‘Global firms are eyeing India for fashion jewellery’

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Estelle is synonymous with fashion jewellery. And Normak Fashions Pvt Ltd, manufacturers and exporters of Estelle branded jewellery, enjoy 10% market share in the Indian organised fashion jewellery market estimated at Rs 600 crore. It also has the unique distinction of being a preferred buyer for leading fashion brands in the West including Disney, Givenchy, Tommy Hilfiger, Jones New York and Napier. Now, after creating a niche for itself in the market with a strong brand recall, the company, under the leadership of Gusti Noria, is planning to extend the brand name to the accessories segment by franchising its label. In an exclusive interview to fe’s BV Mahalakshmi and Kavitha Venkatraman, Gusti Noria, the company’s managing director, talks about his future plans for the brand, capacity constraints and competition. Excerpts:

You have come a long way in the fashion jewellery market. How was the journey?

The idea to start a company for fashion jewellery came up in 1987. It was set up to do contract manufacturing for companies in North America as during that time outsourcing of jobs was happening in a big way because of the huge labour cost there. We wanted to take advantage of the situation and started commercial production in 1989 with an initial investment of Rs 1 crore. In those days, getting an advance licence would take three months and the turnaround period was four weeks. It used to be very difficult. But today the scenario is different. We have a factory in Hyderabad, a 100% export-oriented unit, to target countries in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong. The capacity of the facility is three lakh units per month and we enjoy the status of a preferred buyer for several international fashion brands.

What are your plans for expanding in the domestic market?

In the case of domestic market, we prepared for our foray after understanding the nitty- gritties of trade through our exposure to the international market. We set up a separate factory in Hyderabad to cater to the domestic market. It has a production capacity of two lakh units per month. Both the facilities were built using machinery and materials imported from North America and all the senior personnel were trained from Canada and the US. Even today the key personnel visit North America annually to enhance their knowledge by spending time at various factories in Toronto and Providence.