Moustache strikes it hot with Southern California

Moustache, the denim brand from Moustache International is making the most of the boom in India with the launch of two new collections. Also, they have come up with a new extreme body hugging fit in jeans called ‘Beyond Skinny’. With denim creeping

into every segment such as garments, accessories and even furnishings, Moustache has seen considerable growth and soaring equity especially in eastern India where their share is nearly 75 per cent. “For the last three years we have been growing at 25 to 30 per cent. And we hope to do the same this year,” says Hari Narayan Shah, MD, Moustache International.

This year in MBOs they had 40 per cent growth and by March 2011, they expect 50 per cent growth. “We have different colors for summer and winter. For this autumn/winter, we have darker shades. Apart from blue, we have basics like black, brown, green. We don’t have funky things like orange or yellow or purple,” says Shah.

Moustache has recently introduced a new collection of shirts and two new collections for denim’s bottom wear –a premium range and a super-premium range named Southern California. Their premium collection priced between Rs 1,695 and Rs 1,995 when launched was a huge hit. This made the brand come up with the Southern California premium collection priced higher from Rs 2,095 to Rs 2,495 and it’s their best collection so far. The basic difference between the two collections is the styling and wash.

In shirts, it is the new Indigo cotton shirt collection in checks in a price-tag jump of Rs 995 from Rs 895, which was the new rage during the just-concluded festive season. Being Kolkata-based, it made maximum profit during Dusshera where almost all the 45,000 pieces manufactured got sold, with 65 per cent of the sales coming from these three new collections with Southern California being their best selling style this time.

The brand has 50 stores. They are in 27 large formats like Shoppers Stop, Pantaloons, Reliance Trends, Brand Factory, Pratik Lifestyles among others. They will have another 10 EBOs by March 2011. Also they are in more than 500 MBOs across India. In fact, 15 years back they had more than 800 MBOs. Then they cut down on MBOs and concentrated on EBOs. In 2010 MBOs were refocused. This number will again go up. They are targeting 1,000 MBOs and 25 more EBOs, 15 more large formats by 2011. “We are dominant in the east, but also have EBOs and MBO’s in Lucknow, Kanpur, Benaras, Gorakhpur. We are planning to introduce e-retailing in the near future,” says Mr Alok Roy, Retail Developing Associate, Moustache International.

The company has also been into exports for almost two decades. It exports mainly to the Middle East, Switzerland and the UK with annual exports worth Rs 500 lakhs.