Power Clothing: Dressing up children with adult concepts

Having crossed a turnover of more than Rs 12 crores last year while expecting a further 30 per cent increase this year, Power Clothing the company that offers Kid Power and Power Girl brands for infants and young boys and girls, is growing from strength to

strength. With exports -- which are mainly to the US -- comprising around 15 per cent of the turnover, the company is also planning to open an IPO in the near future once the appropriate infrastructure is in place. Following international styling and trend forecasts, the company is also launching a new summer collection which includes a variety of western tops for children inspired by adult clothing ideas, as parents want their children to emulate what they are wearing themselves.

“In junior wear we mainly do tops that are western wear, with lots of prints, cut and sew. We also do skirts, which is mixed denim and cambric and poplin. We do dungarees in fabrics like twills, tussar and poplin. We do a lot of corduroys and coordinates,” says Jayant Shah, CEO of Power Clothing.

Power Clothing works closely with US-based WGSN, a fashion design site widely used overseas and copies may of their designs. It’s a vendor for Disney and manufactures products for them. However, in India for their own brand, they are developing cartoon characters like Superman and Popeye. “The kids wear segment is looking up; that if garments worth a crore have been bought over a year, Rs 60 lakh would be children’s garments. So kid’s wear comprises 60 per cent of the market with the organized sector comprising around 20 per cent of the total market. To be successful in this category one needs to do appropriate R&D on fabrics. The secret to survive in children’s segment is constant innovation. Give children user-friendly fabrics and new designs,” Shah opines.

Starting off with the brand Kids Power followed by Power Girls, the company has come a long way since the 1980’s when there were not many specialized brands in this space. Power Clothing currently has a pan-India network with around 130 MBOs spread over Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Kochi which are their stronghold. Now, it will be launching a lower-priced range with a maximum MRP of Rs 299 in retail outlets of Tier II-III cities. Present in almost all large formats like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and Pantaloon with exclusive shelf space in the metros and bigger cities, it is looking at opening more shop-in-shops as well as their own EBO’s by next year.