Louis Philippe, Van Heusen expect 30 pc sales growth

Louis Philippe and Van Heusen, menswear brands in India and West Asia, have set a sales target of Rs 850 crore for the current financial year. The two Aditya Birla group companies had clocked sales of Rs 650 crore each in 2010-11.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Ajay Ramachandran and Jacob John, brand heads of Van Heusen and Louis Philippe, respectively, said 40-45 exclusive outlets would be added every year mainly focusing on tier-2 cities, apart from expanding sales through the multi-brand outlets and department stores.

Van Heusen currently has 120 exclusive outlets and Louis Philippe has more than 100 show rooms across the country.

 

They said the two brands would be adding more products like watches and wallets in future to provide a complete range of products for men. A year ago, Louis Philippe had added footwear and within 12 months, the new segment contributed sales of Rs 10 crore.

The companies have four exclusive showrooms in Kerala including one recently launched at Kottayam. They will open two more outlets at Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram by the end of next month.

According to the company, the all-India market for branded menswear is in a range of Rs 13,000 -14,000 crore per annum and is growing at 10 per cent on average. These two brands share the No 1 spot in the branded menswear market with a share of 7 per cent each.

Louis Philippe has added Luxure, a super premium collection. Because of the increase in cotton prices, both the brands would cost more now, they said. Van Heusen's latest addition is V dot, a specialised club wear category that is aimed at younger consumers. The new Kottayam outlet also offers women's apparels from Van Heusen.