Hidesign rolls out design-your-bag initiative

Hidesign, the leather goods maker and retailer, plans to expand its 'do-it-yourself' brand initiative in India. The company opened the first such store in Bangalore's Garuda Mall.

As part of the roll out in India, it will open one store each in Mumbai and Delhi. "By the end of 18 months, six stores will be operational," said Dilip Kapur, president, Hidesign.

As part of the do-it-yourself initiative, the company will offer customers the chance to browse through a library of 1,000 styles, over 100 different leathers, combination and design made individually for the person choosing it.

Hidesign has always found Bangalore to be the most contemporary and fashionable city in the country. This explains why the company opened its first such store here, said Kapur.

The company first tested the store format at its 1,700 sq feet store in Batuta Mall in Dubai, where it garnered considerable interest. "The success of the store at the Batuta Mall in Dubai can be gauged by an 18 per cent growth in sales for all occupants of the mall in less than three-and-half months," he added.

Explaining the company's strategy to counter mass produced goods, Kapur said, "Our strength is to use research and the slow but high quality vegetable tanning process recognised globally to create customer's choice.

"We produce bags in batches of five and each bag is individually cut, matched, checked and then constructed," explained Kapur.

To increase the brand visibility and penetrate the market, the company plans to launch 'Salsa' for people in between the ages of 16 years and 26 years.

Talking about their retail expansion, Kapur said that presently the company is a 28-store brand in India, having a little over 30,000 sq feet of retail space and there are plans to increase it by another 11 stores (15,000 sq feet) in two years.

The company has incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 30-60 lakh per store inIndia and $80,000 to $150,000 per store abroad.

For expansion, the company plans to go it alone and not through franchisees. "By adopting franchisee model, it limits us from shop upgradation and change formats to suit the changing consumer profiles," said Kapur.

The company presently owns stores in Hong Kong, South Africa, US and West Asia and has taken up space in well-known international retail outlets like Selfridges, Fraser, Harrods and John Lewis.

The company registered a turnover of Rs 84 crore last year and it is targetting 60 per cent more this year with more stores will open in key north Indian cities.