R&C working hard to woo Mumbaikars

Jeaneration, makers of the brand R&C, a casual wear brand for men is formulating innovative strategies to lure customers in yet untapped market of Mumbai and the south. They plan to have an interactive and a PR kind of a promotional activity. “In Mumbai, where our market is

weak we would probably tie-up with colleges for their annual functions or tie-up with a club or be associated with some kind of an event where we could give out our products as freebies,” explains Ashok K Shah, Director, Jeaneration. The company also plans to venture into the south. “People in the south are more conservative in terms of fashion. We feel that when we have a core range with basic looks which is a little cheaper than the rest of our collections that will help us get more volumes there,” Shah explains.

The company which started off as a party wear brand is now focusing only on denims. They have around 300-400 MBOs but are not present in large format stores and do not have any EBOs as yet. Shah says they plan to tie-up with some large formats soon. “Currently we are involved with getting our basics right like streamlining the workflow, planning and programming. By next year, we would get into large formats such as Central and Lifestyle. As far as EBOs are concerned, we are looking at opening a few next year in Mumbai. These will be franchise-based.” Jeaneration has distributors all over the country. “We have a distributor for the north, a distributor for Maharashtra and Gujarat, a distributor for the northeast, which takes care of West Bengal and the north-eastern states. R & C is doing very well in the north and the northeast,” exclaims Shah.

A well-know party wear label since 1994, R&C was earlier known for their polyester trousers and shirts. After establishing themselves as a party wear brand, they moved to casual wear. “For the past two seasons we have been doing denims. We have also made a name for ourselves in the shirts market. Our shirts are priced between Rs 890 to Rs 1,200 and denims range between from Rs 1,195 to Rs 1,695,” says Shah.

The company has seen a stable growth rate of 20 to 25 per cent but they are targeting 100 per cent growth in the denims business and about 20 to 25 per cent in shirts. “We don’t want to expand our product line as yet. We will be doing only denims and shirts for two more seasons. We will make our range bigger in shirts and denims but we will not venture into other things like T-shirts and jackets”, sums up Shah.