Raymond to expand network in Middle East

Mumbai: Raymond Ltd, the pioneers in the textile industry, has announced its plans to expand its distribution and retail network at its XIII Top Dealers Conference held in Dubai recently.

Park Avenue and Parx, India’s leading vocational wear and casual wear brands from Raymond Apparel Limited (RAL), will now also be available at select multi-brand outlets across the United Arab Emirates (UAE). On the occasion Raymond CMD Gautam Singhania also unveiled Raymond’s latest fabric offering for the coming season — The Gold Leaf Collection.

Currently, in India, the Raymond distribution network comprises 20,000 retailers and over 256 exclusive Raymond shops in over 120 cities across the length and breadth of the country. Internationally, Raymond has a presence in countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Middle East and in Europe.

In the Middle East itself there are 12 dealers stocking Raymond textiles and garments. Post-distribution through multi-brand outlets, this number is expected to grow to 50 in one year and 90 in two years.

The group also has a network of dealers in Spain and Portugal through the recently acquired manufacturing company Regency Texteis Portuguesa Limitada. This provides the company with a manufacturing and distribution base in Europe.

The intention behind the expansion initiative is to offer width and penetration to the existing RAL distribution, hence reaching out to a wider audience. The Park Avenue and Parx range will now be available at more than 12 select multi-brand outlets across the UAE. This will also enable the brands to expand its customer base in the UAE market, especially Dubai, targeting the huge expatriate, non-resident Indian and the huge international population residing here.

Park Avenue is the leading and most respected brand in the men’s wear category in India. This is a leadership position it has held since its launch in 1985. Today the Park Avenue brand has a consolidated position as a complete wardrobe solutions brand for the Indian male and is the largest selling office-wear and occasion-wear brand in the country.

The Parx range of semi-formal and casual cottons, denim-wear and speciality fibre/blends was launched in 1999 to cater to the smart, fashionable and comfortable clothing segment. The brand has met with huge success and has attained a leadership position in the leisure-wear segment and continues to perform well in a highly competitive market.

While Parx shirts range between dirhams 65 and 100 and Park Avenue shirts will be available between dirhams 74 and 110. The entire range will be available at leading multi-brand outlets in the UAE like Lulu’s and KM Enterprise.

Says Singhania: “The Raymond name symbolises quality, leadership and excellence. Ours is a company that always stood for setting standards in ethical business performance, innovations and services. With our history of more than 75 years, we rely on our long-standing reputation and loyal customer base.

“While we have mastered the art of making quality fabrics, our objective is now on attaining a significant global position in the textile and ready-made segment. Our aim is to be among the considered brands in the world and to have the mind share of leading garment manufacturers and the best brands globally.”

Raymond group president Nabankur Gupta says: “We are in the business of building brands and want to consolidate and expand our growth drivers, namely the existing ranges of apparel brands. We also have plans to enhance our product portfolio by, whenever strategically necessary, introducing new brands.

“With a capacity of 25-million metres of wool and wool blended fabrics, Raymond ranks among the top three integrated producers in the world and has a 60 per cent market share in India alone. Raymond, as a group, enjoys a huge advantage over the competition — that of vertical integration — right from manufacturing to ready-to-wear to distribution.

“Internationally, we are known to be quality suppliers of fabric to many leading global brands, having a consolidated position in the global fabric exports market. We export suiting to more than 50 countries including the US, Canada, Europe, Japan and the Middle East. Exploring potential markets for our expansion is one of our prime focuses.”

The Raymond Top Dealers Conference is held every three years to felicitate and honour the top performers of the company. The conference has been themed as Ovation 2002 and is being held in Dubai, where 880 delegates, agents and wholesalers from India and the Middle East have been brought together to participate in the event. The event comprises various activities followed by the award ceremony where the award for ‘Excellence in Sales’ for the year 1999, 2000 and 2001 will also be announced.

Apart from the Gold Leaf Collection, the Renaissance collection, Saffire, Eleganza, Celebrity and Avante Garde were launched earlier for the coming season. This was done keeping its tradition of innovating new designs and is part of the company’s continuing effort to offer new products to its discerning customers.