Duke to add more products, expand online presence

With a turnover of over Rs 250 crores, four-decade old Ludhiana-based company Duke Fashions is aiming to achieve over Rs 300 crores in the coming year. Offering complete wardrobe solutions, Duke is inching towards becoming a complete lifestyle brand.

Elaborating on the company’s plans, Komal Kumar Jain, Chairman, Duke says “We want to further expand our portfolio in other categories like: active wear, thermal wear and winter wear. Apart from this we want to strengthen our online business, through which we are expecting high growth in coming years. We are targeting rural markets and unexplored rural areas, since they hold huge market potential.”

Complete wardrobe solutions its forte

Duke Fashions offers the full range of clothing for men, women and kids. The company provides an endless variety of products which include: T-Shirts, jackets, sweaters, sweatshirts, tracksuits, thermals, jogging suits, shirts, denims and trousers, lowers, Bermudas, shorts, value packs, lounge wear and accessories for the entire family. It has also introduced a footwear range called ‘Step Ahead’.

“Our new collection is based on youngster’s choice, with a wide variety of print, stripes and designer T-shirts, neon colour shirts and coloured denims and trousers. We unveiled an active wear range for the Spring/Summer 2015 season. The collection is designed in superlight fabric for warm summer days to provide comfortable fit and sporty look. Duke active wear comprise of lounge wear, bermudas, capris, shorts, lowers and jeggings for men, women and kids. With focus on style and comfort, the active wear collection is ideal for all kind of leisure, casual, running, jogging and sporting activity,” elaborates Jain.

Increasing retail network

With a presence in over 360 EBOs, 4,000 MBOs and around 180 large format stores, the brand is looking forward to further improve its visibility in untapped regions as well as Tier II and III towns. The brand is also with online platforms such as Myntra, Snapdeal, Jabong, Fashionara and Amazon. It also retails through its own ecommerce portal Dukeindia.com.

“Advantages in online retail format are better prices, comparison, variety, direct shopping, and more customer satisfaction. On the other side, main challenge is converting visitors into buyers,” says Jain.

The brand has been felicitated with various awards over the years. In 2013, it was conferred with the ‘Indian Power Brand’ title at Power Brand Glam 2013 held at Las Vegas, USA. Duke got this award for its innovation, product quality, most preferred apparel brand and inspirational leadership. Earlier, it has received the coveted ITID National Award for manufacturing quality garments, ISO 9001: 2008, certificate for maintaining TQM in all units, Udyog Patra by Govt of India, Employee safety Award by Punjab Govt and Retail excellence Award by DFU Publications Mumbai. Duke has also been proclaimed the number one selling T-shirts brand in India by ORG-MARG in their survey.