Mufti pushing for bigger retail spread

Known for its young edgy fashion Mufti, the casual wear brand is planning to increase its presence across India by launching more retail stores. The brand’s products include denim, shirts, T-shirts, sweatshirts and jackets for both men and women.

Their target audience is anyone youthful, fashionable and wishing to make a style statement. Launched in 1998, Mufti is now looking at growing at a compounded growth rate of 25 per cent per annum. “We will gradually introduce other products over time but want to remain relevant to our target audience and our style space. We are currently present in 180 stores and plan to reach a count of 200 EBOs by March 2012,” says Kamal Khushlani, Director, Credo Brands Marketing makers of the Mufti brand.

Their jeans range starts from Rs 2,599 and goes up to Rs 2999 with stretch and hi-fashion couture collection, the shirts collection price range starts from Rs 1499 with a few high fashion designs at Rs 2,099. Talking about the product range, Khushlani says, “We have half and full sleeve shirts and T-shirts across all categories in Mufti. In denims, we offer all three styles namely fashion denims, stretch denims and couture collection in three different fits -- narrow, straight and super slim. We also have fashion jackets, blazers and sweaters as a part of our product portfolio.”

He feels with the entry of global fashion brands such as Diesel, FCUK that have entered India would be good for the industry for whenever they scale up, it will help the fashion industry in India to reach new heights. “The higher price points and exclusive product find sufficient patronage in metros and mini metros even at the current income levels but incomes need to rise further for retail points to become viable for this category in smaller towns,” asserts Khushlani.

He feels now that FDI in retail has got the Cabinet’s nod, Indian retail scene would ramp up, with each player trying to create a niche. Opines Khushlani, “With FDI, we foresee the introduction of more fashion, and hope to get more appreciation for our collections when all the international benchmarks are available for comparison. The good Indian brands will reach new heights and it will become even easier for them to go outside India.”

However, he feels the excise duty on branded apparel has affected the Indian apparel industry in the wrong way, “Excise duty is a retrograde tax and leads to a cascading effect on prices when it cannot be set off against taxes down the line. It is high time that GST is introduced and all other taxes are done away with. The price rise caused by the imposition of excise duty has affected consumer sentiment drastically, especially as it came with historically high cotton prices and a historically low buying sentiment caused by the international financial crisis.”