Only Vimal brand to be relaunched

Reliance Industries (RIL) is looking at opening 150 Vimal stores in the next three years and a two-fold increase in sales to reach Rs 1,800 crore. Also, it will now position Vimal as a youth-oriented affordable fashion label. The company will invest Rs 350 crores in a phased manner in the next three years in order to increase its textile production capacity to 25 million metres a year from the present 20 million metres.

In addition, the company is banking on start-ups to revitalise the Only Vimal brand, which in the 1980s had launched many new models through its advertising. For the relaunch, the company has lined up some unconventional models. These include Anurag Singh Rathor, carpool app Zify’s founder; Vivek Prabhakar, Chumbak’s founder; Adhil Shetty, Bankbazar’s founder and LocalBanya’s founder Karan Mehrotra. The idea is to depict the brand as young. Apart from this, the company is investing in new technology. It has got a patent for Deo2 which prevents microbial growth.

RIL plans to open both franchise and company-owned stores. They will also have shop-in-shop in Reliance Trends stores. Presently it is concentrating on West Bengal and Bihar for its expansion but hopes to reach out to all parts of India soon.

Fabrics will be the mainstay of the Only Vimal brand. Presently, 95 per cent sales come from fabrics and rest from apparels. In three years, the ratio will be 75:25. Vimal exports to the US, Europe, Far East, Middle East and Africa. Exports make up 40 per cent of the turnover.