By Vipin Agnihotri
I have full-proof information that Reliance Industries is working overtime to reinvent its textiles brand, Vimal. According to company sources, the whole idea behind all this is to offer Italian styling at Indian prices. Point to be noted here is that Maurizio Bonas, an Italian designer, has been visiting India regularly to teach select tailors the intricacies of Italian style and tailoring.
By the end of this year, Vimal, which was first launched by Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani, will have 25 stores across 15 cities. In my opinion, apart from the shift into the ready-to-wear segment, Vimal is now sharply focussed on young men in the 25-40 age group compared to earlier when there was no clearly defined target segment.
The question now arises: What prompted Reliance Industries to resurrect Vimal? The answer of this question is the booming Indian economy. It is worth mentioning in this regard that with incomes increasing and modern retail spreading, the opportunities in the market have exploded. In the case of Reliance, it has big retail plans (under Reliance Retail) that entail selling everything from fruits and vegetables to apparel to consumer electronics.
Most of the experts feel that there is plenty of back-end synergies that the new Vimal and Reliance Retail’s apparel business can share. In addition, Vimal itself has more than 150 exclusive showrooms across the country that can be revamped to attract younger clients. Even better, Reliance’s textile unit in Naroda, which has been underutilized in the last two or three years because of the company’s focus on petrochemicals will get a much-needed opportunity to revive itself.
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