Italian footwear brand Geox enters India

Premium Italian footwear brand Geox has entered into a

retail and distribution arrangement with Delhi-based G&B Footcorp to set up its mono-brand stores. The company has chosen the distribution route rather than the foreign direct investment (FDI) mode to test waters here. While footwear brand Clarks has a joint venture with Future Group, another footwear brand Pavers was the first to apply for a 100 percent FDI for single brand retailing.

The breathing shoe, called so because of the patented technology, earlier had marketing tie-up with M&B Footwear. G&B Footcorp, is an arm of G&B Fashion which retails brands such as Benetton in Delhi-NCR. The brand has a presence in 100 countries. G&B Footcorp has set up three stores and plans to add two more this fiscal.

Eyeing presence in top metros, the company plans to have at least 20 stores in the next three years. Geox shoes will be priced from Rs 6,500 onwards. Besides selling shoes, the company will also retail apparels. It may also look at increasing local sourcing from the current eight per cent.

The annual turnover of the Indian leather industry is estimated to be about 8 billion dollars (Rs 43,660 crores), out of which the export of leather and leather products was merely 3.84 billion dollars (Rs 20,956 crores) in 2010-11. Branded shoes account only for 20 percent of the total shoes sold in India.