Malls favour few home-grown brands that attract footfalls

While malls are vacating huge spaces to woo global fashion brands entering India, some home-grown labels such as Fabindia, AND, Metro, Hidesign, et al are on the must have list of malls. Their traditional product range in modern avatar is being received well by consumers.

Desi brands, lucrative for malls

Launched in 1960, Fabindia leads the pack with 64 mall outlets across India. The brand is in the process of adding another 13 by next year. Its ethnic wear apparel and accessories range continues to pull consumers to the stores. Next in line is AND by designer Anita Dongre, which has been received extremely well consumers. With 46 mall outlets, the brand is known for its exclusive yet affordable ensembles.

Apparel category is followed by footwear label Metro that began operations in 1947 with a single store in Mumbai's Colaba area. With more than 300 outlets today, it has become the largest national chain of fashion footwear and accessories. In the past three years, it has aggressively expanded its reach by doubling the store count. Internationally acknowledged leather brand, born in Pondicherry- Hidesign too has managed to open 53 mall outlets in India. Its products are sold in 14 countries. With 16 outlets in Delhi, 10 in Mumbai and eight in Punjab, bags and accessories brand Da Milano also has stores in cities like Jaipur, Kolkata and Bengaluru. Many malls consider Da Milano a young and colourful brand with a wide product range. The brand has 35 mall outlets and plans to add 15 more in the next two years.

Bangalore-based Soch is popular because of its strength in merchandise quality, variety and the strong back-end that ensures well-managed inventory, while the products fly off the shelves. With 54 outlets out of which 38 in malls, the company plans to add another 15-20 this year with a revenue target of Rs 300 crores by the end of this year. And the five-year-old Nappa Dori has a few outlets, including in luxury hotels in Delhi and multi-brand stores internationally, but has just one store in a mall in Delhi. It plans to add three to four stores this year, mostly in malls in Mumbai and Bangalore.