Building on its strong brand presence and pan-India network of retail stores, the adventure gear and footwear retailer Woodland is set to diversify into sports inner wear.
Harkirat Singh, Managing Director of Aero India, maker of Woodland brand of products, told BusinessLine, “The launch of inner wear is well thought out and builds on our strong brand presence. Initially the range would be for men and will be followed with women and other categories.”
The range includes trunks, briefs, vests, round and V-neck T-Shirts and shorts.
The company will make the new inner wear range at its manufacturing facility near Gurgaon initially and later as the volumes grow may consider sourcing from its manufacturing partners.
The country's inner wear market, estimated to be over Rs 15,000-20,000 crore, is witnessing a steady growth. However, it is fragmented with a few well established players.
Woodland products would be made out of special yarns which have anti bacterial and quick dry technologies, Singh said.
Referring to the company's business, he said, “Woodland expects to achieve a growth of 15-20 per cent this year. While the company has a network of over 600 stores across the country, and over 5,000 retail outlets, we are looking at adding about 40-50 stores during the current year.”
The company had closed last financial year with a turnover of over Rs 1,200 crore, with about 20 per cent of its overall business coming from exports. “We plan to increase the export mix to about 30 per cent in the near term; towards this we have strengthened out overseas marketing business including a tie up with Chinese retailer,” Singh said.
GST impact
Singh said: “We are still in the process of analysing the overall impact of GST implementation on the company from a manufacturing perspective and also retail business.”
“As we see, the GST may have varying implication for a company who are into manufacturing as well as retailing of lifestyle products. As a retailer, we see the 18 per cent slab on the high side and could impact the sector. Earlier States had taxes ranging from 5 to 15 per cent.”
“We are also looking at the overall implication of GST on tax free zone,” he said.