a segment that prefers a value for money product. So, offering such facilities and discounts will not be our cup of tea as of now.”

CottonKing started in 1996 as a retail outlet. But through backward integration, it became a manufacturing company. Presently, it has 105 franchise outlets based in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa.