Louis Philippe increases local sourcing

Louis Philippe, owned by Madura Fashion & Lifestyle has

reduced its imports of specialty fabrics, trims, finishing and woven garments from China, Indonesia, Italy and Turkey accounting for 25 per cent down from 35 per cent earlier on account of rupee depreciation. The brand has now perked up its local sourcing to beat the import costs and may further cut down on imports if the rupee continues to slide down. The brand has been traditionally sourcing from mills in Ahmedabad and Chandigarh and now it is looking at new mills in Kolhapur to increase domestic sourcing.

While most of apparel brands are not affected by the weakening rupee since they already source for majority of their needs locally, premium brands having high import content had to face the impact, which led to an increase in product prices. Louis Philippe, for instance, had to raise retail prices of its products by Rs 100-200 in July. Earlier, Louis Philippe shirts were priced between Rs 1,299 and Rs 3,000. Now, the price range is Rs 1,399-Rs 3,500.

In the last one year alone, Louis Philippe added 50 exclusive stores increasing the existing count to 135. Louis Philippe expects to grow 15 per cent and touch a retail turnover of Rs 1,000 crores this year.