Barbie: Charts out major India growth plans

The Shirt Company, exclusive licensee of Mattel’s Barbie brand in India is extremely buoyant about business ahead. Apart from expanding and adding new categories like infant wear for girls up to two years by next summer,

the company is also aiming at a turnover of Rs 200 crores over the next three years. Ashwin Shetty, CEO, The Shirt Company says they want to be the leader synonymous with world class excellence in product fashion, design and quality in the kidswear market in India. “If the market sentiments are good, we are targeting Rs 200 crores turnover in the next three years for Barbie and hope to touch Rs 1,000 crores by 2020,” he adds optimistically.

In 2003, Mattel, the owner of the famed Barbie brand signed up The Shirt Company, as its exclusive license partner to manufacture and endorse Barbie apparels in India. “We are designing, manufacturing and distributing Barbie across India. We supply to more than 300 MBOs, over 100 large format stores and have our own exclusive outlets. We are planning at least 20 EBOs this year. Out of these, at least six or seven will be in Tier II cities. In the next two or three years, we will have more than 100 exclusive outlets and also double the number of MBOs,” Shetty says giving out their retail expansion plans.

Among the large formats, Barbie collection is available at Shoppers Stop, Central, Lifestyle, Pantaloon, Globus, Big Life Ritu Wears, Chunmun and Kapsons across India. The brand is also getting good response in Tier II, III cities like Varanasi, Kanpur, Raipur and Bhubaneswar, so it plans to expand its network in more such cities.

In 2011, Barbie was awarded the best company in the Asia-Pacific region. “We were nominated among the top four companies across the world. The Shirt Company has been awarded multiple times for design capability among worldwide Mattel licensees for apparels,” explains Shetty.

The brand is also sold on e-commerce platforms like Jabong and Babyoye.com. Meanwhile, the company too is working on its own e-commerce website, where it will handle the logistics and warehousing. In a month’s time, when it is launched, the company is targeting 40 cities and depending upon the response, it will spread its reach.

The Shirt Company India was founded by the Chairman, Shivanand Shetty in 1984. Committed to excellence in quality, it offers a wide range of products including menswear, women’s wear, maternity wear, kids’ wear and knitwear. Their mission is to earn the loyalty of customers by providing superior garments, which are eco-friendly, efficiently produced and competitively priced. The company has successfully built a worldwide client-base by offering realistic solutions for their needs in the global market. Over the years, it has worked with leading brands like Esprit, Tom Tailor, Pepe, DKNY, J C Rags, Mark Ecko and Sean John to name a few.