Leather Talks began its journey from a store in Kolkata in 1973. The great exuberating craftsmanship, product quality with innovation and great customer service helped the brand achieve goodwill in a short span of time. It has also been a pioneer in launching gent’s belt with reversible buckles with original gold and silver polish. In an all encompassing chat with IMAGES Business of Fashion, Apekshit Jaggi, Managing Director, Leather Talks highlights the growth and journey of the brand along with the future expansion plans.
Give us a brief understanding of the journey of your brand.
We are an organisation operating since 1973 in the Indian fashion and corporate industry and have always made functional, innovative and good quality products serving the Indian segment with pocket-friendly price points. Currently, we have three operational stores stretching over Kolkata and Delhi. Leather Talks started its journey with its first EBO in AC Market. By 1984 we had four EBOs. Excellent craftsmanship, product quality, innovations and great customer service helped Leather Talks achieve goodwill in a short span of time. Then the Leather Talks journey took a turn to the goodwill products/promotional goods market. At present, we are serving more than 150 MNCs as corporate clients.
Tell us about your product portfolio, USP, TG, market share, number of stores, region-wise break-up of stores.
The product portfolio of Leather Talks includes lifestyle, bridal accessories, travel, gifting and Go Custom. Our USP is quite simple. We believe in making innovative and functional products. Our target group is mostly Millennials, but we have everything for other age groups as well. We have accessories for everyone between 25-55 years of age.
What are the most popular products in the product portfolio of your brand?
In the men’s accessories we have belts, wallets, office and laptop accessories. The women’s section has handbags, minibags, totes, wallets and clutches. Bridal accessories include jewellery boxes. The luggage section has soft luggage, trolley bags, duffel bags and passport holders.
Where does the accessories industry stand right now?
The industry is currently witnessing an immense growth, as lots of players are making their presence felt in both the national and international categories.
The accessories business is on the rise as the consumer today is very aware and is keener on buying trendy, branded stuff. As far as latest trends are concerned, the travel segment and the ladies handbag segment are getting the maximum popularity these days.
Is ‘accessory’ making a mark as a separate industry or is it still considered an add-on segment to clothing and apparel?
Accessories can be considered as a separate industry today, since fashion accessories have become an important part of modern lifestyles. There is huge demand for these products and big players are also coming up with good opportunities.
What are the major challenges the industry is facing and what are the strategies to overcome them?
The major challenges which we are facing include:
> An unorganised backend
> The taxation structure of the country
> Unsatisfactory quality of HR
> An irregular supply chain
We believe in good infrastructure and better communication, both of which help us a lot in overcoming these obstacles.
Tell us about your expansion plans?
For now, we are concentrating on expanding our EBO network and becoming a ‘Gifting’ partner with our MNC clients across the country.
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