Allen Solly to introduce party wear line

Allen Solly, the brand that introduced Friday Dressing to the Indian consumers is now looking at entering the party wear segment. They plan to come out with a range of party casuals in the unique Allen Solly manner. R Satyajit, COO, Allen Solly says, “The collection will include shirts,

T-shirts, denims and cotton trousers. These will have prices similar to Allen Solly, which is in the price bracket of Rs 1,300 to Rs 1,800.”

Apart from introducing a new line Allen Solly is also on the path to modify its existing products with new value additions and innovations. Satyajit elucidates, “Our latest innovation is in the core product which is a combination of stretch and wrinkle-free. When you cure the product the stretch property gets lost. We have found a way to retain the wrinkle-free and get the stretch property. We did it in trousers and will be launching it in shirts next summer. We are the first brand in India and among the few in the world to do it.” At present they are also working with organic fibers. “We launched a T-shirt under the brand name Cocona. Its yarn made of coconut fiber. It has long lasting properties. We are working on a few more innovative products, which should see the light of day soon,” adds Satyajit.

The brand is also in the process of making itself younger and exciting. In fact, their ads have become far more young and wittier. Satyajit opines, “Allen Solly is among the few brands in the apparel stage to be doing a multimedia campaign. We are in the digital space, brand events, etc. We will renovate our showrooms to reflect this new identity. We have done two or three stores in Bangalore and will do five or six stores in Delhi this month. Then we will move to Mumbai. By the end of the year most of our stores will don a sporting new look.”

  Currently, they have 70 EBOs and are present in 220 MBOs. They are also present in 90 per cent of large formats. The brand’s EBOs are a combination of franchisees and company-owned outlets. Satyajit states, “If you include Planet Fashion, which are our own stores, EBOs contribute 50 per cent of our sales. We have about 150 Planet Fashion stores and Allen Solly is available in all of them. We will be moving from 70 EBOs to about 120 stores this year.

  As far as their exports are concerned, they currently have a reasonable presence in the Middle East. But their aim is to become a huge brand in India and hence, their current focus is on the Indian markets. They also plan to launch e-retailing, which will be company-owned and managed, in the next few months.

Allen Solly will close this year at Rs 270 crores at MRP level and will be looking at a 30 per cent growth over the next financial year.