Eyeing the opportunity in pre-teens segment, Indian Clothing League launched 612 Ivy League in 2008-09. Manu Indrayan, MD, Indian Clothing League explains, “We realized that there were just a handful of Indian brands in children’s wear.
Other than infant wear, these brands were treating the 2 to 14 age group as a single category. But the fact is that when a child reaches five or six years of age and starts going to school, a huge change in their thinking and lifestyle takes place. They grow out of their cartoon and fantasy world and start following real trends, real people, like clothes and styling. Gauging this huge gap in the category of pre-teens, we launched the brand in Ludhiana.”
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brand began by retailing at four stores of Shoppers Stop. It increased its presence rapidly. Now, they have 74 points of sales and are adding 50 points of sale by spring/summer 2012. “Our two exclusive outlets are in Chandigarh (a flagship of 800 sq. ft.) and the other in Ludhiana. We are planning an outlet in Delhi. We are also present in Shoppers Stop 44 stores across India. In winter, 2012 we were with six stores of Reliance Trends. By spring/summer, we will be in 45 of their stores. We are in 12 Maya by Gitanjali stores. It’s only in Rajasthan that we are with MBOs. Through the Little Champs group we are with 10 MBOs across Rajasthan. But for the next year or so our focus will be to add large formats like Lifestyle and Central.” The company also plans to explore e-retailing by this spring/summer apart from tying up with some online retailers.
The company’s product range consists of casual wear for boys and girls. Their focus is 6 to 12 year olds. They make top wear, bottom wear in knits, wovens, denims and track suits. They also have winter wear like sweaters and jackets. “We are also planning to introduce a new concept of mix and match options within the range for spring/summer 2013. For spring/summer 2012, we have a theme on relationships with a lot of graphics.”
Commenting on the kids’ segment, Indrayan says, in India brands occupy just 10 to 12 per cent of junior wear. But with growth of organised retail, this scenario is changing fast. There is competition with emerging and international brands and competition with the huge unorganized segment. And as organised retail reaches Tier II, III cities, people are switching to brands. So the gap between metros and non-metros is narrowing.
“An opportunity exists in the kids’ segment due to low brand penetration. The challenge is to cater to changing attitudes and lifestyles. But since junior wear is less sensitive to adverse developments in the economy and the growing population in urban cities is creating more opportunities for branded wear. Once a brand is able to instill confidence in the consumer and succeeds in maintaining that confidence level, then there’s no looking back,” he sums up.
