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This is an archive article published on November 28, 2011
Class Label
Hidesign CEO looks up to Lucknowites good taste.
Written by Siddhartha Mathur
November 28, 2011 05:57 AM IST
2 min read
2 min read
Not every pursuit of hobby grows into a Rs 110-crore enterprise and Dilip Kapur,founder of Hidesign,leaders in the fashionable leather bag segment,hides his smugness beneath a humble facade. With his stores opened in Kanpur and Lucknow,the number has gone up to 71. I learned during market research that Lucknow buyers spend any amount to get the designs of their choice,be it in clothes or accessories. Our range of wallets,bags and belts for men and women already found many takers here,so it was the right thing to come up with an exclusive outlet, he said.
I prefer to term Lucknow as a budding metro rather than a two-tier city. Our products were already available at Shoppers Stop,but now we have set up shop here to offer the entire range,which will comprise shortly sunglasses and pens too, he said at the Rani Laxmi Bai Marg premises (next to Gemini Hotel),adjacent another trendy store,FabIndia. He holds the Lucknow customer with esteem for the good taste.
I had returned after an education in the United States and started this leather bag business just as a hobby, says Kapur,who began with a capital of Rs 25,000 at Auroville in Pondicherry way back in 1978. During his PhD on International Markets from Princeton University,New Jersey,he was an intern in a leather bag unit and took a fancy for the craft. Initially,I was designing bags with the American and British women in mind,but the business grew from strength to strength and gradually,I found a huge clientele in India too, says Kapur,whose patrons include personalities from Sonia Gandhi to Steven Spielberg. Leather goods need to be protected more from heat than moisture, says Kapur,head of an enterprise in which Louis Vitton has a stake. If the leather is of the best quality,the accessory enhances your personality more than those made of imitation leather or other material, he said,adding that the leather bag market in India is of Rs 3,000 crore,in which his label leads with a 20 per cent market share.
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