Dressing up the infant market

Vinay Santukta is a 31-year-old production designer who takes up export outsourcing contracts and executes jobwork for fashion designers such as Abraham Thakur, Ashish Soni and a dozen others.

Molshri Pachauri, 34, a former garment buyer for the erstwhile Little Woods International (now Tata-owned Trent Ltd), is the director (north) for Infinum Retail Marketing, the company that has the manufacturing and marketing rights for Disney Products in India.

But sometime in the middle of last year, both of them felt that their learning curve in the garment trade had reached a saturation point.

"We wanted to do something of our own. And it was as if both of us were 'customised' to meet each other's requirements," says Pachauri.

Last August, the Delhi-based duo, one a production expert and the other a keen market watcher of the kidswear market, did a soft launch of their domestic kidswear label called Kaboom in north India.

In less than a year, Kaboom is available in 50 stores in smaller cities and its styles are getting the stamp of approval at far-flung places like Yamuna Nagar, Shimla and Srinagar.

Santukta is targeting the "newborn to the age four segment." He says that though 23 million children are born every year, there's a huge gap in the market. Most Indian brands do utility-based garments in this segment and no one is really doing smart, stylised clothes.

"The freshness element is missing and we mainly see adult fashion in reduced sizes. We want to move forward in fashion by offering a new line," he says. Santukta is the chief executive officer of Meeraj Apparel Ltd., the company that was set up to launch Kaboom last year.

Apart from being fashion focused, the company hopes that it will have an edge over other brands by offering superior quality products.

"All our clothes are 100 per cent cotton and we meet international standards," says Pachauri. By August this year, the company plans to expand its range of styles to 130.

Meanwhile, Santukta, is discovering new things on taste and needs in the branded Indian kidswear market which is roughly Rs 350 crore.

"The India market is huge and the regional requirements vary widely. The work is far more challenging than meeting export deadlines," he says.

Adds Pachauri, "Indian consumers prefer loud and bold colours because they want their children to stand out in a crowd. Yellows are not acceptable as it is linked to jaundice, and halter tops won't do well in cities like Hyderabad as it's a far more conservative society."

On the anvil are plans to be present in 30 stores in Mumbai and to have a flagship store of its own in New Delhi by 2005. Meeraj Apparel hopes to touch a turnover of Rs 1 crore in its first year of operation.

It is also eyeing southern cities like Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. The kids clothes are manufactured at Santukta's south Delhi factory.

The products are currently priced at Rs 165 to Rs 395 for infant wear and Rs 225 to Rs 545 for the older group. "Right now, our product is premium. But as volumes grow, we hope to bring the prices down before we enter B-grade cities."

To build its brand, the company will invest nearly three to four per cent of its revenue on advertising.