German retailer arm on expansion mode

Lerros Fashions India Pvt Ltd, a part of the German Pearl Global group, is looking at 15 retail stores showcasing its casual wear for men and women across the country during fiscal 2009, its top official said.

The fashion retail brand, with two stores in New Delhi and Noida, plans to launch two in Bangalore, one each in Chennai and Hyderabad, two in Mumbai and a couple of more stores in Gurgaon and New Delhi, its CEO Ram Prasad said here.

“We have also signed up for stores in malls in Chandigarh and Ahmedabad, and have plans to launch 200 such stores in India over the next five to six years with an investment of Rs 60 crore,” he said, launching the first store here during the weekend.

“We are, however, looking at an investment of Rs 15-18 crore for the present 15 stores,” Prasad said.

Each store will have an average floor space of 1,500 sq ft to display the Lerros casual wear line for the “upper middle class men and women in the 20-45 age group, he said.

On Lerros’ positioning vis-a-vis the other global retail fashion brands like Levis, Prasad claimed Lerros had “an edge over others as we feel the current global offering is targeted at the 15-25 age group and does not have much for the over 25 years age group.”

Lerros’ casual wear is mostly cotton and natural fibres interspersed with mix of cotton and rayon and cotton-acrylic.

The fashion brand unveiled its stores in New Delhi and Noida this August and the “response there was very encouraging, especially the women’s line, as the offering was an everyday wear as against occasional wear in other brands,” Lerros offered 12 collections each in men’s and women’s wear with ample scope for mix n’ match, Prasad said.

The firm was “bullish about Bangalore which is very receptive to new trends,” he said, adding Lerros was presently in the process of negotiating and signing up stores in top nine cities in India including Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Pune and Kolkata.

It plans to open its next store here in March 2009. Lerros, part of a German multinational, Pearl Global Group, headquartered in Neuss, has its own production and sourcing companies in India, China, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

The present turnover of the company is $350 million, according to company sources.