Tbase eyes 30 to 40 percent growth ahead

Eyeing a growth of 30 to 40 percent from the season ahead, men’s brand Tbase is also planning to go all out with its retail expansion plans. Rishi Chhabria, Director, In Leather elaborates, “This season we have finished 55 to 60 percent of our bookings.

And looking at the booking scenario, there would be a growth of around 30 to 40 percent. The season has been promising and we are also trying to get into the online space from Autumn/Winter.”

Tbase's retail expansion within this year

The group has been in the garment trade since 1982. It was into exports of leather apparels and then it got into the domestic market with textiles in 1999-2000. “We are now present in 400 MBOs. We are also in Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and Globus. The brand is in Punjab, North East, Chhatisgarh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Himachal, Chandigarh, UP, Uttaranchal, MP, Maharashtra, Goa, Haryana. The Northeast is the biggest market for us. We don’t have a presence in Gujarat, Orissa, Andhra, Bihar and Rajasthan but will cover two of these markets within this financial year,” explains Chhabria.

Adding further, he says, “We will partner with online retailers and have four EBOs one each in Bangalore, Mysore, Siliguri, Pune. I plan three more by March 2014. Right now, EBOs are 350 to 450 square feet but going ahead we want EBOs to be 500 to 600 square feet in area. Our EBOs are a mix of franchisee and company-owned.”

Season’s offerings

The brand caters to the casual segment with T-shirts, sweat shirts, jackets, sweaters, and shirts as well as bottom wear like shorts, cargo pants, chinos and three-fourth pants. It may also have accessories after a year. Highlighting the range for Autumn/Winter 2013, Chhabria says, “We have a vibrant colour range of sweaters, sweat shirts and jackets. For shirts and T-shirts we have colorful non-stylised basics with regular prints. We make jackets and sleeveless vests in polyfil. About 40 percent of the jacket collection is in cotton. All our cotton garments are washed. Sweat shirts have moved from basics to hoodies. We have played with melanges this season. Chinos are in a big way.”

As for changes the brand has witnessed over the years, Chhabria says, “The entire non-denim bottom range has seen a surge in demand. Demand for sweaters and sweat shirts has grown gradually at 20 to 25 percent a year. Demand for jackets has been much higher. Among shirts, T-shirts and bottom wear, I have seen the maximum growth in my bottom wear category followed by shirts.”