Cambridge Apparels to foray into women’s formal wear

Popular menswear brand Cambridge Apparels is planning to diversify into the women’s formal wear segment. The brand has also unleashed a Rs five-crore ad blitz for an image makeover. That’s not all Cambridge is also expandingits store-network and pushing its new brand, Platinia

across India. “We are making a foray into women’s formal wear and the collection will be called ‘Cambridge for Her’,” says Prashant I Bhatia, Director, Cambridge Apparels. The collection will have a range of formal shirts, trousers, and denims. “The positioning will be fashionable, chic, with a good fit at attractive prices. We are planning to launch it next month, and it will be available in close to 20 styles,” says Bhatia.

The brand is also launching a youth-based collection of casual shirts called ‘Work & Play’. Platinia is their new premium formal menswear brand. It’s a 100 per cent cotton range. Bhatia says they have chalked out an aggressive advertising blitz for Platinia.

Started in the ’60s as a shirt brand, Cambridge has grown year-on-year and today, it’s being sold through more than 318 stores across India. It also has a presence overseas in countries like Saudi, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Bahrain and UAE. Bhatia says they are planning to reposition the brand and make it youth focused. “With Cambridge completing 50 years, we will unveil a new logo and portray a new look,” he says.

At the moment, Cambridge is being sold through nearly 318 retail points across the country. It gets nearly 88 per cent of sales from exclusive brand outlets and another 12 per cent comes from multi brand outlets. To push its retail network further, Cambridge is planning to roll out five stores in Mumbai and 15 stores across the western region by next year. It also plans to open five flagship stores in north India, and enter many more MBO’s in the north. By 2012, Cambridge will be in 345 stores across 35 cities. The company which clocked a turnover of around Rs 85 crores this year is eyeing Rs 100-crores turnover by end-2012.


http://www.cambridgeapparels.com