Disney looks to recreate magic with kids apparel

After garnering a sizeable chunk of the kids television space, the Walt Disney Company (India) is eyeing the Rs 3,000 crore branded kids wear market. The company today announced the launch of its fashion wear brand, Disney Jeans, which is its first foray into non-character merchandise.

Rajat Jain, managing director, The Walt Disney Company(India), named Indus Clothing as the brand licensee that will market and distribute the brands. "They will also set up our exclusive brand stores through which the brand will be retailed," he added.

Apart from jeans, the range comprises other apparel like shirts and jackets as well as accessories like bags, caps and socks. While there are no overt references to any of the Disney characters, there are elements like a Mickey Mouse comic strip on the pocket lining or inner cuff of the jeans.

Lester W Lee, regional director-softlines, Disney Consumer Products said that the company would soon introduce footwear under the brand. "Globally, Disney ranks among the top 20 apparel brands and we hope to become a significant player in the kids apparel market in India," said Lee.

Indus Clothing, the brand licensee will invest Rs 21 crore behind the retail expansion of the brand. H P Singh, managing director, Indus Clothing said that this investment pertained to the initial 30 Disney Jeans Stores which were planned till the end of 2007.

"By 2008, we are looking at having 50 stores across all the key cities in India starting with the metros. In the first phase, there will be three stores in Mumbai and Delhi each apart from stores in Pune, Chandigarh and Dehradun," said Singh.

Apart from standalone stores, there would also be a few Disney branded corners in department stores like Lifestyle.

The kids branded apparel market in India is pegged at $600 million and is expected to touch $850 million by 2010. In kids fashion, there is a larger skew towards non-character merchandise with character merchandise comprising only 15 per cent of total sales. "Having studied this, we decided to go after the bigger opportunity in this space, namely the non-character merchandise," said Jain.

The products are targeted at the 4-14 years age group and are priced upwards of Rs 99.