Madura drops SF Jeans in portfolio rejig

AV Birla Group-led Madura Garments is withdrawing its denim brand SF Jeans from the market. The move came in a portfolio rejig unveiled on late Tuesday with the company deciding to stay focused on brands like Louis Philippe, Van Heusen , Allen Solly and Peter England that carries significant scaling up potential. When contacted, AV Birla Nuvo director Vikram Rao confirmed the move. “We want to focus on brands and retail formats like Planet Fashion and Trouser Town that are being scaled up in a big way. The resources that backed SF Jeans till date will be realigned across other brands to develop a jeans proposition under each of them,” he added. The company decision was internally communicated on Tuesday evening. Mr Rao said each of Madura’s big brands — Louis Philippe, Van Huesen, Allen Solly and Peter England — would cross Rs 200 crore at wholesale trade level in FY’08. AVB has been talking about making Madura Garments into a Rs 100 crore company after it acquired the Rs 236-crore entity from Coats Plc in 1999. Madura, a formidable player in the formal wear space, was already a late mover in the youth casual wear market when it launched SF Jeans four-five years back. The plan at that stage was to develop a homegrown aspirational jeans brand straddling the mid-priced to premium price bracket. The launch supported by an edgy campaign was aimed at making Madura Garments a complete branded apparel company with presence in both formal and casual wear. However, according to sources, SF Jeans made a sedate impact even in a growing domestic denim market and mopped up an annualised turnover of around Rs 20 crore. Further, it had to reckon with renewed energy of the global giants like Levi’s Lee and Wrangler as they turned on heat in a market growing at about 15-18% annually. In context, it must be mentioned that VF Corp, which owns Lee and Wrangler, came in through an equity JV with Arvind Brands replacing a decade old licencing arrangement.

Courtesy: EconomicTimes
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