Allen Solly aims to become Rs 1,000 cr brand by FY16

Partners with Wimbledon to promote its sub-brand Solly Sport

Premium semi formal dressing brand Allen Solly from Madura Garments owned by Aditya Birla Group is eyeing a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore in FY16.  It will be adding 50 new stores across India in FY16.

"We should cross Rs 800 crore (in sales) this fiscal and touch Rs 1,000 crore next fiscal. We have been growing at 34 per cent CAGR for the last three years and we intend to maintain it. We enjoy lion's share in formal dressing category. We nearly doubled our store count in the last two years. We opened around 50 stores. We will add 50 stores every year and each store costs nearly Rs 40 lakh,"  said  Sooraj Bhat, chief operating officer, Allen Solly.

Allen Solly has now entered into an exclusive partnership with the famed tennis grand slam tournament Wimbledon to sell men’s wear. The partnership will help to promote Allen Solly’s sub—brand Solly Sport. The brand was launched in January last year.

The line is designed in collaboration with French design firm Groupe Carlin International to bring tennis fashion to India. The collection will be retailed  from exclusive Allen Solly stores, department store and other menswear stores across country.  The products will also be available to purchase online through the company's website.

"It is a 10-year licencing agreement for Wimbledon merchandise through Solly Sport. We are the exclusive licensees for apparel and non-apparel for the Wimbledon line in the country. They are doing this only with us and only in India.  The line was designed in collaboration with a French design firm to bring cutting edge on and off court tennis fashion to the domestic market," Bhat said.

In FY15 the brand Solly Sport alone is expected to generate Rs 40 crore revenue and over the next three years it will expand to touch Rs 200 crore.

Despite the rising online sales of apparel, Bhat said most of sales come from the brick-and-mortar format. "Roughly, 4-5 per cent of our sales are online. We are off-line heavy. But we see a fair amount of opportunity in online too."

He further said, "We are increasing our focus on tier II and III markets. We continue to open stores in the metros but the mix is moving more and more to smaller towns."

Allen Solly, launched in 1993, has 207 exclusive outlets, and in Maharashtra it has 28 stores.