CHENNAI: Kohl's, a well-known retail apparel chain in the U.S., sees increased opportunities in India for sourcing its needs.

At present, it sources in excess of $100 million worth of products from India. India forms around 10 per cent of Kohl's outsourcing pie.

Peggy Eskenasi, Executive Vice-President of Kohl's Corporation, who inaugurated a state-of-the-art export-oriented shirt unit named Jwala of Celebrity Fashions at Sriperumbudur, some 30 km from here, made it clear that "India is not the cheapest of places to outsource.''

Yet, it offered huge value addition possibilities. The fabric quality, design expertise, handicraft capabilities and the like had seen India churning out not only simple but also intricate apparel products, she pointed out.

Kohl's, she said, was sourcing a lot of cross-category men's as well ladies' apparel from India.

The U.S. departmental chain is among the leading global clients for Celebrity. At the moment, 10 per cent of Kohl's sourcing from India comes from Celebrity.

The new shirt unit of Celebrity has come up on a built-up area of 170,000 square feet at SIPCOT Apparel Park. Srivenkatesa, Chief Operating Officer (COO), said Celebrity had invested close to Rs. 30 crore in the unit. The unit would have an installed capacity of 10,000 casual and 5,000 dress shirts a day. He expected the plant to notch up sales of Rs. 130-140 crore by 2007-08. It could eventually provide jobs to 2,000 people, he said. Celebrity had already roped in three customers, including Kohl's, for Jwala. At the moment, the unit had 400 machines and employed 250 people.

The brand new shirt unit comes on top of Celebrity's recent acquisition of the trouser manufacturing plant and design studio at the Madras Export Processing Zone — Special Economic Zone (MEPZ-SEZ) — of Ambattur Clothing Ltd. (ACL) for around Rs. 80 crore. The 20-line trouser unit at MEPZ-SEZ, according to S. Surya Narayanan, Executive Director, is producing four million trousers. At present, seven lines are working in two-shifts. Seven more would go double-shift soon, he added.

Celebrity currently has a capacity to churn out 4.5 million shirts a year. With the new unit going on stream, another one million shirts could be added to the capacity.

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