Linen Club, part of Aditya Birla Group’s Jaya Shree Textiles, is almost doubling its production capacity with an investment of Rs. 200 crores. Simultaneously the company is also increasing the retail reach through exclusive brand outlets (EBOs).
Linen Club’s manufacturing facility at Rishra in West Bengal currently has a capacity of seven million metres of linen. Capacity upgradation towards 10 million metres is underway and will be completed by July-August this year. The company is investing Rs. 100 crores towards this.
Further, the company is planning to invest another Rs. 100 crores to increase the capacity to 13 million metres in the next two years, said Mr. S. Krishnamoorthy, President, Textile Division, Aditya Birla Group. With the increased capacity, the company will meet the retail demand, especially after more than doubling the number of stores. The target is to have 200 EBOs, adding another 125 by 2015. This is besides the 3,000 multi-brand outlets where the products are now available within India.
Linen Club’s future roadmap also includes entering retail markets of Sri Lanka, West Asia, Bangladesh and Malaysia.
“We expect good demand coming from South India as the fabric is suitable for the warm, sultry climate of the region. Consumption of linen in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra is comparatively higher than in Tamil Nadu. In the next two years Tamil Nadu will remain a focus market,” he said.
Though fabric accounts for 85 per cent of the revenues, the company also has been into linen-based garments. The company will also be focusing on women’s wear in the future. “Women’s wear contributes 10 to 15 per cent to the total turnover, and in four years we expect this to go up to 20 to 25 per cent,” said Mr. Krishnamoorthy. It has also started offering accessories like stoles, ladies bags, laptop bags and scarves.
Linen Club contributes over Rs. 500 crores to the Rs. 1,200-crore Jaya Shree Textiles, and Mr. Krishnamoorthy expects to retain the 10 per cent growth in the coming years as well.