NEW DELHI: Leayan Global Pvt Ltd’s flagship leather footwear brand -- Red Chief -- plans to launch three sub-brands catering to men, women and kids in a bid to become a complete lifestyle brand. The company said it plans to launch ‘Lamoure’ --- a brand catering to ladies’ footwear in the sub-premium category, and another brand ‘Top-brass’ for mens’ formal and party wear in the premium category in January to rev up sales.
“The footwear industry is likely to be driven by the rising fashion consciousness among the young and growing consumers footwear preference in line with their lifestyles. After having tasted success in leather business, we now plan to expand our mens’ category and foray first into womens’ and later into kids’ category for the next phase of growth,” said Manoj Gyanchandani, managing director, Leayan Global. Its products in the womens' category will mainly be in the sub-Rs1,000 price range.
Incidentally, this isn’t the first time the company is entering the womens’ footwear category. It had a full-fledged women’s range at the time of its launch in the country. “We did have a presence in the ladies’ footwear segment during the time of our launch in 1997. We continued our business for around 2-3 years before discontinuing it to focus more on the core category -- leather footwear,” Gyanchandani explained.
Primarily a premium brand, Red Chief will also be lining up launches in family-oriented footwear space end of next year to enter the mass market dominated by players such as Bata, Metro, Paragon and Liberty. Over the next three years, the company plans to open 150 outlets taking its total exclusive store count to 320.
“We have a significant presence in the North and now our focus is to expand aggressively in the Southern markets beginning with Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh,” he said, adding it aims end FY20 with a sales growth of 15-20 per cent over the previous year.
According to JM Financial, the footwear industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11 per cent over 2022 to Rs 72,000 crore. Footwear, which has typically had an image of being a commodity product, has now transformed itself into a lifestyle product but currently branded footwear accounts for around 45 per cent in terms of production while unbranded dominates with 55 per cent market share, it added.