Celio on retail expansion ride

Celio, the leading French apparel brand is planning to curtail its imports to the Indian markets as it is set to make its way through store launch.

The apparel brand is geared up to encourage the local sourcing six times and also double the store count by January. The move will help the apparel brand cut import cost and enjoy a profit margin of 10-12%.

“Within a year or so, 70% of the total merchandise for India will be produced in India,” said Rajat Luthra, CEO, Celio Future Fashion.

At present, the $1billion menswear brand procures 30-40% of its merchandise for the Indian market from textile clusters such as Tirupur, Ludhiana and Bangalore, and imports the rest from France, Bangladesh, Morocco, Mauritius and Tunisia.

Currently, it has 13 exclusive stores and 55 shop-in-shop outlets, which it plans to increase to 24 and 70, respectively, by January.

Celio has further plans to put 150 point of sales across India by 2013, which includes shop-in-shop in large format stores such as Pantaloons, Central and Lifestyle, and 60 exclusive brand outlets.