Premium menswear brand Louis Philippe is planning to aggressively expand its footwear business, a new product line it launched in May last year.
Louis Philippe, part of Madura Fashion and Lifestyle of the Aditya Birla Group, introduced a range of premium footwear priced between Rs 3,000 and 7,000 under the Louis Philippe brand name at its stores last year and opened its first exclusive footwear showroom in Pune a month ago.
“The initial numbers after the footwear range launch are very encouraging and we want to become a very serious player in the footwear segment,” Mr Jacob John, Brand Head, Louis Philippe, told
Louis Philippe plans to invest over Rs 10 crore to open four more exclusive footwear stores by end of 2011 and open another 20 stores next year. The footwear range was 5 per cent of the brand's overall business and the company expects to pull this up to 10 per cent over the next three years. “It may not be higher than this as of now because all other categories are also growing fast,” he explains.
While most of its revenues come from metros, Louis Philippe will also expand “aggressively” with the footwear range in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities like Ludhiana, Cochin and Trivandrum, Mr John said.
LP Sport
The brand which was earlier known as a formalwear brand moved into the semi-formal segment targeting ‘first-time-office-goers' through its sub-brand LP Sport, and is now planning to ‘renew' its focus on this as well. LP Sport, which is the fastest growing segment of Louis Philippe, contributes about 25 per cent of revenues. The Rs 150 crore sub-brand “grew last year at about 70 per cent and we expect it to grow at 60 per cent this year,” Mr John said.
While the LP Sport brand is sold primarily through the Louis Philippe stores, Mr John said he would “grow the brand aggressively” and open exclusive LP Sport outlets next year.
The Rs 900 crore Louis Philippe brand has been growing overall at a rate of 50 per cent with a CAGR of 30 per cent for three years. It is present in formal and semi-formal ranges of menswear and other accessories like belts, wallets and cufflinks and is exploring opportunities in accessories such as fragrances.