OSL establishes Corneliani’s luxury experience in India

Italian men’s brand Corneliani, known for its suits, is retailed in India through OSL Luxury Collections. The brand’s main factory is at Mantua, Italy, from where products are supplied worldwide including India. OSL is looking for a 15 to 20 percent growth from Corneliani’s in Spring/Summer 2015 range. The company’s turnover increased 22 percent from last year and it is aiming for a similar growth in 2015.

OSL plans one season ahead. The company has already booked orders for Autumn/Winter 2015. It conducts research on different threads customers may be looking for, colour ideas and opinions from store heads, most sold sizes, style categories and city-wise preferences like Mumbai may be much more subtle, Bangalore may be much more colorful and loud, Delhi always wants something new and so on and sends it to the head-office in Italy.

Establishing brand presence

As of now Corneliani is retailed from three stores based in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi. The company may open one more store in Punjab or Chandigarh and one in Mumbai. “Luxury brands are looking at Kolkata seriously. We are also interested. One challenge luxury brands face in India is finding the right retail space. The luxury multi brand concept has not come in so far. So you won’t find us at MBOs or large formats. Our rights are purely for mono brand retail. Online shopping is convenient but the concept is nascent in India. There should be a portal devoted to luxury brands. Online sites are not the right platform. We are working on some models,” says Salesh Grover, Business Head, OSL Luxury Collections.

The company also undertakes events in different cities to attract consumers. For instance, it did an event in Bangalore, Ludhiana and Chandigarh, where high net worth families from the city were invited over high tea to introduce them to Corneliani experience. Elaborating on the concept, Grover says, “Through these events, we tell them what we are. We are planning more such events in Coimbatore, Pune and Kolkata. We will have trunk shows, exhibitions, special previews to take our brand to new markets. At such shows we take orders as well. We also did a ‘Made to Measure’ event, where we took body measurements of customers to create suits specially crafted for them with their initials and fabrics, buttons and cuts of their choice. That helped us take the brand to the next level.”

Wide variety of formals

The brand caters to men and collection consists of sports leisure wear, formals, tuxedos and business wear like shirts, T-shirts, tuxedos, suits, combination jackets, ties, jeans, cotton trousers, khakis, jackets and cotton chinos. “We have launched an India-specific line for Autumn/Winter 2014 called ‘Court Project’. It has fabrics of cashmere, silk, linen, micro light wool, jacquards and textures. The aim of this line is to give Corneliani customers something new related to their heritage and country’s style, with the same quality, craftsmanship, elegance and sophistication.”

The product under this collection can be worn from work to ceremony. The cashmere line has beautiful colours and can be used for ceremonies and the micro light fabrics can be worn to work.

Elaborating on the Spring/Summer 2015 collection, Grover says they have innovations in fabrics, technology, styling and colours. There is depth in colours in this range. Coats and suits have fresh shades like pink, lilac, navy or sky. The collection is in virgin or extra fine cool wool, which can be worn even in hot summer. “You can sleep in our suits,” he sums up.