Arvind Lifestyle scouting for kids wear brands

Arvind Lifestyle scouting for kids wear brands

Arvind Lifestyle & Brands, a subsidiary of textile firm Arvind Ltd, is scouting for kids wear brands to build on the five international acquisitions it made in the men and women wear segment this year. “We have a couple of kids brands in our portfolio and are looking at expanding the segment now,” said J Suresh, managing director and CEO, Arvind Lifestyle, a major player in apparel and retail segment. In line with the strategy, the company plans to extend Elle, the women wear brand, to the kids segment by March. The company acquired Elle along with Nautica, Debenhams, Next and Billabong this year. It has also started strengthening its existing kid’s portfolio as it looks to open standalone stores for its US Polo kids brands. According to estimates, the kids wear segment is about `10,000 crore. In the value retail space, after shedding the discounted tag from Megamart stores, the company has been able to improve margins by up to 5% in the past three months. Meanwhile, the company is also sharpening its focus on international markets, which as of now contribute only 5-6% to its sales. “We are aggressively marketing our home-grown brands such as Flying Machine and Arrow and plan to launch Izod brand in the Middle East very soon,” he said. The company, which is likely to post a turnover of about `1,400-1,500 crore this fiscal, is aiming to touch `5,000 crore in sales by 2015 through both organic and inorganic routes. The company, which contributes 27% to Arvind Ltd’s sales, is targeting to open 100-150 stores across formats