Cottons by Century to enter women's wear market

Bangalore, Oct 7 (UNI) B K Birla Group-owned 'Cottons by Century', which has emerged as the fastest growing men's wear apparel brand notching an impressive 230 per cent growth so far this fiscal, is now looking to tap women's wear segment, to be launched in five months.

''Our strategy is simple. We offer premium apparel at medium price. We offer 500 styles in 11 categories and have reached a volume of Rs 50 crore within 30 months of launch, while some of the premium brand manufacturers, despite being 15-year-old in the market, could reach only Rs 150 crore total sales. The other advantage we hold is that we are the only apparel brand which make its own fabric,'' Mr Subratha Siddhanta, Business Head, Century Textiles and Industry Ltd, said today.

Speaking to UNI here, he said the brand had grown ten folds in South India in two and a half years. From a modest Rs two crore company in the year of its inception, it had grown to Rs 20 crore.

This was possible because the brand proved to be popular in multi brand stores. The company was now on a major expansion mode by setting up more exclusive brand outlets. We already have seven outlets in Hyderabad and six in Bangalore. Such outlets were opened in most major cities, with two shops coming up in Chennai. The company would add 70 more outlets to its present 40 by the end of the fiscal at a cost of Rs six crore, he added.

''Our next aim will be women's wear and denims. We produce the best variety of denim at our century-old textile mill in Mumbai. In women's wear, we will be targetting mainly the middle class customers as there is ample scope and volume. In men's wear, our aim is to bring to our fold buyers of unbranded apparel. We will offer them branded products at unbranded price, starting from Rs 495. The apparel segment in India is worth about Rs 23,000 crore. Of this, brands put together is just Rs 2,000 crore. This is the reason we are looking to take away a chunk of business from the unorganised sector,'' he said.

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