 Indian Terrain which has become synonymous with style and comfort is planning to ramp up its jeans wear segment in a big way. The brand offering smart casuals and formals will be introducing jeans outsourced from the US this Diwali. The
denim sourced from a US mill will be made into jeans in Guatemala. Amitabh Suri, Senior Vice President, Indian Terrain Fashions, says, “This is our latest product launch. We are importing the denim line and will be offering consumers authentic American denim. We will also offer a line of jackets.” In fact, denim is currently a very small part of Indian Terrain`s casual wear product mix which is largely sourced from its parent, Celebrity Fashions. The company is looking at launching the "mid-premium" priced brand in September that will not be "just about quality, but about offering a lifestyle. Incidentally, the demerger of Indian Terrain from its parent company was carried out in 2010 with a view to achieving better valuation for the branded business and to provide additional liquidity to its founders and private equity investors.
Meanwhile , the brand has also chalked down major retail plans. Besides, the brand plans to launch shoes and accessories like belts and bags by Diwali 2012. Interestingly, Indian Terrain’s latest move bucks trends for brands sold in India, which mainly buy denim products from within the country. Also, for the 10-year-old brand’s growth story this is an interesting twist. Till recently it was a business division of the Chennai-based apparel manufacturing company, Celebrity Fashions, whose major market is the US. Their customers include: Gap, Nautica, Armani Jeans, Timberland, Dockers and Ann Taylor. About five years ago, Celebrity had invested in growing its capacity by acquiring another exporter’s manufacturing facilities.
In denims the brand will have two fits. One, the straight leg regular fit and the other slim fit. “We are launching the same product as Indian Terrain jeans now. It will be priced from Rs 2,499 to Rs 2,999, and Rs 2,799 is the sweet spot. We have also included T-shirts and shirts to complement the look in the collection,” informs Suri. Terrain Jeans by summer 2012 will be a composite line of shirts and trousers. For autumn/winter Indian Terrain has a lot of variants in shirts and trousers. It has launched a slightly more slim fit line in trousers. These are not 100 per cent cotton. They have a tone of evening wear but are wearable for work. The brand is also launching denim shirts as well as high end work smart casuals.
Indian Terrain entered the market with shirts and trousers but rapidly expanded its product range to include T-shirts, shorts, sweaters, knits and jackets. It also went into women’s wear but in a year’s time pulled out. The brand has achieved huge success in the knitwear market. Around 2007 it broke away from youth and went into sportswear. “In 2007, we launched T-shirts which is one of the fastest growing categories of our brand and among the top three preferred choices of consumers in the market,” says Suri.
The brand’s retail journey started in 2006 and now has 80 EBOs. The stores are a mix of company-owned and franchisee. By December 2011 the aim is to have around 100 stores. Of these additional 20 stores, a couple will be in Mumbai, some in Delhi, one at Vijayawada, one at Nagercoil, one at Pondicherry, a few in the north like Jaipur and Lucknow, and so on. Suri says, “We will have a 1,700 sq. ft. store at Market City Phoenix, Kurla, by October first week. This will be our first big store in Mumbai. We already have nine stores in Mumbai but they are smaller.” The brand is present in almost all large formats and is in about 600 MBOs. In MBOs, the brand is looking for a 15 per cent growth over last year. “We have now moved to MBOs who have a slightly long term vision. We are on the priority list of Chunmun and Biglife. We are expanding with them. In large formats, we are the number one brand in our category,” concludes Suri.
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