With more than two decades of experience in the fashion industry, Kewal Kiran Clothing Ltd. (KKCL) has clearly established its business strategy and core values of pursuing stable, sustainable and scalable growth. It continues to keep a watchful eye on the emerging opportunities but is fully aware of the financial implications and capital commitment required to tap into that opportunity. The love for fashion complements the company ambition for scale and market leadership.
“Through all our brands, we have maintained a strong financial position, aimed at driving sustainable, scalable and profitable growth. In 2015-16, we crossed the important milestone of Rs. 100 crore EBIDTA, demonstrating our ability to lead while maintaining profitably”, says Mr. Kewalchand P. Jain, KKCL Chairman and Managing Director.
KKCL offers a range of products under its four iconic brands – Killer, Easies, Lawman Pg3 and Integriti. The company designs, manufactures and markets branded jeans, formals, semi-formal and casual wear for both men and women. It also offers an exciting and extensive range of branded lifestyle accessories.
K-Lounge and Addictions are KKCL’s exclusive brand outlets as well as retail formats which operate in many cities in India and the Middle East. Killer continues to be a flagship brand of the company by contributing 52 per cent of brand share. Killer, Integriti, Lawman and Easies have demonstrated growth of 8 per cent, 16 per cent, 18 per cent and 50 per cent respectively as compared to FY14-15.
Jeans continues to be the largest selling product with 60 per cent share in sales, followed by shirts 18 per cent. Shirts and T-Shirts have shown growth of 25 per cent and 55 per cent respectively as compared to FY14-15. MBOs continue to be the leading channel partner with 52 per cent share, followed by retail 24 per cent. E-Commerce contributed a share of 3 per cent; however, it has provided 70 per cent growth. Retail, NCS and Overseas players provided growth of 12 per cent, 19 per cent and 30 per cent respectively. East contributed 31 per cent of the domestic sale, followed by South 23 per cent and West 22 per cent. The southern region has provided unprecedented jump of 70 per cent due to the presence of E-Commerce player, West has provided growth of 16 per cent, followed by Central and East of 13 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.
At KKCL, the love for fashion is not limited to manufacturing garments. The company ensures that every thread, stitch and every button reflects its passion in every piece of clothing it manufactures. It creates an ecosystem of fashion consciousness at a level where large parts of India can relate to it and participate in the fashion revolution.
“We are helping our customers become more aware and more confident. We are spreading to the farthest corners of India through multiple channels in order to ensure that there is greater fashion consciousness across the country. We are investing in strengthening our retail portfolio through exclusive stores for each of our brands. Our asset-light model allows us to scale up rapidly and ensure that we are able to grow market presence without putting a strain on our balance sheet”, says Mr. Jain.
KKCL has over 327 stores and is growing its geographical footprint aggressively. In 2015-16 alone, the company added 45 new stores. Today, it is present across 199 towns and cities across 25 States in India. It is also aiming to be available to its customers across all the relevant channels.
The company has capitalised on the e-commerce popularity without deep discounting or impacting its profitability. It is partnering with all the leading platforms and is present wherever its customers look for it. The efforts are showing traction, with sales from the e-commerce channel growing to over Rs. 13.50 crores in 2015-16 from Rs. 8 crores the previous year.
KKCL continued to grow in FY 2015-16 and its total income from operations touched Rs. 457.36 crores achieving a 12 per cent increase over the previous financial year. The sales value based on MRP would be Rs. 883 crores. The growth contributors were across all key brands, products, regions and distribution channels.
Brands
Each of the key brands of the company – Killer, Lawman Pg3, Integriti and Easies – reported positive growth.
Killer, the flagship brand of the company, retained its share at 52 per cent of sales and continues to be amongst the leading brands in the country. Killer embodies fashion and comfort and provides a compelling style statement to the fashion conscious with a rebellious streak to carve their own path. It recorded sales of Rs. 234.41 crores, an increase of 8 per cent from the previous year, representing an MRP value of more than Rs. 440 crores.
Lawman is a high fashion brand focusing on the ‘glamour’ aspect of clothing. It achieved sales of Rs. 92.95 crores in FY 2015-16 against Rs. 79.97 crores in FY 2014-15, thus growing by 16 per cent and represented 20 per cent of total sales.
The youth brand, Integriti, achieved a sale of Rs. 93.78 crores and registered a growth of 18 per cent contributing to 21 per cent of total sales. The brand offers a wide range of products from denim to shirts, T-shirts, winter wear, formal wear and accessories.
Easies is an everyday casual wear brand that has products ranging from jeans, trousers, chinos, capris, shirts and jackets. The brand achieved sales of Rs. 15.98 crores as against Rs. 10.64 crores in the previous year showing a high growth of 50% and increased its share to 4%.
The addictions include range of lifestyle accessories like deodorants, wallets, belts, innerwear, etc. Sales from the brand were at Rs. 15.90 crores in FY 2016.
Products
Jeans: Jeans has been KKCL’s main product offering since inception. The unique and versatile experience of denim jeans has retained its timeless pull amongst the youth and jeans continue to be a staple for every youth’s wardrobe. For the company, Jeans is the largest contributor to sales and accounted for 60 per cent of total sales in FY 2015-16. Jeans sales stood at Rs. 270.53 crores in FY 2015-16 as compared to Rs. 241.58 crores in FY 2014-15, registering a growth of 12 per cent.
Trousers: Trousers achieved sales of Rs. 41.99 crores compared to Rs. 48.09 crores in the previous year, showing a decline of 13 per cent and constituted 9 per cent of total sales. Combined sales of jeans and trousers grew by 8 per cent.
Shirts: Shirts were the fastest growing product category in FY 2015-16 with revenues of Rs. 80.19 crores compared to Rs. 64.13 crores the year before, showing a growth of 25 per cent. Shirts contributed 18 per cent to total sales during the year.
T-Shirts: T-Shirts sales also showed strong growth with an increase of 55 per cent with sales of Rs. 23.58 crores as compared to Rs. 15.19 crores the previous year. T-Shirts accounted for 5 per cent of total sales.
The other products of the company include jackets, shorts and other accessories. These grew by two per cent from Rs. 36.15 crores to Rs. 36.73 crores, representing 8 per cent of total sales.
Multi brand outlets (MBOs) have been the dominant channel of distribution for KKCL. These outlets are an effective and efficient way to place the products to diverse markets. Sale from this channel was Rs. 236.79 crores in FY 2015-16 as compared to Rs. 222.59 crores the previous year. This channel showed a growth of 6 per cent in the current year and contributed to 52 per cent of total sales.