Evoke makes India foray with 'Fuse' brand

Evoke Ventures, an international retail arm of the Chennai-based Rs 200-crore GKK-Taurus Group, is foraying into the Indian retail market with the launch of its 'Fuse' premium accessories label. The Fuse product range includes leather accessories, footwear, clothes, perfumes and costume jewellery.

The company, which has been retailing the 'Fuse' brand of accessories in New York, Paris, Barcelona, Tokyo, Shanghai and Cape Town for the last couple of years, has opened its first exclusive retail outlet at the Park Sheraton in Chennai. It plans to open nine more outlets, largely in the major Indian cities over the next couple of years.

Exclusive shops are planned in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai by the end of the year, and in Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Goa, Chandigarh and Kochi by mid-2008. The company expects to garner a revenue of about Rs 3 crore in the first year of operations in the country. It has earmarked a brandspend of about Rs 3.5 crore for this year.

Besides, it intends to invest about Rs 30 crore in expanding its presence in the domestic and international markets over the next years. Plans are afoot to rope in a strategic investor to fund its expansion.

Evoke Ventures has entered into a strategic partnership with UK-based Chrysalis Strategic Retail to evolve as the best international franchisee brand from India and carve a niche for itself in the premium segment.

However, in India, the company is launching a range of leather accessories such as handbags, briefcases, wallets and laptop cases, to start with. It will eventually augment its range with footwear, clothes, fragrances and costume jewellery. The price of Fuse products will range between Rs 1,500 and Rs 60,000.

Speaking to reporters here, Gilbert James, director, Evoke Ventures, said that the luxury accessories segment of the Indian retail market was a key emerging area with tremendous potential.

While exact growth rate numbers are not available for the luxury accessories segment, the segment has seen the entry of a number of global companies and is making a dent in the Indian market too, he said.

"We are positioning the Fuse brand as a premium accessories brand, just below the luxury segment. Our prices will be about 40 per cent cheaper than products in the luxury segment," he added.

The parent company, GKK-Taurus Group, has manufacturing units for leather products at Chennai and Ranipet in Tamil Nadu.

It has also recently set up a production unit with a capacity to manufacture one lakh shoes a month in Chennai. However, the company has been sourcing accessories such as clothes and fragrances from South Africa and South Asian countries.