S&M Kids Wear to expand network

A part of Tirupur based Muthukumarasamy Textiles, S&M Kids Wear has forayed into domestic retail kids apparel segment. The company recently opened its first exclusive showroom in Coimbatore and plans to have at least 27 exclusive outlets through franchise route across south India by middle of November this year.

The company is targeting the 3-16 years kids segment, worth Rs 15,000 crore pan India. The company is planning to open 12 stores in Tamil Nadu, ten in Kerala and five in Karnataka out of the total 27 stores planned to open. The brand will have shop-in-shop models in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Vishakapatnam and also the company is planning to make its brand available at multi-brand outlets in the remaining cities of Andhra Pradesh.

After exporting yarns to US, UK, Far East and South American countries, the company decided to switch over to domestic market and start producing kid’s apparels following the affect of recession globally. The company is looking at a turnover of Rs 10 to Rs 12 crore by March 2010 and Rs 30 crore by 2011 through its brand. The company will also make available kids accessories like shoes, belts and caps in its stores under its own brand from the winter season (Nov 2009), expecting about 30 per cent sales from formal kids’ shoes segment in their stores. The company is in the process of tying up with a manufacturing group in Ambur for leather shoes while it plans to import PVC and canvas shoes from China.