Aeropostale to enter kidswear & athleisure, tap youngsters online & offline

Run by Arvind Fashions in India, the firm is also adding denims, wovens and other non-apparel merchandise to the brand in order to woo the youth

After over two years since its launch, American youth fashion brand Aeropostale, known for its graphic logo t-shirts and hoodies, is set to enter the kidswear and athleisure (athletic+leisure) segments.

In a bid to cater to its predominant young consumers, Aeropostale, run by Arvind Fashions Limited in India, is also adding denims, wovens and other non-apparel merchandise to the brand. Having built around 33 exclusive stores and over 120 shop-in-shop (SIS) stores since its foray in India in November 2015, Aeropostale is also now ramping up online and offline presence.

"We are building multiple categories on the product side. Denims are a big category in India, and we are working on creating a big line of denims called Aeropostale Denims, which will help us to grow on the product side. There are also plans to launch kids wear next year for Aeropostale and get into athleisure a year after that," Sumit, Dhingra, Chief Operating Officer-Heritage Brands Division, Arvind Fashions Limited told Business Standard.

In the non-apparel categories, the brand is building its presence in jewellery, footwear, eyewear, and backpacks, among others, even though apparel continues to lead the revenue share for Aeropostale.

On the retail front, having focused on top six cities in the last two years, the brand is now looking to build its presence where its young consumers are, including online through omni-channel and other partnerships. "Firstly, there is a huge amount of distribution opportunity available. We have not entered many cities, we have not even penetrated to all the malls available to us. Online, we have just begun which we will explore deeper this year. We entered department stores last year such as Lifestyle, Central, and Shopper's Stop. We will continue to expand in Pantaloons."

Backed by Arvind Group's own omni-channel portal Nnnow.com, Aeropostale is looking to builds its online presence through multiple ways. All its 33 stores, which Aeropostale plans to take it up to 45-50 by the end of fiscal 2018-19, are connected to the omni-channel network.

"We also are tapping into the existing partners which are leading e-commerce portals like Myntra, Jabong, Amazon and Flipkart. We believe that this channel would grow faster than others given that our consumers are tuned to e-commerce," said Dhingra.

The brand's expansion plans are motivated by the target of doing Rs 5 billion worth of business in the first five years of its existence that it has set for itself. Having already achieved Rs 1 billion of it so far, Dhingra said that the company has set a target of 60 per cent growth for Aeropostale this year. "It is the first month of the financial year, hence it is too early to comment. But we are very confident we will be able to meet and surpass that number."

Meanwhile, even as it looks to enhance its online presence, Aeropostale expects share of online sales to grow from current 15 per cent to 18 per cent in next three years, with 82 per cent still coming from offline channels aided by omni-channels.