Espirit keen to tap potential in kids wear, lingerie segments

The company plans to address gaps in these segments. It has partnered with Madura Garments, and recently launched a kids wear line in select exclusive Esprit boutiques at Bangalore and Mumbai.

In the lingerie segment, the company plans to soon launch the Body wear line at Delhi, and plans to take these two lines to more of its stores, beginning with the metros and later followed by other upmarket cities across India.

According to Manjula Tiwari, Brand Head, Espirit plans to take the body wear and kids wear lines to at least 8 Esprit stores by March 2008, followed by 20 stores in the coming year.

According to Tiwari, around 90 per cent the kids wear market, estimated at Rs13,000 crore) is in the unorganised sector, with most organised players selling via private labels.

She added that kids clothing in India is "too dressy suited for certain occasions, and mostly made of synthetic materials". Identifying the need for clothing from natural fabrics that has an international, smart, and casual look and quality, Esprit is ideally suited to address the segment''s needs.

Tiwari added that the casual kids wear segment has few branded players in India.