Mumbai-based Ashapura Intimates Fashions Ltd, makers and marketers of “fantasy wear”, plans to set up a new plant at Vapi, Gujarat, to triple its manufacturing capacity in the next two years.

 

The BSE-listed company will also launch on April 15 India’s first integrated virtual store for e-marketing a range of innerwear products for most age-groups, Harshad Thakkar, Chairman and Managing Director, told BusinessLine here on Friday.

 

Incorporated in July 2006, Ashapura Intimates currently has a manufacturing facility near Mumbai where it manufacturers about 35 lakh pieces of niche innerwear and other garments annually. With the Vapi plant, to be set up at an investment of Rs 27 crore, its manufacturing capacity will increase to more than one lakh units per annum, he said.

 

The company’s market capitalisation at present is nearly Rs 400 crore, Thakkar said.

 

To expand its business, Ashapura Intimates is setting up 20 company-owned outlets this year and over 150 franchisee-based retail shops across India in the next two years. He said these stores will also cater to the needs of online customers in their nearby areas. The Vapi unit is expected to employ about 1,000 people, half of them women.

 

Ashapura Intimates is targeting women customers through the e-commerce route as females constitute about 50% of its clientele. The company is focusing on loungewear, bridal nightwear, honeymoon sets, bathrobes and nighties and has added sportswear and women’s innerwear, including lingeries. “Together, these products are what we call ‘fantasy wear’. Most of our online customers are 21-30 years olds who fantasize about the latest products most ‘intimate’ to them,” he remarked.

 

The company markets its products under “Valentine” and “N-Line” brands, priced between Rs 109 and Rs 5,000. Its exports were worth about Rs 30 crore in 2014-15.

 

Ashapura Intimates Fashions Ltd, fantasy wear, first integrated virtual store, innerwear products, Harshad Thakkar, women’s innerwear,

Related Topics