Financial Times

Sri Lankan garment manufacturers R and J Apparels (Pvt) Limited, is gearing to enter the North India market in June 2007 with an investment of Rs.15 million.

“We are planning to enter Delhi and Bombay next June with our ladies blouses branded as Jezza. Presently we are negotiating with a couple of retail outlets and supermarket chains to supply our brand,” Abdul Jameel, Managing Director R and J. Apparels (Pvt) Limited told The Sunday Times FT.

He said the company is forecasting Rs.25 million worth of sales in the first year and is planning to sell 50,000 pieces.

He said the North India market is very large and the company’s exports will be looked favourably because India has a lot of Chinese and Thailand imports.

“We plan to bring the material from China and from Bangkok in Thailand, stitch the garments here and export to India,” he said.

Jameel said this will provide a better cost advantage for the Indian buyers, rather than directly importing from China or Bangkok.

He said that Bottom-line Strategies International (BSI Consulting), the international export strategy consultancy will deliver a strategic initiative covering the apparel marketer’s ambitious plans. As a part of these programs BSI is developing the “Jezza Fashion Profit Chain" consisting of trade deals, supply chain issues and strategic alliances with designers, fabric suppliers and retailers. R and J Apparels (Pvt) Limited supplies locally to retail chains such as NO Limit and Fashion Bug and has its own production arm in Badulla with a state of the art factory and a head office in Ratmalana with its design, marketing and commercial operations.

“We realised that with no fabric base, Sri Lanka needed to increasingly focus on the front end of the business, like designing to fancy finishes, value addition and branding,” Jameel said, adding that the company had a production arm that could produce up to 70,000 pieces a month, but did not take export orders. “Instead we designed our own garments and marketed them locally as mere tailoring was not a sustainable competitive advantage. Now we want to strengthen our position locally and enter international markets with our flagship Jezza brand,” he added.