Men’s denim and casual wear brand, Mufti, is looking to expand presence in Tier-3 towns even as it focusses on expanding the offerings basket. The brand recently introduced footwear and athleisure as new categories and is now looking at more variants.

New cities and towns where expansion is likely include Junagarh, Rai Bareily, Sundarnagar, Ferozepur and Chandrapur, among others. Plans are afoot to add 25 new stores by March 2020, which will be a mix of company- and franchise-owned ones.

Some 20-odd stores have already been added taking its existing tally of exclusive brand outlets to 300. This apart, the brand has a presence across different multi brand outlets.

According to Kamal Khushlani, Founder and Managing Director, Mufti, has seen a 11 per cent year-on-year growth in the first six months of this fiscal; almost in line with its 12 per cent annual growth target set for FY20.

Demand has been good from various markets across Tier-1, Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns. As the offerings basket goes up, the brand will look at larger stores ranging between 600 and 1,000 sq ft; against earlier ones which stood at 700 sq.ft., size of flagship stores too will be ramped up to between 1,500 and 1,700 sq ft.

“We have seen good demand and new markets are opening up. Hence the new stores will come up not just in Tier-1 or Tier-2 towns, but also in smaller Tier-3 places,” he told BusinessLine .

Khushlani says the listing plans or bringing in new investors can be looked at some five years down the line. “We will think of listing when the markets are good, may be five years down the line. However, there are some individual investor who may look to exit at a later stage and then there could be a probability of exploring PE funds,” he said.

Owned by Credo Brands Marketing Pvt Ltd, ‘Mufti’ is a 20-year-old home-grown apparel brand that positions itself in the mid-to mid-premium segment. It competes with the likes of Levi’s, Lee, Wrangler, Spykar and other premium players such as USPA and United Colors of Benetton.

It clocked sales of ₹395 crore in FY19 with the average selling price across categories being in the range of ₹2,300.

Profitable brand

The brand, Mufti, has been a ‘profitable one’. And there is a strict control on prices between online and offline offerings. This comes at a time when offline retailers have been unhappy with the deep discounting practices of e-tailers and brands.

“We have not faced any complains with our channel partners; be it online or brick and mortar ones,” Kamal Khushlani said. “We are not a brand that sells primarily online. So we balance out our offline offerings with an online presence,” he added.

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