Hidesign to ramp up global presence

Hidesign, one of the country's few organised players in the leather bags and accessories space, is looking at ramping up its retail presence internationally.

Kunal Sachdev, CEO, Hidesign, said,"We are looking at moving from the shop-in-shop model to setting up our own exclusive brand stores which would help establish the brand overseas."

The company has already started moving towards this format in the West Asia and a few other countries.

Sachdev said that they were looking at the same model in China where they would look at setting up five stores in the next two years with a JV partner.

Domestically, Sachdev said that the company was now considering expansion through the franchisee route, but only if they were convinced that the specific market was ready for the product.

Hidesign at present has 35 outlets in the country, and is looking to take this to about 55 in the next 15 months. This would include cities like Jallandar, Lucknow and Agra.

For the newly launched youth brand Salsa, Sachdev said that they would focus on establishing the brand through department stores like Shoppers' Stop and Bombay Store, but would look at opening an exclusive outlet by the end of the year.