Valaya, Genesis tie-up for new diffusion label 'VQ'

New Delhi, Sep 1 (UNI) The House of Valaya, India's leading fashion house, and Genesis Colors Pvt Ltd today announced they had entered into a licensing agreement to design, manufacture and market the new diffusion label 'Valaya Quantum' (VQ) at an investment of Rs 10-12 crore in the next 2-3 years.

Under the revenue-sharing agreement, Genesis will have a majority share as it will look after the merchandising, production, marketing and retailing of the label, while Valaya will look after the creative aspect, and will have 100 per cent ownership.

''The first two high-end stand-alone VQ stores will be coming up in Delhi and Mumbai by the end of this year and we plan to set up 5 other stores by the end of 2007, at a cost of Rs 10-12 crore to be pumped in by Genesis, in metro cities including Bangalore and Hyderabad,'' Genesis Colors MD Sanjay Kapoor tolds reporters here.

Genesis Colors is also planning to set up 25 shop-in-shops at Samsaara, the multi-brand designer store, by 2007.

The launch of the VQ stores were announced at the last fashion week held in April this year, and the tie-up was finalised two weeks back. Private equity funding was received through JM Financial a couple of months back for the tie-up.

With VQ, the House of Valaya, owned by Delhi-based designer J J Valaya who will be showcasing his collection at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week today, is planning to expand its business addressing the Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 category. Till now, Valaya garments were only catering to the Rs 50,000 plus category.

Valaya has two exclusive stores in Delhi, Dubai and is planning to set up another store in Mumbai later this year. The VQ garments will be made at the Genesis' factory in Gurgaon.

To a poser on the response received from domestic and international buyers at the ongoing fashion week, Mr Valaya said,'' Generally the orders start coming in only after the collection is displayed by the designer, but this time we have received large orders even before that, reflecting a changing trend in Indian fashion.'' Mr Kapoor, while sounding optimistic at the business expected at the fashion week said, ''We are expecting to clock bottomline sales to the tune of Rs one crore for the VQ brand in these six days of the fashion event.'' While refusing to reveal any further details, he revealed that the brand has received ''an equal mix of orders from both international and national buyers''.

Genesis Colors is a flagship company in the Indian Fashion world and owns premiere design labels - SatyaPaul and Deepika Gehani. It launched Samsaara in February this year.

UNI FZ/RA CS BS1339