Even as some players are pulling their shutters down on businesses in textile value chain, Ahmedabad-based organic foods manufacturing company, Rising Tradelink is hoping to cash in on organic designer wear.
The company is all set to launch exclusive outlets of its organic designer wear brand, Bhu:sattva, by end of the financial year 2009-10. Of the 15 stores that the company intends to launch, around 7-8 stores will be owned by Rising Tradelink while the rest will be set up through franchisee model.
"Our major focus will be on exporting to countries like the US, the UK, Germany, Bahrain, and Singapore for which we are currently in the process of signing deals with potential buyers," said Jainam Kumarpal, director of Rising Tradelink. For the design part, the company has tied up with well-known fashion designer Digvijay Singh.
According to Kumarpal, the organic designer wear will be priced in the range of between Rs 1,000 and Rs 15,000. The company's exclusive outlets will be spread across an area of 1,500-2,000 sq ft. Rising Tradelink plans to launch its first outlet in Ahmedabad within next two months.
Recently, the company launched Bhu:sattva at Lakme Fashion Week ’09 on March 28, 2009.
Talking about organic clothing, Kumarpal said, "One of the areas of concern in textile chain is the processing, which is replete with hazardous chemicals and industrial wastes, posing problems not only to the end-products in the process i.e. to the consumers, but also to workers and lives around the locality. This has brought into play issues like social responsibility and environmental sustainability as far as business structures are concerned. Organic is in vogue today because of its eco- friendly approach towards our society and has blended with our current trends in fashion and living completely. "
India saw a 292 per cent increase in its organic cotton production for the year 2007-08. Though the demand in international market is more than domestic market, the company is targeting both the markets for their expansion plan. International buying enquiries from UK, U.S.A., Canada and other European countries have started and hence the focus for the company currently is the international market.
More From This Section
Also seeing the response, the company intends to supply organic designer wear to leading Fashion stores in India. Kumarpal stated that the organic cotton market is set to become a $ 1 billion industry and is expected to grow by 30 per cent for the year 2009.
"India's organic cotton production was of 73,702 tonnes, which is globally number one, for 2008 and grew at 292 per cent as compared to previous year. India ranks second in exports of organic cotton globally after Turkey," he said.