Van Heusen goes off the beaten track

Sample this: Worldwide, Van Heusen is known as a mid-market shirt brand — something the average office-goer would wear. In India, Van Heusen sits at the premium end of the market with an average shirt costing nothing less than Rs 1,200. Unlike the West, Van Heusen again has extended into segments such as women's wear, youth wear and accessories in India. In short, it has a wide range here as opposed to abroad.

Moreover, India is also an important market for Van Heusen globally. The brand's Chief Operating Officer Shital Kumar Mehta says sales from India constitute 9 per cent of Van Heusen’s global sales.

But this is not all. Growing at over 30 per cent per annum, Van Heusen, which has a turnover of Rs 380 crore, is likely to hit the Rs 500-crore-mark by the end of the next financial year.

What is propelling the brand in a market which is crowded and competitive?

The answer lies in the ambitions of its brand owners. Yes, Madura Garments, which was acquired by the Aditya Birla group in 1999 from the UK-based Coats Viyella Plc, has a perpetual right to the Van Heusen brand name in India. This is unusual because for all other markets, Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation (PVH), the US-based apparel and footwear marketer, has the right to the Van Heusen brand name.

PVH, for the record, acquired this right post its buyout of Coats Viyella in 2001. Till that time, the company had the right to use the Van Heusen name largely in the North and South of America. With the acquisition of Coats Viyella, however, the crucial UK market was added to its kitty. PVH also managed consolidating allied markets in Europe and Asia following the acquisition of Coats Viyella, giving it full control of the Van Heusen brand name across the globe. India, of course, was out of this list.

“In a sense, this allowed us to expand the way we wanted to,” says Mehta.

In the last five years, Madura has been aggressive as far as pushing Van Heusen goes. It is the largest brand for the company at the moment, followed closely by Peter England and Allen Solly respectively.

Not only has Madura expanded Van Heusen’s product range, but also sought to increase its footprint of exclusive stores over the years.

From 85 exclusive Van Heusen showrooms, the plan is to take it to 125 stores by the end of the next financial year. But this is just part of what the company intends doing to push the brand on the ground. “Its availability in allied stores such as multi-brand outlets, department stores etc will continue. Of course, there are many more avenues that will open up as the retail landscape evolves in the country,” says Mehta.

One of them is the company’s own destination shopping arena called Planet Fashion. “This is a multi-brand outlet, which is home to all Madura brands,” says Mehta. “We have 60-70 of them at the moment across the country. Van Heusen obviously finds a place there,” he says.

But the exclusive showrooms are what excite Mehta the most. “It is a great way to build the brand,” he says.

There are allied options too that the company is exploring in its drive to build the brand such as its association with the Men’s Fashion Week, the first edition of which began last year. “This is the second year we will be hosting the event,” says Mehta. “It begins in August in New Delhi,” he says.

But the company is not stopping at that. It has just launched an eco line of shirts made from organic cotton tying up with a non-govermental organisation to donate one per cent of the sales proceeds. It recently rolled out a Van Heusen Heritage range in the super-premium category. Says Mehta, “Innovations will continue. That is what will set us apart.”