Looking for the perfect fit, Cantabil aims for 200 EBOs

Cantabil, the multi-brand retailer, is confident of having 200 EBOs by March 2016. Having consolidated its presence in the North, East and West, the brand will now move to the South. Cantabil already has 160 company owned and managed EBOs.

Shirts for the discerning buyer

Cantabil has been specialising in shirts of all types and for different occasions. In fact, shirts are their main product in the basket. For formal wear, they make plain collared and full sleeve shirts in fabrics such as cotton, giza, filafil. In semi-casual and casual, there is a variety in sleeves such as half sleeve, sleeve turn-up, full sleeve. Shirt styling is too specific and changes according to trends. The emphasis is on fabrics, price and colours. Every month there is a change in colours of the shirts. Deepak Bansal, Director, Cantabil Retail India says, “In popular shirts, a brand can’t grab mass market, as we define consumer in two category, one is fashion leader and other is fashion follower. So, there is a percentage of consumer who prefers to buy products once they judge new product on other people.”

Says, Bansal, “As we can see, the market of shirts is almost equal but in terms of design and fast fashion, it casual segments is more dependable, whereas men’s formal segment is becoming more premium day by day. In terms of growth, we are doing well in the formal segment but even the casual segment is playing a good role in the present market. Shirt is an important product for all class and age groups, so all segments are equally contributing to push growth. Growth of shirts is good globally and the Indian market is focusing on international trends and developments.”

New styles keep the consumer happy

For next season, Cantabil is following a mix and match of colour combination and contrast of different textures. With a playful approach to scale and colour, collage like cotton shirting stripes are scaled up with a mix of near pastels and bright colours. Further, warp-painted and space dyed yarn effects subvert classic preppy fabrics such as ditsy florals, oversized ginghams and grid-like checks for a blurred and faded look. Also, a playful approach to design results in lively madras shirting and textured cotton stripes with seasonal shades of cool blue, peppermint, custard, geranium, marigold colours among others. The shirts are targeted at both youngsters and older men, age group being 18-40 years.

Cantabil was incorporated in 1989 and was in wholesale business of garment accessories. In 2000, the company started garments manufacturing and retailing business and soon opened their first retail store in New Delhi under the brand name Cantabil. They started selling through MBOs and EBOs but in 2002, they resorted to EBOs only. In 2007, the company launched women’s wear and in 2008, they launched the other brand kid’s wear too.