Ghari to roll out ladies' footwear range

Kanpur-based Ghari Industries, a diversified company and well-known for its detergents, is exploring ways to boost its leather business. The company will soon roll out its range of ladies footwear early next year.

The range under the name ‘La More’ will be manufactured at the company’s manufacturing unit in Kanpur. The brand has already been supplied to Gujarat, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh; however the marketing will be done after few months.

“We have strategic plans to increase our presence across the country. Along with introducing ladies’ footwear, we will also strengthen our premium brand ‘Red Chief’. The new brand will be supplied to all the metros and mini metro cities,” Manoj Kumar, managing director, Red Chief, told Business Standard.

“The footwear industry has emerged as a fashion brand in the last few years, with a growth of around 15- 20 per cent. This will further increase in years to come,” he said. “With the festive and marriage season round the corner, the volumes are bound to increase. We have increased our volumes by almost 30 per cent in the last three years,” Kumar said.

“We will be investing Rs 25 crores in our plant (at Kanpur) this year and propose to notch up a sales target of over Rs 60 crores at least. The major portion of it will be pumped into our tannery which is under construction,” he added. “Once completed, it will be a one stop for us to manufacture our products under one roof,” Kumar informed. With an annual turnover of Rs 1,250 crores and over 7,500 employees nationwide, the company produces over one million pairs of shoes annually.

The company plans to approach other markets and is expected to launch its products in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. Red Chief products are now selling in UP, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and J&K.