Killer, Diesel eye ‘affordable luxury’ segment
If global denim retailers like Levi Strauss, Lee Cooper and Pepe Jeans are going down the pyramid to attract the mass market with jeans priced between Rs 1000 and Rs 2000, brands like Killer are doing exactly the opposite. They are eyeing a share in premium jeans category – where average prices start at Rs 3000.
Killer has tied up with designer Narendra Kumar, who has just launched his own range of denims called Killer Nari.
Sandeep Varma, senior Vice President of Killer, hopes this will double Killer’s business this year. “Killer Nari will target a corner of the premium denim market that has less competition,” he says. During FY 2010, Killer clocked a turnover of above Rs 160 crore.
The brand already has about 140 retail outlets and is planning to add 50 new stores this year. Market researchers define premium denim as any pair of jeans over Rs 3000-Rs 3500. Detailing what kind of jeanswear Killer Nari would retail, Kumar says, “We will highlight ‘thinking denims’ for intellectuals. To explain to you better, a college student wears a certain type of denim and expects a different style when he starts his professional life. Therefore, Killer Nari will be positioned as intelligent denims. Collection will include denims in the shape of trousers, jyotpuris in denims, waistcoats and more.”
The Rs 450 crore domestic denim market is pegged to grow at 10-15 per cent a year, according to industry estimates. Premium denims were introduced in the country by international brands like Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Versace, Diesel and DKNY among others.
Italian fashion brand Diesel launched in India in partnership with Reliance Brands, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries early this year. Darshan Mehta, president and CEO, Reliance Brands says, “Diesel is positioned more as ‘affordable luxury’ as our denims start from Rs 8,500 onwards and go all the way till Rs 25,000.” Diesel, claims Mehta, has seen a healthy demand in India and will soon add its ultra-premium line of denims, priced at Rs 17,000 onwards.
Killer-Nari too will keep its denim line restricted to a few metro city outlets. Varma of Killer India notes, “We are not competing with high street brands and this denim line is for the fashion conscious. So, it would be retailed only in exclusive Killer showrooms.”
But there are hurdles in the way. International premium brands such as GAS, which was distributed by Pantaloon Retail, withdrew last year due to poor demand.
Mehta reasons, “We realise that Diesel denims and apparel will not sell in volumes and hence we plan to have just about 7-10 stores across the country. There’s no point stretching our retail outlets in large formats store as consumers there don’t buy premium products.”
Meanwhile, there are several premium labels like 109oF and Numero Uno that continue to cement their position in the ‘mid-market’ range. Rahul Mehta, Director 109o F says, “Our denims range between Rs 1100 and Rs 1600 and would therefore classify as a very good mid-priced product and our group company, Creative Casual, has recently launched a brand exclusively for the mass market in men’s denims – Urban Republic – which retails between price points of Rs 699 and Rs 1099.”
The brand will grow its presence from the existing 300 retail outlets by another 30 to 35 this year and is already in talks with a couple of leading designers to launch a designer line sometime next year.
