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BRAND LEADERS
MONTE CARLO TWEENS
‘Workmanship in junior wear is complex’
Sandeep Jain
Executive Director Tell us about the brand. Monte Carlo Tweens offers urban casual wear for boys and girls six to 16 years. We have casual sweatshirts, T-shirts, jackets, pullovers, shirts and denims. We have worked on a few themes for the season. Attivo Sports is based on sportswear and has a lot of cut and sew detailing with multi color blockings and clear graphics. Tapeworm is based on lots of tape detailing and their multiple uses whether it is in the form of panels or zippers or direct implication on garments. Hybrid Fusion
comprises lots of imported fabrics which have been blended with different Indian fabrics to give a perfect hybrid look. Bookings for autumn/winter ’19’20 have grown by 40 percent. We are planning to grow at 20 percent for the next three years.
Is junior wear a complex segment? Junior wear is seen as a complex segment. The workmanship in terms of embellishments, cut n sew, add on works, artworks is much more complex in comparison to adults’. At the same time MRPs have to be kept under check. Since children outgrow their
clothing parents don’t want to spend fancy amounts. There is high pressure to provide unique fast fashion at affordable prices. There is always a major issue of supply chain management that the right product should be on the floor at the right time. Also you have to make multiple artworks in the same design to fit all sizes. Multiple techniques of printing take a lot of time and thus increase lead time. To counter these issues we have increased the depth vs. width. Also we are trying to have our road shows a bit early so as lead times can be taken care of.
How is the business scenario? There are many small unorganised players in the segment along with a few regional high fashion houses. Business is never an easy process and it has its difficulties at times. At times retail is difficult, when the season is not supporting and sales are not happening. At times production is difficult, when your planned schedules keep on getting postponed due to some or the other reason. There have been lots of new entries into this segment, making it more competitive. So existing players have to pull up their socks to outsmart new entrants. GST has helped in having a single MRP structure across the nation due to uniform taxation instead of differential taxation state wise. FDI policies have made lots of small players convert themselves to FOB vendors to big players but this could be a great opportunity for them as well.