The Rs. 3,000-crore Himatsingka Group is a vertically integrated home textile major with a global footprint. The group focuses on the manufacture, retail and distribution of home textile products. On the manufacturing front, the group operates amongst the largest capacities in the world for upholstery fabrics, drapery fabrics and bed linen products.
Spread across Asia, Europe and North America, its retail and wholesale distribution divisions carry some of the most prestigious brands in the home textile space and cater to Private Label programs of major retailers across these geographies. Its portfolio of brands includes Calvin Klein Home, Barbara Barry, Bellora, Kelly Wearstler, Beekman 1802, Pimacott, Atmosphere and Esprit.
Over the next couple of years, the group will be investing Rs. 1,300 crores in strengthening and augmenting its manufacturing capacities and capabilities. In addition to increasing its installed sheeting capacity, the group will backward integrate into ultra-fine-count spinning by setting up the world’s largest cotton spinning plant under one roof. Further, it also envisages setting up a green field terry towel plant to complement its current home textile portfolio.
Commenting on the company’s performance in FY17, Mr. Shrikant Himatsingka, MD, said: “For FY18 we will be focusing on sweating our new capacities on the sheeting front, bringing on-stream our spinning capacities, commencing construction of the proposed terry towel plant and further consolidating our portfolio of brands.”
The manufacturer is indeed pleased to be the first mover to bring to the market a DNA-verified cotton value chain solution under the Pimacott Brand. This initiative will drive significant value for its clients and consumers alike in the backdrop of ever-changing consumer preferences, demands of the millennial consumer and the advent of omni-channel retailing.
The Karnataka-based Himatsingka Linens, a division of Himatsingka Seide Ltd., has added three new Monforts machines to the existing line-up of four Monforts units, as the company embarks upon an expansion that will double its output of bed linen, entail a backward integration into spinning, and see its first foray into terry towelling.
Himatsingka has manufacturing facilities in India and retail and distribution businesses across North America, Europe and Asia. Its bed linen unit is located at Hassan, and its drapery and upholstery unit at Bengaluru, both in Karnataka.
The Executive Director, Mr. Vasudevan Veeraraghvan, said that the group is doubling its existing sheeting capacity from 23 million metres per annum to 46 million metres. The company will also be installing for the first time 211,000 spindles as part of its backward integration into spinning, and the entry into the terry towels sector will see it setting up a capacity for 25,000 tons per annum.
Expansion of the sheeting capacity will enable the company to make printed products, which will enhance its fashion bedding shares in the market and also help Himatsingka enter the basic bedding segments where it is currently not present.