Woodland imports technology to enhance brand

Woodland Worldwide is inducting new technologies from abroad to refurbish its brand image. It recently collaborated with a former NASA scientist under a royalty agreement and developed shoes and shirts that keep a person cool and comfortable even in extreme temperatures. To ensure that its products are precisely engineered, it has also brought advanced robotics technology from Germany.

The "cooling shirt" has an embedded cooling pad that ensures that the wearer remains cool even in summer. Woodland identified the key sweat zones and strategically placed cooling panels and a thermal management mechanism at the back of the shirt that enhances cooling. Woodland cooling shoes use high-tech continuous filament yarn that picks up sweat and carries it away from the skin, spreading it out, enabling it to evaporate easily on the outside of the fabric.

"Being an outdoor-adventure gear brand, it is our constant endeavour to bring in new, innovative products for our customers that widely comprises of youths. Since our products are basically meant for outdoors, we always focus on adding specialised, technical aspects in our products that make them functional for use in extreme conditions," said Harkirat Singh, managing director, Woodland Worldwide, which has established 25 factories for footwear and garments mostly in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

The demand for water-proof shoes is also growing, said Singh. The lining used in the shoes consists of three layers - a light knitted mesh on one side and an ultra thin waterproof membrane on the other side. A padded collar is added to provide a comfortable fit to users. The lining prevents water from seeping into the shoes.

Singh said that in India the company has over 430 Woodland exclusive outlets in India, and its products are also available across 3,500 multi-brand retail outlets in the country.

Woodland is also entering the foreign market in a big way. "We are in the process of entering new overseas markets like Australia, CIS countries and some parts of Africa," said Singh. "We have already opened an office in Hong Kong that gives us access to the Chinese market. We have plans for our own retail presence there," he said.