Eskay Knit plans retail foray

The current retail boom in the country is attracting some unlikely players. Eskay Knit India, a vertically integrated textile company with focus on knitwear, is the latest one planning retail foray.

The company is setting up eight textile malls, each with an investment of Rs 5-6 crore. The malls, four of which will be in Mumbai, spread over 1,00,000-2,00,000 sq ft will come up on the company's existing properties.

In Mumbai, the malls are being planned at Lower Parel's Raghuvanshi Mill complex, Dombivli, Malad and New Mumbai. Elsewhere, these are coming up in Pune, Vapi and Nagpur. The first of these malls is likely to be opened at Lower Parel by January 2006, while others are expected to be operational by end of this fiscal.

Navin Tayal, chairman, Eskay Knit, said, "Initially, we will set up malls on our own properties. And to begin with, they will all be textile-based ones, with our own brands, products and manpower. But, we would like to lease out space to other brands and products later."

The company will also consider buying or leasing land to build malls at a later date, he said.

The company, which owns the League and Assets brands for outer and innerwear, respectively, is also planning to acquire a few upcoming brands to add to its portfolio. To complement its own knitwear focus, the company is in talks with some woven fabric/ garment manufacturers.

Tayal said, "Negotiations are on to acquire more brands to add to our existing portfolio. We are also negotiating with other brands to retail under our umbrella at the malls."

Eskay has recently invested Rs 350 crore in expanding its spinning, knitting and processing activities to meet export targets. The company supplies t-shirts and sportswear to Wal-Mart, Phatfarm and Sears in the US as well as to home shopping catalogues. The company clocked a profit of Rs 20 crore from exports alone in the first half of this fiscal, up from Rs 1.52 crore for the entire 2004-05.