Being trendy and stylish has nothing to with age no wonder even little girls today like to dress up in a big way. What’s more they are also keyed into the latest from the world of fashion thanks to TV and the net. And so do brands that make
clothes especially for them. In keeping with this philosophy, Peppermint the brand that makes clothes only for girls from one to 14 years of age is trying to keep ahead by introducing a new trend every season. “According to the categories we make dresses, leggings, capris, skirt tops and party wear. These are our regular categories and every season we introduce a trend. Last Diwali the trend was of jeggings,” says Santosh Katariya, MD, Peppermint Clothing. “There are very few brands that do co-ordinates and we are one of them. We offer complete solutions—tops, bottoms and some accessories. We have new story lines, new themes and combos all the time,” he says. In fact, they have set up design studios to ensure they can offer the latest styles. “We have a team to design garments for MBOs and a team to design garments for large formats,” he says.
Launched
four years ago, Peppermint specialises in casual and western wear for girls. “We concentrate on MBOs and large formats. EBOs are not our priority even though we have one EBO at the moment,” he explains. Being retailed through more than 600 MBOs across India the brand has 15 distributors pan India. “We are in about 38 large format stores. From Central to Lifestyle and in the north, we are in large formats like Chunmun. The aim is to reach 100 large format stores in one and a half years time.”
To support their expansion plans the brand is now growing its production capacity. They are putting up a new plant at Baramati. It’s in a hi-tech textile park and the factory is spread over 75,000 sq. ft. Production is supposed to start from March this year. Initially, they plan to make 5,000 pieces a day and in two years time it will be scaled up to 8,000 pieces in a day. “We will relook at EBOs after two years. MBOs give 60 per cent of our business, large formats give 30 per cent and exports give us another 10 per cent,” avers Katariya.
Meanwhile the brand is also expanding its product portfolio. It has just introduced footwear under Peppermint. It’s available at large format stores and major MBOs. Also among the new products is academic clothing. “These are not school uniforms but casual clothing to be worn after school hours. One can call it weekend clothing,” he says. His aim is to make Peppermint the top girls wear brand in India. “Basically I want to be a top girls’ wear brand. There are many brands but very few have specialised in girls’ wear. Right now we have a turnover of Rs 25 crores. Within three years we hope to cross Rs 100 crores.”
