Duke Fashions looking beyond Indian shores

Duke, the well known T-shirt brand, which reinvented itself and moved into complete ready-to-wear garments a few years back, is now looking at including more designer element in their products and launching high end handbags. The brand will also introduce a range

of new T shirts this summer. “A few years ago we started a winter wear range with jackets, sweaters, thermals and then launched shirts and trousers, lounge wear. Then we also forayed into sportswear,” says Kuntal Raj Jain, Director, Duke Fashions. The brand which is looking at 40 per cent growth in sales in the oncoming summer season says 55 per cent of its business comes from the summer season. “Bookings and sales are showing a tremendous trend. The overall scenario is very good,” Jain says. This summer it will launch two or three new range of T-shirts. One of them is the Duke Game series, a range of sporty T-shirts. Some of these will be dry fit, priced around Rs 500. Duke is also planning two new ranges of cotton T shirts. Of these, will be a high end mercerized cotton range.

Jain says as a pan-India brand, they are targeting every segment. For basics and polos the target is 30-plus age group, and for designer casuals it’s the 20 to 30 year olds they look at. From the low priced to premium range, metros to Tier 3, Tier 4 towns, the brand has a wide spread.
At the moment, Duke is present in 2,500 MBOs across India. In addition there are 155 exclusive brand outlets. The company plans to add 50 more EBOs this year. “We are targeting 500 more MBOs also this year to take the total count to 3,000. We are in eight to ten large formats stores as well,” Jain says. The brand is already present in large formats stores like Reliance, D-Mart, Lifestyle, and is in talks with Pantaloons and Central.
Duke has entered into e-retailing and has a tie-up with two portals to retail their garments. At the moment they are in talks with another well-known portal to sell their products online.
Meanwhile, the brand which is already present in Nepal and Sri Lanka through retailers is eyeing the Middle East market as well. “We are exploring newer markets like the Gulf. We will try to capture these markets in probably a year or so,” Jain says. With a turnover of Rs 100 crore at present, Duke is looking at 40 per cent growth this year.