News: House of Pearl Fashions eyeing Indian retail business
(TNN 31/07/2006) Mumbai - Deepak Seth is the man behind many a brand. From JC Penny and Banana Republic, Macy’s, Espirt, Abercombie & Fitch Liz Claiborne to Tesco, Wal-Mart and Next among many others.
Behind the well-recognised names is Seth’s two decade story to rise to a Rs 800 crore turnover company, The House of Pearl Fashions (HPF), with operations spread over 12 countries, including India.
Today, Seth and his two sons, vice-chairman Pallak Seth and managing director Pulkit Seth, are looking to increase the HPF’s investments and presence in India, with an eye on the growing retail opportunity, specially for foreign players.
The investment could be in the tune of Rs 400-500 crore, over the next five years spread over 300-400 retail stores across the country. Seth is in talks with two of UK’s leading brands to get them to India, a deal which he expects to close within this year. The stores which Seth is looking at are not small, as his minimum requirement would be at least 3,000 sq ft.
The man, who has a pulse on the garment retail trade across 12 countries, sees a business opportunity for a range of mid-market women’s casual western wear as well as in woven (Rs 600-900), and T-Shirts (Rs 250-300) a niche which Seth feels does not have much competition.
The confidence in the opportunity comes after research done by a leading UK agency, who did not know their client. Seth himself, including his sons and his top management team, including his group financial officer Vineet Mathur have been travelling to and fro from London for the same.
Seth’s strength comes from his unique business model, with HPF’s biggest asset being its strategic relationships with over 150 fully compliant manufacturing units spread across India, Bangladesh, China and Indonesia. “These manufacturing units help us ramp up production enabling capacities in excess of 120 million pieces in addition to out existing 20 million pieces in-house at very short notice and do not even require us to increase our capital,” said Pallak.
With headquarters in Watford, a multicultural workforce spread over 9,000 employees, a presence in every segment of the value chain right from global sourcing and design to processing and manufacturing the product and finally managing the logistics and distribution to branding too,
Seth’s company has emerged as a preferred solution by global buyers as it means dealing with a single entity for all its buying decisions and fits nicely with the attempt by global companies to trim their vendor base in an effort to ensure quality.
There is very little that a retailer may want which Seth does not offer and his logistic operations for his clients makes him the only manufacturer group in the world to offer goods to its customers on landed duty paid (LDP) terms in the US (constitutes over 60% his business) and the UK.
The company actually has its own warehousing and processing set-up in the US and UK supported by distribution and infrastructure to handle close to two million garments per month. Recently, Seth company invested in a new warehouse in the UK.
Established in 1987, Seth’s tryst with the stock market began when he listed Pearl Global in 1994. After which began his global journey. He set up his first sourcing and distribution business of the group in Hong Kong, then expanded to Bangladesh and China while he made strategic acquisitions in the UK and the US, where he owns two brands, namely DCC and Kool Hearts.
Hailing from the famous ‘PearlPet’ family, Seth is the only one of his five brothers who moved into garments and even as Seth plans his retail foray into India, his dream is to move back from London and concentrate on his educational ventures, like the Pearl Fashion Academy and Retail School which are in Delhi and Jaipur and expand them into other metros as well as set up his Pearl School of Business Studies, for which Seth has signed a MoU with Babson College, Boston.
Behind the well-recognised names is Seth’s two decade story to rise to a Rs 800 crore turnover company, The House of Pearl Fashions (HPF), with operations spread over 12 countries, including India.
Today, Seth and his two sons, vice-chairman Pallak Seth and managing director Pulkit Seth, are looking to increase the HPF’s investments and presence in India, with an eye on the growing retail opportunity, specially for foreign players.
The investment could be in the tune of Rs 400-500 crore, over the next five years spread over 300-400 retail stores across the country. Seth is in talks with two of UK’s leading brands to get them to India, a deal which he expects to close within this year. The stores which Seth is looking at are not small, as his minimum requirement would be at least 3,000 sq ft.
The man, who has a pulse on the garment retail trade across 12 countries, sees a business opportunity for a range of mid-market women’s casual western wear as well as in woven (Rs 600-900), and T-Shirts (Rs 250-300) a niche which Seth feels does not have much competition.
The confidence in the opportunity comes after research done by a leading UK agency, who did not know their client. Seth himself, including his sons and his top management team, including his group financial officer Vineet Mathur have been travelling to and fro from London for the same.
Seth’s strength comes from his unique business model, with HPF’s biggest asset being its strategic relationships with over 150 fully compliant manufacturing units spread across India, Bangladesh, China and Indonesia. “These manufacturing units help us ramp up production enabling capacities in excess of 120 million pieces in addition to out existing 20 million pieces in-house at very short notice and do not even require us to increase our capital,” said Pallak.
With headquarters in Watford, a multicultural workforce spread over 9,000 employees, a presence in every segment of the value chain right from global sourcing and design to processing and manufacturing the product and finally managing the logistics and distribution to branding too,
Seth’s company has emerged as a preferred solution by global buyers as it means dealing with a single entity for all its buying decisions and fits nicely with the attempt by global companies to trim their vendor base in an effort to ensure quality.
There is very little that a retailer may want which Seth does not offer and his logistic operations for his clients makes him the only manufacturer group in the world to offer goods to its customers on landed duty paid (LDP) terms in the US (constitutes over 60% his business) and the UK.
The company actually has its own warehousing and processing set-up in the US and UK supported by distribution and infrastructure to handle close to two million garments per month. Recently, Seth company invested in a new warehouse in the UK.
Established in 1987, Seth’s tryst with the stock market began when he listed Pearl Global in 1994. After which began his global journey. He set up his first sourcing and distribution business of the group in Hong Kong, then expanded to Bangladesh and China while he made strategic acquisitions in the UK and the US, where he owns two brands, namely DCC and Kool Hearts.
Hailing from the famous ‘PearlPet’ family, Seth is the only one of his five brothers who moved into garments and even as Seth plans his retail foray into India, his dream is to move back from London and concentrate on his educational ventures, like the Pearl Fashion Academy and Retail School which are in Delhi and Jaipur and expand them into other metros as well as set up his Pearl School of Business Studies, for which Seth has signed a MoU with Babson College, Boston.
posted by InCar Group Press Room at 16:12
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