Peter England to pump Rs 3 cr in ads  ( June '19,2001, HBL)

THE recently-launched Peter England trousers will be backed by an adspend of Rs 3 crore, which will be spent over a period of a year-and-a-half, according to Mr Vasanth Kumar, Vice-President, Marketing, Madura Garments. He was speaking at the launch of Peter England trousers in the South.

The company decided to extend its shirt brand into the trousers segment after a detailed market survey. Mr Kumar said the survey revealed that the market for readymade trousers had grown in recent years.

When the demand for denim declined in the mid-Nineties, most of the manufacturers turned to the cotton trouser segment. But the penetration for readymade trousers was very low as consumer still preferred conventional tailor-made trousers.

Mr Ashish Dikshit, General Manager, Marketing, Madura Garments, said Peter England was positioned in the mid-priced segment as most of the readymade trousers were in the premium segment.

Peter England has launched its brand of trousers in a range of formals and semi-formals in polyester viscose, polyester cotton, and wrinkle-free. The trousers are available in sizes ranging from 28 to 44 inches and is priced between Rs 545 and Rs 845.

In December, 2000, Indian Rayon announced the acquisition of global rights of Louis Philippe, Allen Solly (barring North America) and Peter England (with the exception of UK and Ireland) from Coates Viyella UK.

The world rights have been acquired by the Aditya Vikram Global Trading House, which is the fully-owned overseas subsidiary of Indian Rayon at a cost of $2.6 million.

Madura Garments introduced the San Frisco trouser brand in 1998, followed by Spiritus from Lous Philippe and Elements from Peter England. The company's other brand, Byford, will soon launched Outerwear, a range of jackets and other winter wear, in the North.

The company has a design studio in Bangalore, headed by a UK-based designer, Stephen King.