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LNJ: Innovating, increasing capacity to capture market

By FashionUnited

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Fashion

LNJ Denim, from LNJ Bhilwara Group, launched its denim fabric production in 2007. Being one of the youngest players in the Indian denim fabric business, it has managed to create a niche with its product line and has gained a considerable share

in the export and domestic market. Talking about the successful journey, Y C Gupta, Chief Executive at LNJ Bhilwara opines, “Initially, we faced teething problems since we didn’t know what to develop. Gradually, because of our strength in yarns, we could develop several varieties of the fabric and our market reach expanded. With our understanding of the yarns and fabrics, in-house finishing, liquid indigo dyeing and rope dyeing capacity and foreign certifications, we gained credibility in the market. Since we were not into volumes, we were able to create unique products, which helped us reach out to the big brands.”

Today,
LNJ produces 1.5 million meters of denim a month, 40 per cent of which is exported and 60 per cent goes to the domestic market. It supplies to top domestic brands like: Pepe, Levi’s, Spykar, and Mufti. Global brands like Jack &Jones, Zara, Gap, Polo Ralph Lauren, Diesel, Marlboro Classic, Mustang Germany, Levi’s Europe, Levi’s US, Tommy Hilfiger, Debenhams and Wrangler et al also buy from them. “Ideally, we want to balance between selling 50 per cent to domestic and 50 per cent to international players since no market is stable,” he adds.

Meanwhile, LNJ is looking at expanding its weaving and spinning capacity to 1,500 tons a month. It achieved 50 per cent increase in turnover and is looking at stabilizing the business in the next two or three years, post which it has big plans of increasing capacity to 3 million meters. Gupta says denim consumption has not gone down as speculated. In fact, since a lot of new capacity has come up, supply has increased up while demand has remained more or less constant. “In the last four years the average growth rate of denim has been almost 12 per cent, whether fabric is converted into garment in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Taiwan or Philippines, finally finished product is exported to the US or Europe. But since there is a depression in the US and Europe demand there has fallen,” he explains.

LNJ recently developed a fabric for Levi’s called Epoch. “We received excellent orders from Levi’s Europe. We have another fabric called 48 XX, which is going to Levi’s US. Our capability is not known to many foreign brands. There is no fabric available in Japan or any part of the world which we can’t create,” Gupta elaborates. LNJ also has an organic blend denim range in cotton soya, cotton bamboo, cotton linen, cotton Kashmir wool, cotton silk, 100 per cent Tencel and cotton hemp. Gupta says that initially the price difference between organic cotton and normal cotton was huge but today it is hardly five per cent.
LNJ Denim