With an aim to strengthen its apparel business, footwear and lifestyle apparel brand Woodland plans to make an entry into the junior and kidswear apparel segment. Further, the company plans to venture into large format retailing with plans to open around seven stores in 2009.
“We have a full-range of casual and outdoor apparels range including jackets, shirts, t-shirts, denim, bottomwear and pull-overs in menswear under our own brand name and we are now venturing into junior and kidswear with the entire range,” said Harkirat Singh, managing director, Woodland.
Apparels currently contribute to around 35 per cent of the company’s annual turnover and the company aims to take the figure up to 50 per cent by 2010-11 fiscal-end. However, the company official declined to disclose the company’s sales turnover.
“We have currently 230 exclusive company-owned stores across India and each store is on average of around 1,500 square feet in size. We now intend to set up larger format stores of around 5,000 square feet area where apparels would have a separate section and footwear collection would be displayed separately,” added Singh.
Meanwhile, the company is also giving a thought to setting up exclusive apparel outlets. Woodland was introduced to the Indian market in 1992 through two exclusive outlets in New Delhi.
— IndiaRetailing Bureau
