Q&A: Sushil Sachdeva, MD, Virola Shoes Pvt Ltd

'We are planning to invest 35 mn dollars for our new manufacturing unit'

More than two decades old footwear manufacturer Virola International is known on the racks for its celebrated brand Alberto Torresi. Sushil Sachdeva, managing director, Virola Shoes Pvt Ltd spoke to Pravda Godbole about his expansion plans for the brand. Edited excerpts:

Give us a brief background of your company?
Virola International was set up in 1990 and ventured into the export market at the same time. Virola Shoes, found in early 2010 is amongst the top ten footwear exporters of India which has over 175 customers across the globe. Virola's maiden domestic venture, Alberto Torresi, showcases a phenomenal range of men's shoes which gives a perfect blend of style, innovation and real comfort. The superior workmanship and quality material used to craft these shoes add an enticing proposition to the customers.

 

What is the count of your manufacturing units and are you looking at any expansions?
At present we have 6 factories for our manufacturing needs and we are in the final stages of setting up one more factory. We are planning to invest 35 million dollars for our new manufacturing unit.

What is the current manufacturing capacity of your existing factories?
We manufacture 10,000 pairs per day.

What kind of manufacturing capacities will your new factory have and by how are you planning to scale up your production?
Depending on the demand for our shoes, the product capacity will be scaled up by producing 2500 more pairs of shoes every day.

What is your overall investment budget for the coming year and how do you plan to raise that money?
For the investment budget, the company will invest 15 million in the upcoming year for the expansion of the company. We would generate the funds internally.

How much is your current vendor base?
We have 125 vendors who are based pan India in places like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Chennai etc.

What are your expansion strategies pertaining to the brand Alberto Torresi?
We are planning to place more stores across India so that we can go ahead with marketing strategies to promote the brand to all parts of the country.

Which markets hold strategic importance for Virola? Which new markets do you plan to enter?
Europe is our main business hub. Also with Virola's domestic venture through Alberto Torresi, we are making a sincere effort to pave our way in the Indian market as it has immense potential. We are all set to enter more countries such as Australia, New Zealand and other Scandinavian countries.

From where do you source your materials:
We source it from India as well as we import from countries like Brazil, Bangladesh, Italy, Portugal and the like. From Brazil and Bangladesh we source leather while from Italy we source sole and from Portugal we source other material required for making footwear.

Since the time you started this business, how have the material costs behaved on the graph and what is the current industry situation?
The prices increased considerably and now the market situation is like the stock market of India and the prices are shooting up on hourly basis.

How much is your R&D spend each year?
We believe that R&D is an important exercise for every brand and this is the reason why we spend 10 per cent of the total turnover on it. This exercise of R&D enables us to keep abreast with the market trends. Also detailing gets more profound and sought after when regular R&D initiatives are taken up by any company.

What is the head count of your design team currently and where is it based out of?
We are having a design team of around 50 designers who are based in our Agra factories.