Cotton County launches a premium knit brand

Cotton County, a premier ready-to-wear apparel brand is on an expansion spree. It’s targeting 700 plus new showrooms by the end of this financial year. So far they have opened 15 new stores this year. Dharminder Batra, Vice President Marketing, Cotton County explains, “We are

targeting southern states, the Northeast region, and the Orissa belt. We want to strengthen our presence in these places. As of now we are in 600 showrooms. These showrooms are 400 to 1200 sq. ft. in area and all of them are with franchisees.”
As per their retail strategy, the brand is moving towards MBOs and shop-in-shop concepts. By the end of the year, they will be targeting 40 to 50 MBOs, where they will have shop-in-shops. These will be in metros for as Batra points out “only in cities like Delhi, Bangalore or Chennai does one find bigger showrooms. In MBOs, we are in talks with Pantaloons and Big Bazaar. The shop-in-shops will be placed in a manner where we can generate high footfalls.”
 
As for regionwise sales, the brand wants to primarily concentrate on the south. The purchasing power in the south is rising and it has always been a good market for most brands. Other attractive markets are Bihar and Jharkhand and the Northeast belt. Punjab, Delhi, Haryana and UP also gives them good returns.
 
Along with opening new showrooms the brand has also come up with a premium range called French Republic Premium. French Republic is a sub-brand of Cotton County. “We will introduce mercerized T-shirts and high quality yarn T-shirts through this brand,” Batra informs. In French Republic, 80 per cent of the range would be polos. “We would be giving the best of designs and fabrics through the new brand. The prices would range from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000. But the discount margin will be only 50 per cent,” explains Batra.
 
While Cotton County has 80 per cent fashion and 20 per cent basics, in French Republic Premium it would be just the opposite viz. 80 per cent basic and 20 per cent fashion. Cotton County closed the last fiscal 2010 with a turnover of Rs 150 crores. For the next financial year they are looking at a turnover of Rs 180 to Rs 200 crores.