Hats Off aims to increase India footprint

With a growth of 20 to 25 per cent over the last couple of years, Hats Off – a men’s knit wear brand – is looking forward to a profitable winter ahead. Having completed its winter dispatches to various retail formats, on the racks already are

hoodies, sweatshirts, turtlenecks and flat-knits in bright colors. With the brand following three fashion cycles in a year --spring/summer, autumn/winter and pre-winter -- also available are a wide range of men’s top wear such as T-shirts and sweatshirts along with knitted legwear, trackpants and lounge wear. “There is a huge difference between the prices of last season and this season. And I expect another hike of 25 to 30 per cent. My basic line starts from Rs 595 and designer wear goes up to Rs 1,500,” says Sanjay Vig, Director of Hats Off Apparels.

“The garment industry in India is a little disorganized and of late many organized players are getting into this field. And some older brands which functioned haphazardly are looking at things in an organized manner. So we are heading for some form of organized industry. In India, the knitwear industry would be just 15 per cent of the whole garment industry. Of that men’s T-shirts would be 7 to 8 per cent,” he adds.

Hats Off Apparels has two production units within Mumbai which has a manufacturing capacity of 1,000 to 1,200 pieces a day along with two units outside at Vashi which can make up to 5,000 pieces a day. Aimed at the urban youth in the 18 to 30 age-group, the company currently retails out of 800 MBOs across India and expects this number to go up by 8 to 10 per cent by March 2011. It also has some EBO’s in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore and is planning to add 14 new EBOs at a stretch sometime in 2011. These would be of around 500 sq. ft. in area and a mix of franchise and company-owned stores.

“We are tying up with many other vendors and a couple of brands for not only knitwear and other products. I will target mid as well as premium categories and will have two lines. The ratio of mid will be a little higher than premium,” points out Vig.

Hats Off Apparels is also into exports and their products are sold in the Gulf under its own brand name and is supplied to select stores in South Africa and Sri Lanka. The company’s main focus however is not on exports rather it’s working more towards opening more stores within the next one and a half years and will also be looking at e-commerce shortly to give an impetus to its promotional and marketing strategies.