Tantra, the pocket friendly brand to relook at prices

Times aren’t good for the small apparel makers in India as yarn prices have shot up by 120 per cent, the 60 per cent of the cost factor of the garment. Margins have shrunk to a point where it’s become difficult for manufacturers to hold on to their pricing

and remain healthy in terms of profits. As Rajiv Ramchandani, Director, Tantra brand of T-shirts, laments, “High margin brands procure their T-shirts for a certain amount of production cost and sell it for a certain amount thereby absorbing the various fluctuations; but for a brand like us, where we are very conscious about the final selling price that’s not possible. There’s a limit to how much we can take the price up by. We have taken it up from Rs 295 last year to Rs 345. And now there’s the 10 per cent excise duty.”

For the Mumbai-based T-shirt player with big dreams, the focus has been pricing from the beginning. But the 10 per cent excise duty Ramchandani feels will have to be passed on to the customer, “We have to relook at the whole pricing structure. And with the excise, when we are dealing with the large formats, there is the end of season correction of stocks. But when they say fashion designers are upset with excise, it’s ridiculous because they price their garments at Rs 10,000 a piece and people won’t mind paying Rs 500 more. In general, for people buying high end products, it makes no difference.” He adds, “Considering the situation, maybe it would be better to import fabrics from China. Maybe, we can import T-shirts in bulk and get them printed here. In fact, even the printing can be done by the Chinese. If you import, there’s no excise. That may work out cheaper.”

Tantra T-shirts start at Rs 250 for children and goes up to Rs 295 for women and Rs 399 for men. There are four brands under men’s, Tantra, Barking Dogs, Line Maro and Loose Motions. All four are basic round neck jerseys. The differences between the four labels are: the fit, the thread count and the fabrics grams per square inch. Tantra Club is the premium line, with fitted T-shirts in solid big prints, lots of appliqué work and embellishments like rings and studs. Ramchandani says that it’s a slightly expensive option that allows the company to make some degree of profits. “With Tantra Club, we are trying to get a bit of fashion. That’s for both boys and girls. But we are still 80 per cent basic and 20 per cent fashion. When you get into fashion its hit and miss. What looks cool to me may not be cool to the consumer.”

Tantra retails through EBOs and MBOs. It’s available through about 500 MBOs across India and through about 35 EBOs, with the outlets being between 200 and 500 sq. ft. While the company owns 30 per cent of its EBOs, the rest are owned by distributors or individual standalone retailers. Around 10 more EBOs are to be added by the end of 2011.