Hidesign to start selling shoes next year

Leather goods maker Hidesign plans to enter the footwear retail business next year, as the company known mainly for its bags and wallets looks to expand its product portfolio.

The 152-crore company, set up in Pondicherry in 1978, plans to launch men's shoes in February followed by a women's range a month later.  The shoes will be priced at 65 per cent of the price of its bags, Hidesign President Dilip Kapur said on the sidelines of its Icon Exhibition in New Delhi. "While the men's range is priced between Rs 4,000 and Rs 7,000, the women's range will be priced between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,500," said Kapur.

Besides bags, Hidesign also sells sunglasses and leather jackets and gift items such as notebooks and pens. Kapur, who first entered the footwear business in the late 1970s before withdrawing, said Hidesign will initially sell the shoes at 30 exclusive brand outlets. It will then expand the number of brand outlets to 60 and then start selling shoes through e-commerce portals within five months of the retail launch.

Besides expanding its product portfolio, Kapur plans to increase the brand's social media advertising spend. He said half of the Hidesign products are sold online, and it has the biggest bag categories on e-commerce sites Amazon and Jabong. Hidesign spends seven per cent of its turnover on marketing activities, while international players in the luxury leather goods space spend around five per cent and other Indian players spend two to three per cent on promotional activities. "Now, 70 per cent of the ad spend is in print media, which will be reduced to 50 per cent and social media ad spend will be increased," Kapur said.

Hidesign's Icon Exhibition, kicked off earlier in Pondicherry, is slated to travel to Mumbai and Bangalore in coming months. It showcases images of the company's 35-year journey and key styles from its archives.

The Icon Collection re-launches the earliest bags, maintaining the same purity reflected in the original bags: vegetable-tanned leathers, solid brass, cotton and leather lining and designs that have stood the test of time for the last 35 years, Kapur said. The collection boasts 11 classic bags such as doctor bags, briefcases, satchels and a duffel.

These bags are priced 20 per cent higher than the normal Hidesign bags, ranging from Rs 4,695 to Rs 17,000, Kapur said. The company has sold 1,600 bags from this collection at its own stores and on Amazon, he added.