Turtle strengthens presence in east India with more stores

Kolkata-based men’s brand Turtle is strengthening its presence in eastern India by making inroads in smaller cities. Launched in 1993 and offering men’s readymade shirts, Turtle made a modest beginning with a manufacturing capacity of 20 shirts per day for supplies to an in-house retail store. “The company has evolved greatly since, and has treaded a long successful journey. Turtle is now a force in the apparel industry and provides complete range of dressing and accessories for men,” says Shitanshu Jhunjhunwalla, Director, Turtle.

Strengthening hold in the east India

Turtle has branched out all over the country. The company’s two iconic brands -- Turtle and London Bridge, have been catering to the men’s segment with trendy fashion. This year, the company aims to sell close to 1.5 million shirts alone. The company expects to maintain CAGR of 30 percent in the coming years and increase its brand visibility and reputation across the nation. This year, the revenue target is to reach Rs 170 crores in sales and then crossing Rs 250 crores barrier in the next two to three years.

The brand is across India in all formats. It has over 90 EBOs, over 1,200 MBOs and a presence in all large format stores such as Reliance, Pantaloons, Central, Shoppers Stop and Brand Factory. Turtle also has an online presence. “Apart from our own ecommerce site, we are also present with major ecommerce giants such as Flipkart, Amazon, Jabong and Myntra. The major challenge is to deliver products on time and see to it that the products are readily available. Secondly if this is done in due course of time the customers do comment on the social sites and makes it viral. This helps the brand to become popular and sales increases,” avers Jhunjhunwalla. Turtle aims to be a dominant brand in east India and plans to open new stores in all Tier II, III cities and reach out to the rural market.

Keeping its focus on men’s fashion

Catering to the 21 plus age group with brand Turtle and 18 plus for London Bridge, the company now manufactures everything from head to toe for the men’s wardrobe . This includes trousers to denims, T-shirts, suits, jackets, and accessories.

For S/S’15, Turtle has focused on solids and prints all pastel shades and bright colours. “We have done a lot of solid indigo shirts as well. The solid structure line has bright hues in various textured base, good washes and soft hand feel. And first time in the sports line we have washed linen shirts in solids, checks and stripers,” informs Jhunjhunwalla.

Casual bottoms have basic chinos with Lycra, extra value addition to the basic daily wear and colorful linen shorts, knitted denim bottoms, khadi shirt, khadi gilet or Bandhagalas , allover printed crew T-shirts are also a part of the range. The line also has club wear called Soul having trendy rib collar shirt along with print shirts on varied fabric base. Engineered prints and printed waistcoats are another add-on in the collection.

“Under formal wear titled, Tailors Mark, we have come up with formal printed shirt. Casual v/s formal is almost 50:50 as of now. Office wear is also trending towards smart casuals. So the demand is quiet decent. Passion for good design and quality of the apparel is driving the change,” says Jhunjhunwalla.