Dockers on expansion spree

Levis Strauss yesterday announced the north India roll out of its khaki brand Dockers, beginning with Delhi. Dockers, "the relaxed formal wear for men" is now available at 15 premier multi-brand readymade outlets in Delhi. Two more exclusive Dockers franchisees would open shortly. The Dockers range comprises business casuals, smart casuals and active wear in a variety of colours. The Dockers shirts are priced between Rs 449 and Rs 1,499 and the trousers between Rs 999 and Rs 1,999.

Post the latest phase of rollout, Dockers will be available in NCR, Agra, Jaipur, Jodpur Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Amritsar. The Dockers brand was first launched in India in Mumbai in April last year. It took a year for the company to launch Dockers in the north. Why? Sanjay Gangopadhya, general manager, marketing, Levis Strauss, India explained, "Encouraged by the test launch in Mumbai, we decided to branch out to the north. The north Indian market promises to form a critical segment of Dockers. And to cater to the huge markets of Delhi and other cities in the north we needed to first get our supply chain organised."

The company has taken the multimedia route to advertise the brand. The company plans to spend 40 per cent of its marketing investment on advertising. "Dockers is an statement of vitality, liberation from the conventional office wear, and a statement of ones personality," Sanjay emphasised.

This association is reiterated in the Dockers commercial that broke some time back, propagating the ‘casualisation of the workplace'. The ad is running on Zee, all the Star channels, National Geographic and HBO. The brand targets upwardly mobile men in the age bracket of 25-30 years.

Currently the market size of the readymade pants is one million pairs and the company hopes to dock 25 per cent of it this year. Globally, Levis Strauss' turnover last year was $ US 100 million last year and sale of Dockers alone contributed 25 per cent to the total turnover. In two years time, the company is confident of becoming the market leader in India looking to contribute 25 per cent to its global turnover. The company will expand its portfolio with the Dockers footwear very soon.

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