D'Cot, a Donear Group company, is a complete fashion house and has successfully introduced innovative stylewear made from the finest fabrics and materials that come with vibrant colours, designs & patterns. Akash Manwani (AVP - D'Cot), speaks to Paulami Chatterjee about the rapid expansion plans D'Cot has of reaching 500 EBOs in the next two years and launching of their flagship store in the heart of Mumbai - Linking Road, Khar.
Please give us some background of the brand. What is your market positioning in the Indian market as a clothing brand today?
Donear Industries Ltd, the 'Made in India' brand, is well-recognised in India and overseas as one of the best-quality product manufacturers and innovators, who have been an integral part of the textile/fashion/apparel business for 40+ years. The group has different textile brands under its portfolio including Donear, GBTL (formerly GRASIM Suitings), Graviera, OCM to name a few for fabrics; and D'Cot & Donear NXG as their apparel brands.
Known for superior quality product at pocket-friendly prices, the retail brand D'Cot is a complete fashion house with fabulous and appealing style wear. D'Cot has successfully and consistently introduced innovative stylewear made from the finest fabrics and materials that come with vibrant colours, designs and patterns.
D'Cot's promise is to retain people's enthusiasm and satisfy their urge to be stylish!
Superior quality, fast fashion product at pocket friendly price, is the one value at the core of the brand.
With a high flair for quality and trends in its DNA, it caters to the menswear apparel segment, between the age group of 18 to 40 years.
With a vast retail footprint, there are numerous entrepreneurs and seasoned retail entrepreneurs who hold D'Cot franchisees. Most of them have been associated with D'Cot for over a decade, operating multiple D'Cot stores and are reaping good returns.
What were the challenges posed by the pandemic and how did you tide over the same? Likewise what were the opportunities that came along with it?
The past 15 months have been the toughest not only for business but for the mankind itself, posing a lot of challenges and then again, a lot of opportunities. While the challenges we faced included - store closures, declining sales, inventory piling, fixed store rental cost and so on; at the same time, the pandemic opened the doors for opportunity as well like athleisure and relaxwear as an emerging category gained upward swing as its consumption increased tremendously.
Lockdown has prompted huge catatonic shifts in fashion consumption particularly in tier 3 and 4 cities, as consumers started spending more time on the digital space. Some markets which were dominated by local players, have increased market share because consumers were seeing fashion on digital and wanting to shop at their favourite stores. It is justified to say that fashion awareness has increased by this new trend of media consumption.
What issues did you face during the second wave of the pandemic which were different from the first phase?
I think we were more prepared for the second wave since we braved through the first on multiple fronts.
During the second wave, we had store launches underway, now, our motto has been to keep spaces secure, for a safe shopping experience.
Our new store at Linking Road, Khar, epitomises a new way forward for us all and is the first step to address the needs of a metropolitan man with exquisite fabrics and garments alike.
How has the brand fared over the years? What are the major milestones achieved?
Known for superior quality product at pocket friendly prices, we began our journey with 20 stores in 2007 and has now reached to 275 EBO's.
D'Cot has also won accolades such as, "Emerging Brand & Retail Icon of the Year" in the past.
Ever since the brand's inception, we have been well received by our consumers and franchise partners alike.
How does D'Cot maintain its competitive edge over other clothing brands in India and abroad?
We believe delivering superior quality products, the right merchandise mix, seamless customer experience, stores at prime locations and having true value have been some of the major factors that play a vital role in driving the outstanding business growth for us. This very unique mix of getting everything right helps us maintaining our competitive edge in the market to deliver customer trust.
Post pandemic, how do you visualise the fashion landscape to change?
Lockdown has prompted huge upcoming changes in fashion landscape, with a greater inclination towards athleisure and relaxwear as an emerging category. It's gaining an upward swing as its consumption increased tremendously. Additionally, it is justified to say that fashion awareness has increased by everything going digital and this is the new trend of media consumption.
Brands like us need to keep up with both the fast changing trends and line extensions.
What is the expansion plan of your retail brand? Any new product categories you plan to move into?
D'Cot has successfully upheld the vision of offering stylish and trendy, quality-wear clothing at pocket-friendly prices; productively operating 275 stores across the subcontinent and furthermore plan to reach 500 EBOs in the next two years. We are delighted to share that D'Cot has gained immense popularity in tier 1, 2 and 3 cities, while establishing the brand's footprint in major metro cities. We are now glad to open up the D'Cot exclusive flagship store at Linking Road, Khar (Mumbai) and soon would be coming up with a store at Connaught Place, (Delhi), and hope to see our customers soon.
What percentage of your business is for the domestic and the international sector respectively?
At present, we are solely focused on the domestic market alone and really cued in on our target audience here.
Which are your major consumer markets/regions in India?
While we're present across the nation, our key market is the Hindi speaking belt, especially, towards the North & West of India.
How much revenue you intend to clock in the current fiscal?
We are being very strategic with our expansion plans in terms of product diversification and by gaining more retail footprint. Given this and the optimism of the current purchasing scenario, we intend to grow our revenue by 30 per cent in the current fiscal. (PC)
What is the clothing range offered by D'Cot? What are the upcoming collections?
D'Cot is recognised as an authentic casualwear men's apparel brand, which offers wide merchandise mix like casual and formal shirts, denims and t-shirts, casual and formal trousers, athleisure, suits and blazers and accessories. Our upcoming collection for Autumn Winter is going to be mix of varied fabrics specially crafted for winter season featuring radiant and alluring designs.
Published on: 23/07/2021
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
