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Woodland to now focus on apparel
E-Tex Staff - New Delhi
Aero Club, which owns the Woodland brand, has decided
to focus more aggressively on apparel this year. Currently, apparel accounts
for 30 per cent of the company’s turnover. The company, which entered the
apparel segment in 1995 with a casual and basic range to complement its footwear
range, now plans to also launch more ‘fashionable’ products.
Says Aero Group managing director Harkirat Singh, "While
we have established our name in footwear, we will now focus on consolidating
our market share in apparel by taking the brand to untapped markets and enhancing
the range." With the intention of sprucing up its range, it is tying up
with a design house in Europe. It will also look beyond its showrooms to retail
apparel through its network of around 3,000 dealers, The new apparel range includes
a premium range of jackets, priced between Rs 1,200 and Rs 4,000, made of imported
synthetic fabric. Leather jackets will also be in the range of Rs 3,500 to 4,500.
The company will also focus on increasing its export
turnover this year from the current 25 per cent. Woodland also plans to enter
the German market through a tie-up with an NRI group this year. It has franchisee
outlets in Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand and the UAE. In the UK and US
the company may market its products under the Woodstep brandname in order to
avoid trademark registration problems.
China is another market it plans to enter soon. Meanwhile,
the company has postponed the relaunch of its Woods brand to the end of the
year. Earlier the company had planned to revive the Woods brand sometime in
September 2003 and develop it as a standalone entity. Woods will be positioned
as a premium formal range of footwear and apparel.
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