Raymond offers suiting solutions for women

Raymond, the leading textile and apparel brand, with the famous "The complete man" tagline, will now offer suiting solutions for women.

The company plans to take advantage of the market potential for executive wear among women. Pradeep Bhandari, group president, Raymond, said, "Our study revealed that many women buy Raymond fabrics and get it stitched for themselves. The move is to upgrade the services and offer such facilities for women at our retail outlets."

Raymond has also signed an MoU with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) to train tailors in different styles and cuts.

The company was also exploring the possibility of having style consultants in Raymond outlets located in top cities, said Aniruddha Deshmukh, president, retail and FMCG, Raymond.

"Ready-to-wear garments have created excitement in India, but that cannot offer the wide range and choices offered by tailored products. The expanding market and the increasing demand for formal wear is creating a huge potential for tailor-made formal wear in India," said Bhandari, adding that the boom in the services sector has fuelled demand for suits in the country.

Deshmukh said, "Fabric sales in malls are picking up while the tailoring conversions have doubled. Currently, the company offers tailoring facility in about 2-3 stores in malls, which we plan to extend to other stores as well."

To ensure consistency of tailored garments, Raymond has also entered into an understanding with companies to supply threads, buttons and other accessories. It's also introducing a tailoring guide at its outlets. Raymond's apparel division registered 30 per cent growth this year, while the company had targeted 15 per cent growth for the fabric division.

As part of its retail expansion, Raymond is targeting nearly 1,000 stores by 2010 from 350 at present.

"Along with domestic retail expansion, the company would be scaling up its retail presence in west and south Asia from 27 to 45 stores in three years," said Deshmukh.