Flying Machine’s mission: Grow in every segment

Flying Machine, part of Arvind Lifestyle Brands and the first denim brand that India had, is currently on a business high, having crossed the Rs100 crores turnover this year. It plans to close at Rs 140 crores MRP and a company value of about Rs 75 to

Rs 80 crores this fiscal. With a mission to grow in every customer segment, Flying Machine has always had a complementary accessory line such as belts, caps, socks wallets, chains and wrist bands. This Diwali, it launched a light footwear line in a price range of Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,600. The reason: with cotton prices rising, it needs to find innovative ways of selling.

“A smarter way is to be original and stay connected to your category and not go into someone else’s business and burn your fingers. We will do college bags as our next category in spring/summer 2011. We already have a women’s line. We have an extension of the jeans line, knitwear tops, shirts, other fashion tops. We aim at providing the entire lifestyle including party wear,” says Gautam Kotamraju, Chief Designer-Denims, Arvind Lifestyles Brands.

Flying Machine’s five-pocket jeans with elaborate washes, for graphics, cut and sew details are the most popular. The company follows the fashion cycle with more than four drops in a season so their collections are small but more frequent. They plan only 60 to 70 per cent of their collection in advance and do 30 per cent on the run. The autumn/winter ’10 range has been divided into three parts, where all three address a specific activity of the youth. Aptly named the Young and Bold collection, this is almost 50 per cent of their line as the company’s target group is college students and early first jobbers, between 15 and 21.

As a vehicle for promotion and self-expression by youth, Flying Machine has signed in Ankit Fadia, designer Michael Foley and around 40 music bands as brand ambassadors.

“Flying Machine is primarily a B and C town brand. This time we want to first establish in the urban landscape minus Mumbai. When we came back to the market, we chose a different distribution strategy. We took a focused market approach since we had limited resources. We took Bangalore and Mysore, the whole of Andhra and Delhi. These three markets were our key focus. We chose Rajasthan, Punjab and UP for development,” says Alok Dubey, Business Head, Arvind Lifestyles Brands.

“There are three export markets we are supplying to. We have some presence in Singapore now. There are four points of sales where Flying Machine is selling. We have a partner in Dubai where we export under the name Flying Machine. Now we are going into South Africa and later into Africa. South Africa is starting from January,” he adds.

Flying Machine has around 94 EBOs which will go up to 100 this year. Six new stores are opening in various parts of the country like Punjab and Rajasthan and is a combination of company managed and franchisees. It expects to have 250 stores by 2013 and is already selling in more than 200 MBOs.