Apparel To Apartment

Raymond is weaving a new story in the realty sector

- Nachiket Kelkar

THE YEAR WAS 1925, and India was under colonial rule. A member of the Wadia family sensed an opportunity to make clothes for Indian soldiers and he set up a woollen mill in Thane, on the outskirts of Bombay. The mill was later sold to E.D. Sassoon and Co, and was renamed as Raymond Woollen Mills, after its directors Albert and Abraham Raymond.

The JK Group owned by the Singhania family took over the mill in 1944, but they did not change its name. Under Vijaypat Singhania, Raymond became a household name for textile and readymade garments. It is now the world’s largest producer of worsted suiting fabric and is among the largest branded apparel retailers in India. Its textile costs anywhere between 200 to 10 lakh a metre.

One can find a Raymond store not only on Mumbai’s high streets but also in the narrow lanes in India’s vast hinterland. It runs 1,100 exclusive stores and its branded textile is available at around 20,000 points of sale in 600 cities and towns. Its branded apparel retails in 500 cities and towns at 5,100 multi-brand outlets. In the current financial year, Raymond will open another 250 exclusive stores.

Having covered the length and breadth of the country with its showrooms, Raymond is now exploring other opportunities. It recently opened a ‘Ceremonial Store’ in Mumbai for ethnic wear. It also has an exclusive store selling khadi fabric and apparel.

“You have to keep re-inventing yourself and continuously look for new concepts,” said Gautam Singhania, chairman and managing director of Raymond. “One is the horizontal expansion of Raymond stores, and the other is different verticals. Khadi and Ceremonial are two new concepts we launched and there is scalability on that.”