Vimal, the flagship textile brand of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), plans to leverage the Vimal-suiting platform to enter the fashion-training segment by partnering with leading fashion institutes of the country.
Vimal also plans to emerge as the leading textile brand by 2009-10, on the back of aggressive retail presence all over India and introduction of innovative premium products.
The brand will also offer complete solutions to export markets - from fiber to garments - and will sharpen focus on the global automotive furnishing business.
The textile division has recently entered into a tie-up with a US-based distribution company for building a strong supply chain platform to get a major foothold in the US automotive segment.
Also, in a year’s time the textile division has become a prominent supply partner of seat covers and roof liners to almost all passenger car brands in India.
According to Anand Parekh, president of textile business at RIL, “We are looking at tying up with a few passenger car brands in US for supplying automotive furnishings to passenger cars. Already in India we are supplying to almost all car brands in a matter of one year since this initiative was launched.”
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Currently, menswear formals make up 70 per cent of the company’s business while the remaining is contributed by sales of automotive furnishings for passenger cars.
The company also plans to set up separate retail outlets for its sub-brands.
Its new wardrobe comprises three new sub-brands —Vimal Red, Vimal White and Vimal Black —straddling different price points. Vimal Red, positioned in the popular segment, offers formal wear in the Rs 699 to Rs 899 band.
The trendier Vimal White is in the mid-price market with price tags between Rs 799 and Rs 1,099). Vimal Black is priced upwards of Rs 999, targeting consumers of premium fabric.
“We have also revamped around 13 of our old stores in terms of new look, design and layout. Footfals in these stores have gone up by about 40 per cent,” Parekh added.
“By end of this year, we will have around 25 of our exclusive stores revamped,” Parekh added.
Reliance will take advantage of its existing formats such as Reliance Mart and Reliance Trendz to showcase the Vimal range. The brand will be available at the 24 new flagship stores along with the existing 200 existing franchisee stores.