European Style Dressing

Georgia Gullini aims to become a strong contender in the Indian market as their suiting materials caters to the mid-premium as well as the premium segment while capturing Italy’s spirit for elegance beauty and perfection. Neha Malhotra gets insights of the business for exapnsing pathways in India from Vivek Mehta, CEO of Georgia Gullini.

Neha Malhotra (NM): How is the men's suiting industry evolving in India today?

Vivek Mehta (VM): The mens’ suiting industry is experiencing a growth stage in India. Though there are a few international players in the market, they do not customise their offering to suit Indian tastes and there is definitely a gap in the market to reinvent fashion in formal wear. Georgia Gullini aims to address this gap by providing premium fashionable Italian suiting designs that are customised for the Indian man.

NM: Who are your target customers?

VM: Georgia Gullini as a brand targets customers looking for suiting in the mid-premium and premium segments. We try to stay away from classification but produce a wide range of fabrics in wool as well as linen in order to cater to the varied tastes of our target customers.

NM: What is the brand's USP?

VM: Georgia Gullini is different from the international brands because even though our fabrics are designed in Italy, we have in-house designers in India who review these designs and customise the collections to suit the Indian tastes. Unlike other international brands that bring in their existing lines to sell within India, our specialty lies in offering worsted suiting fabrics that are customised for the Indian man while still retaining their Italian design roots.

NM: What kind of consumption patterns have you observed for men's suiting in India?

VM: Formal wear as a category in the mens’ industry is only just starting to experience significant growth. Within suiting, a majority of customers prefer to purchase something that is tailored to fit them than off the rack with many viewing it as an investment rather than a simple purchase.

NM: How do you plan to work with competition on Indian shores?

VM: As a brand, Georgia Gullini aims to bring European style dressing to the people of India and educating customers of the prevalent fashion trends in men’s formal wear globally. Georgia Gullini will be bringing in the whole philosophy, fashion statement, range, caliber and quality of European fashion to the Indian market and will therefore stand out from other players in the industry.

NM: How do you plan to reach out to the customers? What strategies have been chalked out for the same?

VM: We have set up a wide distributor network of 1400 distributors pan India to ensure that we are able to reach out to our customers at the grass roost level. In addition to this, we also plan on investing in several other marketing initiatives to improve brand awareness and recall.

NM: In future, can we see the setting up of exclusive stores?

VM: Though I cannot reveal much at this stage, we are looking at shortly tying up with well- known Indian designers and retailing a special collection through their stores. These would predominantly be in the metros and would be expanded to smaller cities over the longer term.

NM: Which are the target cities for the brand?

VM: Our aim is to change the way men dress in India and bring formal wear into fashion. As our price points are versatile, we operate within the mid-premium and premium segments and are looking at targeting the metros as well as Tier II and Tier III cities.

NM: What are the target sales that the brand has set for India operations?

VM: Within India, we expect Georgia Gullini to achieve a 100 crore turnover this year which will increase to 180 crore by the end of the fiscal year 2014.

NM: What are the company’s future plans?

VM: We aim to provide a visible impact and measurable market share in fashion formals for men in India. Major investments will be made in manufacturing and branding space with plans to create a retail presence across the country within the next two to four years.