Excalibur to focus on retail market

Arvind Brands Ltd plans to invest Rs 50 crore to take the number of stores for its menswear apparel brand, Excalibur, to 100 by the end of this fiscal. The company already has over 75 stores dedicated to the brand.

The company will open stores across the country, including another three in Bangalore and four more in Delhi. It is looking at standalone stores as well as space in malls and franchisees. It will raise the money internally, according to company executives.

Arvind Brands has relaunched Excalibur with a makeover, including a new logo, product range and a different image.

"What was primarily a formal shirts brand now includes other lifestyle products too. The brand has been relaunched under different categories like 'business hours', 'after hours', 'vogue', 'royale', and 'vitals'. Vogue will also offer casual clothing," said Arvind Brands' COO Suresh J.

Excalibur recorded a turnover of Rs 40 crore in 2005-06 and expects a turnover of Rs 60 crore this fiscal year.

The company, which is targeting young professionals with Excalibur, said that it was also revamping its denims brands Flying Machine and Newport. It also plans to ramp up the retail presence of these brands.

Suresh said the company had launched a new advertisement campaign for Excalibur to change its image from being a brand known only for office wear to the one that people also considered for casual clothing.

"Our product range has expanded and we have launched a new ad campaign. We are also increasing the size of the stores to give our customers a more global retail experience," he added.

The company has appointed model-turned-actor Milind Soman as the brand ambassador.