India Retail News.

After being unsuccessful twice with Diesel and Armani, Birla Retail is trying to be lucky third time with American Fashion retailer DKNY [Now with Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey - LVMH]

Madura Garments is already an established player in Lifestyle retailing in India with brands such as Louis Phillipe, Van Heusen, Peter England etc. DKNY operates 70 stores under the brand Donna Karan and DKNY. Madura's team is slated to meet for talks with LVMH in New York in July.

Vikram Rao of Birla Group said,

Madura's strategic intent is to expand international portfolio. We are exploring opportunities in this direction. So far, we have not signed any agreements with any brands.

DKNY is likely to carry a s super-premium brand tag in India when launched. DKNY offers wide range of apparels ranging from intimate womens wear to menswear, kids wear and accessories.

Khadi, the apparel of Gandhian era promoted by Khadi and Village Industries Commission, is spending upto Rs 3,500 crore [$800 Mn] to revamp its retail outlets.

Currently they plan to spend Rs 700 crore and launch Jeans cloth material followed by ready-to-wear jeans, affordably priced at Rs 500. New designs catering to the new generation will be crafted on the traditional Khadi cloth material. Makeover of store ambiance and staff training will also be undertaken in the current modernization plan.

Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd [GHCL] owned "Rosebys Home Linen Outlets" a chain of 300 retail outlets across UK plans to open 700 stores in India to capture the nascent home decoration vertical market.

Mr. Nikhil Sen, Director Rosebys, said,

We hope to invest around Rs 200 crore in our PAN-India expansion in the first phase. The home linen being a low-involvement category has hitherto been on the lower end of the value chain. We believe that the nature of our products and our ability to save the customers based on their lifestyle requirements is what should dictate the nature of our in store products and solutions.

Roseby Indian stores will be a combination of multi-brand outlets. It is going to expand by franchising route. PE and VC investors maybe roped in at an appropriate time to raise funds.

Most of its goods will be manufactured by GHCL, some of them will be contract manufactured from various vendors in India. GHCL has a big challenge ahead to build Roseby brand in this segment as it will compete with Oma Home Decor Retail [Hero Group], Home Town Retail [Pantaloon], Reliance etc.

American Jeans retailer Levi's is eying to double the revenue share from premium denim brands in India from 5-6% previous year to 10-12% current year. Levi's has introduced four new product lines - Levi's Red Loop, Levi's Blue, Levi's Red and Levi's Vintage Clothing to achieve this target. All of the above are priced between Rs 4,000 to Rs 10,000.

Mr Shyam Shukla, Director Marketing of Levi's India said,

There is a major market for the premium segment of denim mainly due to increasing affluence of the middle class fueled by economic growth. An increasing number of people are willing to pay much more for a pair of jeans.

Levi's jeans is sold through 600 purchase points of which 175 are exclusive Levi's outlets. Delhi NCR and Mumbai are its biggest markets in India.