July to boost online retail and targets 35 percent growth

In an attempt to capitalize on the growth of women's wear segment in India, which is being touted as one of the most enterprising segments in apparels, Pearl Clothing’s brand July has launched the Disney collection of ‘Winnie the Pooh and

friends’ for women. “We are the first in the country to license a Disney character for women in this category and we are extremely bullish about it. Establishing licensed brands may take time, but after the initial trials and tribulations of the first few years, if the brand is accepted and received well in terms of distribution channel partners, one can relax as the results would be gratifying. We are inclined to achieve a minimum growth of 35 percent in the next financial year,” avers Sumant Bajaj, Director Pearl Clothing.

July's retail on a roll

With two labels under its belt, July and Silverstrings, the company is largely present in the Southern region with a network of MBOs and large format stores. Elaborating on the retail presence, Bajaj says, “We are slowly expanding our footprints in North India through tie-ups in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh with coverage of approximately 300 retail outlets. Over the next few months the strategy is to bring the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh within our fold. Significant work has already gone into it and we expect to see the results soon. The target is to increase our presence 10 times in the next 2-3 years with a retail network of more than 3,000 stores.” The brand is also sold online through Myntra, and will also be available soon on Jabong and Flipkart.

Pearl clothing was founded as an attempt to tap the opportunities in the domestic apparel industry. “We saw immense potential in this space and after nearly two decades of serving leading international brands around the globe, our venture took shape. Having said that it faced its own set of challenges too. The Indian market is at the other end of the spectrum as compared to the global industry. We learnt to get the pulse of the market,” states Bajaj.

Product portfolio

The brand’s product range comprises of women's nightwear and loungewear in various styles under July. “We use the finest fabrics like modal, cotton lycra, viscose lycra, 100 percent cotton S/J with intensive material treatment for superior quality. These fabrics are specially treated for extra comfort and durability. We also specialize in the leggings category with Silver Strings and have been exporting the same to UK, Middle East since a few years. We are currently working on introducing our range of sports/active wear which will go live soon,” explains Bajaj.

For Autumn/Winter 2013 the company has experimented with bright and young colours with trendy international fits. The extensive range of innovative designs of knitted garments that it produces with premium quality fabric has enabled it to carve a niche in the competitive garment industry.