Van Heusen,Louis Philippe eyeing smaller towns,cities

Both the leading brands closed with sales figures of Rs 650 crore each during 2010-11 fiscal.

Eyeing a sales turnover of Rs 850 crore each during the 2011-12 fiscal,top brands Van Heusen and Louis Philippe from the stable of Madura Fashion amp; Lifestyle,a division of the Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd,is to focus on Tier II and Tier III cities to expand business.

Van Heusen would be focussing on smaller towns and cities,including Patiala,Jallandhar,Srinagar,Jammu,Mangalore,Mysore,Thiruchirapalli,Kannur and Thiruvalla,a company official said.

Both the leading brands closed with sales figures of Rs 650 crore each during 2010-11 fiscal,Ajay Ramachandran and Jacob John,Brand Heads,respectively of Van Heusen and Louis Philippe,told said on Saturday.

Ramachandran said they had recently opened their Thrissur store which registered a sales of Rs 18 lakh last month.

Van Heusen at present has 125 exclusive stores,70 planet fashion stores and 1,000 multi-brand stores across the country,while Louis Philippe has over 100 stores. Van Heusen was plannig to touch 160 stores by next March and 200 stores by March 2013.

Van Heusen and Louis Philippe opened its exclusive large format store in Kottayam two days ago. Van Heusen has stores in Ernakulam,Thrissur,Kozhikode and Kottayam with plans to open another at Kollam this month end and Thiruvananthapuram by next month. Louis Philippe has five stores in the state and would be opening at Thrissur and Kollam in 2-3 months.

Ramachandran said Van Heusen has plans to foray into men8217;s footwear both formal and casual in another six months time. Its four sub brands8211; Van Huesen formals,V-dot for youth,Women and V Huesen sport were doing very well,he said.

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Out of Van Heusen8217;s Rs 650 crore turnover last year,Rs 50 crore was from women8217;s wear. Indian ethnic wear is being replaced by formals,Ramachandran said,adding there was a shift from Indian to western wear. During the next three years,there will be a good growth in women8217;s wear,he said.

The V-dot category saw a turnover of Rs 120 crore and this is expected to grow by 30 per cent to 40 per cent in the next 3-4 years.

Jacob John said Louis Philippe8217;s sub brand8211; LP Sport,had netted a record turnover of Rs 100 crore in three years. It had launched footwear in all three categories last year and the turnover had crossed Rs 10 crore mark.