NCS to open first EBO in Mumbai

Starting off with six MBOs in 2003 when they had launched the brand, the NCS (Naughty Cute Sexy) brand of T-shirts from Vertex Exports has grown leaps and bounds. Currently, it has almost 600 MBOs across India. Having started with men’s

T-shirts initially they went on to add ladies followed by children’s segments to their brand. NCS is now looking forward to a successful year ahead as spending moves north.

The company’s colorful line-up of Tees for spring/summer 2011 comprises of a variety of cheerful graphic prints for women, a sweet and innocent range for children while the men’s range spells attitude. The color palette comprises of blueberry, citrus, wine, green, light purple and blue turquoise. Since internationally glitter is in vogue again, a lot of metallic colors like gold and silver have been incorporated into their prints. In winter, the color range will expand to comprise of hazelnuts, cranberry and caramel for women. This winter, NCS will launch a range of hooded T-shirts with long sleeves and zippers, like a pullover, which will not be very warm but will still be comfortable. Other styles such as a lightweight pullover fabric with some style elements -- such as a message printed on the hood on the inner surface or a tattoo kind of design at the back rather than at the front – will also be introduced.

“As a part of our new developments, we do small bags but more as giveaways. We have special limited edition packaging. For Valentine’s Day, we had bags with hearts. It was made of a knitted fabric. Every season, we have something like this. These are made in small volumes and are meant purely as add-ons. We also make customized T-shirts, for corporates and colleges on order,” says Navin Vaswani, Director, Vertex Exports. “We are launching 75 new designs in our fall/winter 2010 collection, an exclusive line of fashion tops for women and track suits for kids with sweet messages,” he adds.

“In our retail presence, we are strong all over India except Kolkata. We are working with some of the finest retailers, the oldest and the strongest. We are in Ritu Wears, Chunmun, Chermas in the south. We are doing shop-in-shop with them. Our well-designed display stands continue to be at the cash point, which is where customers exit from and at the time of payment they can pick up another T-shirt on their way out, since it is at a low price. Before Diwali, we should be having our first EBO. But for that we need more products like denim. We are trying to sort that out soon. The EBO will be at Colaba Causeway, Mumbai. Although you may not see denim in all our stores, you will see at the EBO,” he adds.

With its forte in the knitwear segment, the company has its own knitting units. With a brand USP of building a strong consumer network first rather than spending heavily on EBOs and brand promotion, NCS is growing stronger with each passing year.