VIP chalks out plans to open 35 EBOs by March ’13

Aiming for a constant 30 per cent growth over the next three years, Maxwell Industry is focusing on achieving a revenue target of Rs 325 crores this fiscal. Growth would be driven by new products coupled with EBOs. Commenting on the company’s

strategy, Sunil J Pathare, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Maxwell Industries says, “We have already opened two exclusive brand stores called ‘Inners’ and launching another four. With the existing two stores in Mumbai, three others are to come up in Hyderabad and one in Rajkot. By March 2013, we hope to have 35 stores.”

Talking about their product expansion plans, he says, “This month, we would enter lounge wear under VIP, Frenchie and Feelings covering mid, premium and the women’s segment. In the women’s segment we have by and large focused on evolved fabrics and lycra-based products since women typically prefer body-hugging products.”

The brand collections is currently available in all formats of trade including wholesale/distribution, MBOs and EBOs. “Currently, we are present in around 50,000 MBOs across the country and attempting to establish a base in Port Blair, in the Andaman Islands where we don’t have a presence. So the percentage contribution of our business is divided thus: wholesale --25 per cent; distribution -- 60 per cent; modern trade --15 per cent,” explains Pathare. Maxwell also exports to Middle East, African and some European countries.

Elaborating on the present offerings, Pathare says, “We work on six color combinations, three light and three dark shades. There are markets which need light colors and others which want dark ones. The three dark colors are coffee brown, blue and a dark shade of grey. The light colors are sky blue, white and their variants. So we have taken all consumer requirements into consideration. We also use cotton quilts for thermals.” The Maxwell range starts with VIP (male mid segment), Leader (male economy segment – largely rural India), Frenchie (male premium segment), Frenchie X (male premium segment), Feelings (female mid and premium segment) and BRAT (unisex kids’ brand on mid and premium side).

Since last year winter set in late and was short, thermal business got a beating. Explaining the reasons and ways the company has adapted to the situation this year, Pathare says, “Thermals can be worn only during severe winters. If winter gets delayed, people postpone their purchases. Sometimes they don’t purchase at all, so overall sales dropped last year. For the forthcoming winter, we are playing safe and have reduced our numbers by 12 to 15 per cent in volumes terms. We feel that trade will be conservative. So in value terms we will be steady but in volume terms we won’t be growing.”