'Indian performance affects global performance'

Levi Strauss & Co, a leading global apparel company, has been in India for the past 15 years, quietly getting to know the Indian consumer and ramping up its business. Its president and CEO John Anderson was in the country to launch a revolutionary global women's range, followed by its Tenizen brand. Anderson, an Australian and cricket lover, who has worked in Levis for 30 years, spoke to Shalini Singh about the significance of the Indian market.
Q: Are you satisfied with your performance in India?
A: We are the dominant jeans brand in India, No 1 in the premium and super premium category with 300 stores across the country. We owe our success mainly to the youth for embracing global brands and the culture of denim. I am proud to say that our products are sourced in India for India. Levis manufactures in as many as 34 to 37 countries across the world. Most other brands just export a fit they are not especially designed for the Indian consumer as our's are.
Q: How do you define the premium and super-premium categories in jeans?
A: Jeans that are priced from Rs 1,500 to Rs 6,000 and above.
Q: What is India's contribution to your global turnover?
A: Levis sells jeans in 110 countries and are No. 1 in each one of our markets. We are focused on our top 18 markets and India is very much in this list, which was not the case five years ago. The performance of the Indian business affects our global performance, which was also not so in the past. We see accelerated growth here in the future as the Indian economy is robust and demonstrating a strong growth rate.
Q: Does India compare with China as a key market?
A: China and India are in a neck-and-neck race. They are both growing at the same pace demonstrating healthy double-digit growth.
Q: What is unique to your new women's denim line?
A: It is a new line of custom fit jeans, Levi's Curve ID, based on a revolutionary fit system that focuses on shape, not size. Levis designers have crafted this to fit the curve of a woman's body after an exhaustive study of body scans of over 60,000 women. It follows a new approach to measuring a woman's body. Levi's identified three distinct body types that account for 80% of women's shapes universally.
The three Levis. Curve ID fits are based on these universal body types and include: Slight Curve for straight figures, Demi Curve designed to fit even proportions and Bold Curve designed to honour genuine curves. This line will be available in select stores from September 2.