Bata plans to turn Floatz into ₹500cr brand in less than 5 yrs

Kolkata: Footwear major Bata is hoping to turn its India-made label Floatz into a Rs 500-crore brand in less than 5 years. Bata is also planning to bring exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) for Floatz. The footwear major, which has separate EBOs for Power and Hush Puppies, also hopes to touch the magic figure of 2,000 EBOs by the end of this fiscal. As of now, it has 1,850 stores.Bata India MD Gunjan Shah told TOI after the company’s AGM on Wednesday that Floatz had touched the Rs 150-crore mark in sales and that the company had ambitious plans for the brand. Earlier, while replying to shareholders during the AGM, Bata India chairman Ashwani Windlass said that there has been a lot of investment in product development for Floatz. “This is a brand entirely created in India for domestic as well as global markets,” Windlass said.In the AGM, Shah pointed out that the company was testing Floatz in global markets. “It is a value-for-money brand that also offers style and comfort. We are also rolling out a Disney collection of Floatz,” he said, adding that Bata was planning to set up 15 kiosks for Floatz in this quarter and by the end of this year, it would go up to 50.Speaking on its other brands, Shah said Bata had two EBOs of Power — its second largest brand — and would add 4-5 more by the end of this quarter. In 6-9 months, there would be 15 stores of Power. Bata has already introduced apparel under Power. These clothes were available in 70 stores and in another six months, at least 140 stores would sell Power apparel, Shah said.

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