Mufti to strengthen its denim portfolio

With a healthy 20 to 25 per cent growth per annum, Mufti, the brand from Credo Brands Marketing feels that the only way to remain profitable is to be better than the competition. “The managerial bandwidth for companies like us has grown and you have to beef that up

to handle growth. The management has to be in sync with the brand image. That’s a challenge but slowly and steadily we are overcoming it,” opines Kamal Khushlani, Director, Credo Brands Marketing.

Khushlani believes one has to step up and get ready for the next level. Rightly so, the company with a turnover of Rs 235 crores is aiming to achieve between Rs 280 crores to Rs 300 crores by this year end. Mufti plans to reach the target by building the denim and winter wear line along with exploring new retail destinations.

Building the denim line

This year, the company has expanded its winter wear offerings and plans to make a bigger impact next season. “The main challenge is the price point, since we are competing with Ludhiana brands,” states Khushlani. As of now, Mufti has a product portfolio of shirts, T-shirts, denims, jackets, sweaters, sweatshirts and belts among other accessories.

“Denims are increasing as a growth category for us. Value wise, denims would be a shade under 50 per cent. The sweet spot for pricing in our denim is Rs 2,600. Denims are a difficult product to make and sell. Average price points have definitely moved up. You have to adapt to the Indian market. At discount sales, you get a product that’s outlived its fashion. Mufti has never opted for more than 40 per cent discount. Our overall realisation of the MRP is 84 per cent,” explains Khushlani.

Talking about the growth of casual wear market and styles in India, he says that cotton trousers are growing but jeans are making a comeback even internationally. “I don’t think cotton trousers will go very high this year but we are a cotton focused brand. We are not much into nylon et al. Now the trend is to have a little bit of everything,” avers Khushlani.

Retail growth plans

Mufti is available at over 200 EBOs, 1,200 MBOs and large formats like Shoppers Stop, Westside and Central. Elaborating on their retail expansion plans, Khushlani says, “We are focusing on all three formats. But we have a lot more potential in large formats compared to the others. We are looking at strengthening our presence in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Northeast.”
In 1992, Khushlani started manufacturing men’s shirts under the label Mr Mister. Recognizing fashion as the core strength of this fledgling brand, many boutiques deemed this startup label fit for their shelves. Realizing its true potential, and that of the market, the brand decided to move into overdrive and in 1998 Mufti was launched.