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Indian Terrain hopes to break new ground

Our Bureau

CHENNAI, Sept. 13

THERE'S a new menswear brand on the block. The Chennai-based Rs 75 crore Celebrity group, an exporter to some of the top garment brands around the world, has made a foray into the booming market for menswear by launching its Indian Terrain brand of appar el today.

With three different offerings for different segments - Indian Terrain premium apparel, the Terrain Traveller and Terrain Sport - Celebrity expects to emerge a strong player at the top end of the market. The company, according to Celebrity Managing Director, Mr. V. Rajagopal, expects to create a distinct positioning in the market as a `work wear' brand.

The group, which has been exporting to some of the top garment labels, says that the timing of its entry into the domestic market was just right as the market for premium non-formal wear has been growing at 30 per cent a year. The market size for this se gment is estimated at Rs 450 crores. Celebrity flagged off the first of its exclusive showrooms in Chennai, with another one to be opened in Bangalore shortly.

Speaking to the media after the opening of the store, Mr. Rajagopal said that the brand will follow a policy of opening exclusive showrooms as well as retailing through multi-brand outlets. Celebrity has tied up with the retailing chain, Shoppers' Stop, for stocking its products and the Indian Terrain brand will be sold through exclusive shop-in-shop counters across all six Shoppers' Stop stores around the country.

``Shoppers' Stop has an ambitious expansion plan to open several more stores across the country and we hope our brand too will grow along with it,'' Mr. Rajagopal told Business Line. With the focus on the south initially, Celebrity expects to retail the brand through 14 multi-brand outlets each in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

An exporter for the past 12 years, the Celebrity group, Mr. Rajagopal said, is confident that it has what it takes to make a brand succeed in the highly competitive apparel business. With seven factories in Chennai, a 3,000-strong workforce, an installed capacity of 1,500 state-of-the-art sewing machines, Celebrity ships over two million shirts a year to some of the top labels around the world, he said.

In the US, the Celebrity group supplies to top-end brands like The Gap and Banana Republic and is an `A' rated vendor for the Limited group. It also has a preferred vendor status with the well-known Timberland brand of clothing as well as for Columbia Sp ortswear. Celebrity is also an exclusive supplier of mens' shirts to Marlboro Classics. In Europe, Celebrity supplies to brands like Otto Versand of Germany and to Diesel in Italy.

To a query that exporting to top garment brands and creating a brand for the local market was a different kettle of fish, Mr. Rajagopal said: ``While supplying to some of the biggest brands in the world for the past ten years, we have absorbed a lot of t he skills to make a brand and a retail division work. The secret is not having only a good brand, but in being able to source, manufacture, maintain consistent quality and actually deliver as you promise.''

Another reason which prompted the Celebrity group to create a domestic brand, Mr. Rajagopal said, was the commercial reality that when the quota regime gets dismantled, the domestic and export market would be no different and the perceived advantage of b eing an exporter in terms of tax breaks or preferential treatment abroad would not exist. ``And, we feel that the Indian market offers an equally good opportunity as the overseas market,'' added Mr. Rajagopal.

The positioning of Indian Terrain is to celebrate the `soaring spirit' of man, as Mr. Rajagopal described it. It is a state of mind and the clothes a man wears reflects it. The company's logo of a man ready to take off in flight, as well as picturising a n `i' and a `t' also symbolises this soaring spirit, he said. The positioning is also intended to convey that the apparel is meant for every day work wear.

The Indian Terrain offering is in three distinct segments. The Indian Terrain brand is in the premium segment where the fabric inputs used will be top of the line; Terrain Traveller targets the man on the move while Terrain Sport, is younger in terms of cut and choice of fabric. That apart, Indian Terrain will also offer an exclusive knitwear range and mens' accessories. The price range for the shirts is between Rs 800 to Rs 1,300 and trousers is between Rs 900 to Rs 1,400.