Cotton County India

Sky is the limit! The common man's brand is heading aggressively on retail front while delving into new :terrains & fashion segments for its voguish pret wear.

From a humble beginning with a big vision, Cotton County, one of the leading fashion brands in India, is rapidly revolutionizing the Indian ready-to-wear apparel sector with steep approach in masses. Committed to provide a global look & contemporary feel bearing in mind ethnic sensibilities, the brand has redefined the marketing mantras in the Indian retail space. Nahar Retail Ltd., a retail venture of Nahar Industrial Enterprises Ltd (NIEL), is thoroughly channelising the entrenched brand and has plans to expand the brand's retail presence to 500 exclusive stores before the end of the calendar year 2007 & is targeting 1000 stores by the end of next fiscal.

A sparkling start:
Cotton County has been received well by the consumers, which is evident from the flocking crowds across all the 365 stores across since the inception of the first outlet in 2005. The concept of the brand envisaged facilitating the consumers of tier II and tier III cities with international clothing concept at highly affordable prices in the highly cluttered and readymade garments market in India. With the changing lifestyle, people criterion is also changing; as a result, there was a need of an exceedingly trendy clothing but not weighty on pockets, especially for the upwardly mobile youth.

The brand name is derived from the wonder fiber 'Cotton' as the fiber is branded for its natural comfort, versatility, appearance and highly recital. Also, the fiber provides thousands of options to experiment with style and look, which the brand has thoroughly grasped.

Adding advantage to the brand's garments, NIEL, an integrated textile player's years of experience in catering to global biggies in apparel segment, espoused well. The company is the only Indian textile company to buy raw cotton & sell finished garments with world-class in house, spinning, weaving processing & garmenting, finishing, embroidery & manufacturing facilities to M&S, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger and Armani along with domestic fashion protagonists Raymond, Allen Sollie, Louis Philippe, Provogue, Pantaloon etc. in selling processed fabric.

Exploring new horizons
The brand is promising to usher in new age lifestyle statements for the fashionably inclined. Aiming at to be recognized as the fastest growing retail chain in the low pricing business model, the brand is heading towards new fashion segments.

The company, which has about 95 per cent of its garments in the male category, is now foraying into women and kids' segments. The kids' segment would be called, Cotton County Tazo. According to Vice President of Nahar Retail Ltd., Sachin Sahni, "We are cooking at competing with the prices prevailing with the unbranded offerings. As compared to the brands such as Lilliput and Gini and Jony, the prices would be much lower."

Apart form the garments, the brand is also heading to add accessories segment, with leather goods and wallets. It currently has socks, handkerchieves and ties in this segment. Besides, it has plans to launch towels in the domestic market soon. The company currently manufactures about ten thousands garments a day, which would be doubled and would entail an investment of Rs 10 crore. The brand is focused on innovating its Products outmost. Recently, the brand unveiled its fine styling concepts in formals; semi-formals leisure wear for this season under Winter Fashions 07.

The collection, comprising of primarily pullovers, jackets, suits, thermals, tracksuits & cardigans (in Women's wear), comes in a heady blend of wild youthfulness in its colors, cuts, designs etc on one hand and serene visual appeal and comfort of the fabrics, fits and feel on the other.

"Our Winter Collection '07 is a synergy of comfort and style. Its all about quality winter wear with a blend of fresh & unique styling ideas transformed into trendy hues & well crafted designs, cuts & fits; just what the customers are looking to add to their wardrobes this season, says Kamal Oswal, Vice Chairman, Nahar Retail Ltd., while revealing the features of the collection.

To spree the sale, the brand has also forayed into the world of integrated promotional initiatives in popular global sports with its recently inked association with ICL for Season 2007 of the six-team Twenty-20 competition & the exclusive team sponsorship deal with the Chandigarh Lions.

Commenting on the alliance with ICL & the Chandigarh Lions, Mr. Sahni, says, While ICL's Twenty-20 format is a popular, value for money sport with immense mass appeal, Cotton County has been universally accepted & acknowledged as a value for money brand, highly popular amongst the masses. Having found a common set of brand values, we decided to go ahead with the announcement of our association with ICL featuring the creme de la creme of international stars, with a view to enhance the popularity of the game & give the much needed boost to aspirants from all over India."

Retail expansion: Having made its presence felt primarily in tier II & tier III cities, Cotton County is targeting 500 stores by the end of this fiscal, which translates into launching one new store a day & and cross the 1000 store mark by the 2009. Through its franchisee route, within its first year of operations itself, Cotton County had over 120 stores across the country.

With over 400 Cotton County outlets in tier-II & III cities in North & Central India, Nahar Retail recently forayed into Southern & Western India.

"The immense consumer interest in Cotton County, our flagship value for money, ready-to-wear fashion brand, was the prime factor in our moving Southwards with a view to establish a strong presence in key markets such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mangalore, Coimbatore, Kochi, Madurai, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirapalli, Vijaywada, Visakhapatnam, just to name a few. We have already launched our stores in Gulbarga, Raichur & Belgaum in Karnataka & are looking at establishing our footprint in Andhra Pradesh with the opening of our 1" store in the state in Visakhapatnam this month itself', says Mr. Oswal. He further adds "Close to 200 stores wo be opened by 2008-09 in the South cities alone at an investment of US$100,000 per store. One of the differentiators of Nahar Retail Ltd.'s have been its retail expansion strategy tapping the hitherto untapped markets cities tier II & tier III cities, which of immense growth opportunities for a vain for money, fashion & lifestyle brand such as Cotton County."

Commenting on the challenges face prior to entering newer markets, K4 Sahni, Vice President, Cotton Count? Nahar Retail Ltd., elaborates, "The Southern India belt poses new challenge for a brand like Cotton County, whirl boasts of a pre-dominantly strong presence in the Northern Indian being considering the varied fashion sensitivities across different belts of try country. This is where decades a research, experience & knowledge in space of world class textile manufacturing & fashion & lifestyle retailing enables us i understand the requirements, tastes I preferences of the target customs looking for value for money solutions to their fashion requirements."

"The growth opportunities have been very encouraging for us to explore news markets and hence we have ourselves the target of being identified a top of the mind recall, value for money lifestyle, apparels brands across 4H established an emerging markets alike. We as an integrated textile manufacturer company and retailing brand have unmatched understanding and commitment of international standards it quality fashion & lifestyle wear and are thus able to explore newer markets wilt ease", concludes Mr. Sahni. And this is the gist of the brand's unparalleled grown and success!