Raymond: Cashing in on the winters

With the on-going wedding season and falling temperatures, Raymond Apparel - well known for their brands Raymond and Park Avenue – is on a roll. The brands are increasing their apparel options skewed towards the season. Although the company

offers a line of summer suits for both men and women, it is their increased suit sales during the winter season that goes up to a 55 per cent as compared to a 45 per cent during summer that brings in the maximum profit.

With the branded suit industry in India growing at 20 per cent a year, Raymond Apparels are offering a wide range of two button slim suits and shiny suits this autumn/winter. The company which claims that their Park Avenue brand was the first in India to introduce slim fit suits which got a great response, has now introduced super slim fits along with slimmer lapels and ties as a part of their brand’s offerings. Their tuxedo line which was introduced four years ago is also doing well along with their Parx club suit range which is shiny and glittery and ideal for evening wear. “The larger volume of suits comes from the lower price points. So suits in the MRP of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 drive volumes but as you go above Rs 10,000 mark, the percentage drops. We do suits in Parx, Park Avenue and Manzoni. We have club suits in Parx, party suits which are doing very well. Our suits go from Rs 7,000 to Rs 40,000. Manzoni has bespoke suits for Rs 40,000. Then we have the made-to-measure line where prices can go up to Rs 1.5 lakhs,” says Shreyas Joshi, President of Raymond Apparel.

Raymond has 18 exclusive Park Avenue outlets which range from 1,000 sq. ft. to a flagship which is 5,000 sq ft. Joshi points out that they have five flagships within the 18 outlets. “Between now and the coming year we will have 36 outlets. These will be mainly in A and B cities. We started with EBOs four years back and are present mainly in A cities. We need to saturate these cities before getting into smaller towns. We also have a strong chain of Raymond stores across the country, which are close to 600 now. For Raymond ready-to-wear or premium apparel, we have four exclusive stores. We will add four more by 2012 although these will again be confined to A class cities,” he says. Park Avenue is available in all large formats such as Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and Central.

Although it follows the regular spring/summer and autumn/winter fashion cycle, they also have festive specific designs. For instance, there are lines only for Durga Puja, Onam and Diwali. The company also has two store chains: Neckties and More and Shirts and More. Neckties and More have picked up well and Mumbai alone has seven stores. These sell accessories of their brands. “Apart from the exclusive 15 Neckties and More, we also have shop-in-shops within most Centrals. All put together it’s 30 and we will have such shop-in-shops with other large formats too. We will touch 100 Neckties and More stores by 2012.Also, you will soon see a lot of Shirts and More stores within a year, 25 stores will come up in bigger cities,” Joshi informs.