Now, Koutons to step in leather footwear

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Lucknow, May 12: High on expansion plans, apparel manufacturer Koutons Retail India plans to add leather footwear and other accessories such as handbags. For this, it has tied up with a local Uttarakhand company for manufacturing shoes and handbags. The accessories are expected to hit the stores in the next three to four months. The company also plans to procure raw leather from Kanpur and Agra markets and have them manufactured at its Uttarakhand factory. An initial amount of Rs 25 crore has been set aside for this venture.

This is in addition to the company's other expansion plans, which include opening 300 exclusive women's and kids stores and 100 family stores in this fiscal.

Talking to FE, Balwinder Singh Ahluwalia, president, Koutons Retail said the idea behind the family stores is to establish comfort zones for the entire family. “Our USP is of making quality in fashion, affordable to the middle class segment. Opening family stores was a step in the right direction as we wanted to maintain the number one position in the apparel retail segment by tapping on women's and kids apparel too,” he said.

Commenting on the company's plans to foray in Middle East and China by the end of this year, Ahluwalia said that talks are on whether the company would open its stand-alone stores or enter into a tie-up with a local retail chains.

“We are exploring all options to enter Middle East by the end of this year,” he said, adding that there was a lot of scope for the brand because of the rising demand of the Indian population residing in that region.

Koutons Retail, which posted a 97% growth in the fiscal ending 2008, plans increase the total figure of stores from 1,200 to 3,000 by 2010. For this, the company would pump in Rs 100 crores. According to Ahulwalia, the company is aiming to focus South and Western India in a big way. “We will penetrate into all the four southern states as well as Maharashtra as the demand for branded apparel is huge in these regions,” he said.