M&B Footwear to make, market Levi's footwear

Delhi-based M&B Footwear, already the Indian and SAARC licensee of Lee Cooper, has bagged the Indian manufacturing and marketing licence for Levi's footwear. M& B, which also has under its fold the i-D shoe brand, is learnt to have inked the deal with Levi's in late September.

According to the agreement, the Levi's brand of footwear is slated to hit the retail space in April next year. M&B has been mandated to bring out shoes which complement the Levi's apparel portfolio that includes denims and casuals, Shumone Jaya Chatterjee, managing director Levi Strauss (India) said.

He added, the products will be priced in the premium range at about Rs 1500 and above. The range will include sporty casual shoes, sneakers and floaters, besides footwear for women. Under the licensee agreement with Lee Cooper, M& B footwear will launch the Lee Cooper Femme label in India.

Leaning on these tie-ups, M&B projects a Rs 60 crore plus topline this fiscal. Last year's sales, through its own outlets, exports to Lee Cooper, and in association with Bata India and Gasoline boots, USA, topped Rs 50 crore. The company over the last 10 years has consistently logged a 35 per cent annual growth.

On whether they will put in additional capacity to serve the Levis label, they said, "For the Lee Cooper tie-up, we invested Rs 12 crore on a greenfield plant with an annual capacity of 75,000 to one lakh units at Himachal Pradesh. The plant has just started batch production. Further, we are expanding our existing Noida plant from 60,000 units to one-lakh units per annum."

Levi's footwear will be sold through the 50 Levi's outlets, besides M&B's retail outlets. M&B's reach extends to over 600 shoe outlets and departmental stores across India.

For Levi Strauss, the footwear entry is part of a larger game plan. The deep blue jean maker is diversifying into eye wear, watches and innerwear. Shumone Chatterjee said, watches will most probably be launched before Diwali and eyewear by April 2005.