Hameedia ties up with India’s largest apparel house Madura F&L

By Cheranka Mendis

Sri Lanka’s leading menswear specialist Hameedia yesterday signed up with India’s largest and fastest growing apparel house Madura Fashion & Lifestyle to import and distribute some of their leading brands in Sri Lanka and to set up two concept stores under the brand name Planet Fashion.

Under the three-year contract, Hameedia will look after Madura F&L’s business in Sri Lanka and it would be the main distributor for the Indian company’s key brands Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England in the country. The plan is for Hameedia to start manufacturing for the brands and export to Madura’s customers in India and around the world within a few years.

The concept store under the brand name Planet Fashion will consist of exclusive retail products of the four brands. Hameedia Deputy Managing Director Hussain Sadique stated that two stores would be launched very soon, one at the Kandy City Centre and another in Colombo even though the exact location has not been finalised yet. “It is likely to be closer to Dharmapala Mawatha and its surrounding areas.”

The budgeted investment expectation for the two stores is over Rs. 75 million, he said.

The multi brand store will be a first-of-its-kind store and will only retail leading international brands. Steps are also been taken to open up a series of Peter England stores in prime locations in Colombo. “We are going a step further and will make these brands available at several national apparel retail chains in major cities offering greater and convenient accessibility to Sri Lanka’s quality conscious man.”

Madura F&L COO Shoaib Farooqi told the Daily FT that depending on the size of the locations and required resources, the company is ready to make the necessary investment.

“We see Sri Lanka as a country with many opportunities. While previously companies and fashion lines were hesitant about coming into the country, now with the economy opening up, things are changing,” Farooqi said. Madura F&L has been looking at signing up a business partner from Sri Lanka for the last two years.

The partnership with Hameedia was seen as the best choice as the two companies have been doing business together for the past 20 years.

“They are not new to us. When we were looking at adding a partner, we wanted a company that knew the local market and the fashion business and had a strong business philosophy. Hameedia fit right in to our plans.”

He noted that both company brands are known not only known in the home country but also internationally, which is a common feature binding the two in terms of quality, visibility and product offering. “This is undoubtedly a win-win situation for both parties.”

Asked about the volatility of the rupee and its effects, Farooqi commented that volatility would not hamper any plans for the business to grow and expand. “Consumers today look for good quality products and are ready to pay the price for it. We are assured that unless we fail in quality, standards and up-to-date fashion, we will not be affected by it.” Also present in the Middle East, he noted that even with a crisis, there has been no reduction in the demand for their products.