Louis Philippe eyes Rs.1,600-cr revenue this fiscal

Sangeetha Chengappa
The Hindu Business Line
05 August 2014

‘Best-crafted’ shirts to be launched this month

Bangalore: Louis Philippe, a brand of Madura Fashion &Lifestyle, is targeting a revenue of Rs.1,600 crore this fiscal, up from Rs.1,200 crore it reported last year. The country’s number one premium men’s fashion brand witnessed a quantum jump in revenue growth in fiscal 2009-10 and has since been averaging 25 per cent annual growth.

Madura Fashion is a division of Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd.

The brand has built a loyal base of half a million customers across the country for Louis Philippe and other brands such as Luxure, LP Sport and LP Jeans. While Luxure is the “bridge to luxury” brand for connoisseurs, LP Sport offers peppy, sporty casual wear. LP Jeans, launched a year ago, marks the company’s entry into the jeans segment.

Jacob John, Chief Operating Officer-Louis Philippe, told BusinessLine that LP Sport, which has been growing at 50 per cent year-on-year, will rake in a Rs.450-crore revenue this fiscal. LP Jeans will cross Rs.100 crore, while Luxure will hit Rs.50 crore. The rest (Rs.1,000 crore) will come from Louis Philippe this fiscal, he added.

“We have 230 exclusive stores, including House of Louis Philippe and LP Sport stores. By the year-end, we will ramp up this to 270 exclusive stores with the addition of 30 LP Sport and 10 House of Louis Philippe stores. However, all our brands are available across 800-plus multi-brand stores in the country.”

The company is set to launch a new line of Louis Philippe shirts, which will serve as a testimony to the brand’s craftsmanship. “Our new line of best-crafted shirts in the price range of Rs.2,000-4,000 will be available later this month in time for the festival season. The line is a result of the extensive consumer survey we conducted across the country, where consumers revealed that they want shirts with collars that remain neat and clean even after 10 washes,” said John.

One year ago, Louis Philippe embraced a new brand positioning “Excellence Matters” and has since been striving for excellence in its formal and quasi-formal wear offerings.

One of the recent initiatives to strengthen the brand’s positioning has been the launch of a 10-episode TV show – In Pursuit of Excellence – where host Vijay Amritraj interviews successful icons in cinema, sports, theatre, music, among others, and they unravel their determination towards achieving excellence.

The show, which went on air in mid-July, has already featured Amitabh Bachchan, Deepak Parekh, AR Rahman and S Ramadorai.