Camaro plans to launch shirts and brand stores

With a Rs 50 crores plus turnover and targeting a growth of not less than 17-18 percent this fiscal, Camaro is looking to introduce a new collection of shirts by Spring/Summer 2015. Also on their agenda is opening exclusive outlets, where the brand enjoys a strong presence. “We are planning to

open five more EBOs, which will focus on areas where Camaro has a strong foothold,” opines Saumar Sharma, Business Head, Bhawarlal Alok Kumar.

Product

expansion in focus

As of now, Camaro’s range consists of T-shirts, trousers and denim but experimentation for shirts has begun. “We have plans to launch them in Spring/Summer 2015. We will unveil a semi-formal line, which will have a lot of plains and variety in fabrics in subtle design,” explains Sharma. The brand is in the experimentation phase with its winter wear line. “With positive response, we plan to launch jackets for the coming Autumn/Winter 2014. These will be casual jackets and there will be a lot of washed, dyed, cotton jackets, with or without polyfill and with or without quilting. We started sweat shirts last winter,” says Sharma.

For Autumn/Winter 2014, Camaro’s denim have become predominantly strong for the festive season, with a mix of 60 percent basic and 40 percent fashion. Blue is the core colour, however, the brand has introduced a few overdyed colours for which it has received good response over the last three seasons. In basics, a palette of 11-14 colours has been maintained, which is doing well. The focus is more on rigid denim for the season, over stretched range. In sweat shirts, the company will be launching a new range of rugby inspired themes.

Exclusive stores on the anvil

With one EBO in Guwahati, the company now wants to open more outlets in places like UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and North Bengal, where it has a presence. “This will happen in the next eight months. We will stick to a 500 to 700 square foot store model. I believe retail expansion is important for building a brand,” avers Sharma.

At present, Camaro is available in 1,250 MBOs. The brand was launched in markets like Mumbai, Maharashtra, Andhra, Telangana, MP and Chhattisgarh three seasons back and it has entered the Delhi market with its knitwear product. “Delhi and its adjoining areas is the next region where we will expand. We are still not present in large formats and want to work with them but not on consignment basis. Our focus is on brand building in the prevailing markets. We want to strengthen our position in these areas,” states Sharma.

Positioned as a mid-segment brand, the company is adding a lot of fresh inputs to its denim and other products to gain an edge amid competitors. It also plans to launch an e-commerce platform in the next six months. “In the first phase, we will look at developing our own web store and in the next phase, we can look at expansion on other e-commerce websites,” he asserts.