Atmosphere, the flagship home textile brand of Himatsingka Seide, plans to tap into new overseas markets through the e-commerce route, while continuing to expand with its brick-and-mortar stores in the country.

“E-commerce would help us in studying the markets abroad. We expect to reach out to 35 countries through this medium,” said Akansha Himatsingka, Director, Himatsingka Wovens.

The company has recently inaugurated its new e-commerce site — atmospheredirect.com , claiming to be the first store for luxury furnishings in India.

Atmosphere already has stores in places such as Dubai and Singapore, but does not plan to add more in the international markets. With slowing retail growth in the overseas markets, the vertically integrated textile company would rather focus on expanding within the country.

“In the last two years, we have been slow in opening new stores, but we are pressing on the pedal for growth and would be adding 8-10 stores in the next two years in States such as Rajasthan. There would also be more stores in tier two cities such as Cochin and Chandigarh,” said Himatsingka.

Himatsingka Seide entered the domestic textile market through the Atmosphere stores in 2003 with products such as upholstery and drapes. It also appointed a new creative agency – Red Lion, to handle the Atmosphere brand. In 2007, it entered the bed linen segment extending it to other categories such as duvet sets and pillow cases. It is now looking at stretching its ‘made up’ offerings even further into the home accessories segment.

Atmosphere does have competitors in the home luxury textile segment, but believes in being different with its silk-based offerings. “Most of the existing upholstery players such as D’ décor use synthetic materials, while we are into silk-based fabrics,” he said.

> Purvita@thehindu.co.in

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