Raymond eyes 5% of branded apparel business from khadi, roll-out in October

Firms targets Rs 60-70 cr business from segment, will source 400,000 metres from KVIC clusters

Planning a retail roll out in October this year, Raymond is expecting a five per cent revenue share in its Rs 1,200 crore-plus apparel business to come from khadi products.  

According to Gaurav Mahajan, President-Apparel Business, Raymond Ltd, while the company has formally announced its foray into khadi, it is planning a retail roll-out of the product in October.  

"We hope to roll out khadi products under the Raymond Ready to Wear brand by October this year.  We hope to do a business of Rs 60-70 crore from khadi this year. While in the first phase we will focus on domestic sales, in the second phase we have the intention to sell khadi apparel internationally," Mahajan told Business Standard.

Of the total branded apparel revenue of Rs 1,270 crore, the company's Park Avenue brand generates Rs 593 crore revenue, followed by ColorPlus at Rs 275 crore, Raymond Ready To Wear at Rs 225 crore, and Parx at Rs 173 crore.

Weaving branded khadi

Plans retail roll out of branded khadi apparel by October Products to hit initially at Raymond's Ready to Wear stores Plans to source 400,000 metres of khadi through KVIC clusters Eyes Rs 60-70 crore of business from branded khadi this year Intends to export branded khadi in second phase

The company has a range of products in khadi including khadi suits, khadi shirts, khadi western wear and khadi sherwani, among others. Raymond 's design team has been working closely with khadi weavers across the country under Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC).

Eventually, Raymond would be sourcing around 400,000 metres of khadi from KVIC clusters. The company is expected to create three million man hours of employment for khadi weavers through its retail venture.

There are around 25 khadi weaving clusters under KVIC where the handwoven fabric is sold at a price range of anywhere between Rs 150 per metre and Rs 1000 per metre depending on variety.

"There is a lot of design intervention being done from our side in collaboration with weavers.  We are expecting to do a business of Rs 60-70 crore from branded khadi this year. In the first phase, the roll out will be in th domestic market through our The Raymond Shop and Raymond Ready to Wear stores and then later through other stores including multi-branded outlets (MBOs). In the second phase, we intend to sell branded khadi internationally," said Mahajan.

Raymond has in all 1080 stores across all formats including exclusive branded outlets (EBOs) and flagship The Raymond Stores (TRS) as on March 31, 2017 across 400 towns.  Of these, the company has 714 The Raymond Shops, 28 Raymond Ready to Wear EBOs, 135 ColorPlus EBOs, 82 Park Avenue EBOs, 60 Raymond MTM EBO and 12 Parx EBO.

In addition to this the company has 49 overseas stores across Bahrain, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE.