Date:24/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/11/24/stories/2007112450780500.htm

Back Italian luxury wear Canali lines up mono boutiques

K.V. Kurmanath

Hyderabad, Nov. 23

After opening its first store in Mumbai in 2004, Canali — the luxury men’s clothing and accessories major from Italy — has now lined up more mono brand boutiques in 7-10 cities in India in the next three years.

Seeing a shift in favour of the luxury brands, the company is also planning to rope in an Indian celebrity to promote the brand next year.

“We have identified India as the second largest market for our product range after China in the Asia-Pacific region.

“The luxury panorama in India will totally change in the next few years, offering a huge scope for luxury wear,” Mr Alessandro Bartoli, Director (Asia Pacific and Middle East), told Business Line.

In China, the company has a network of 50 outlets in 29 cities, Mr Bartoli was here in connection the launch of its second outlet in India here.

In the short-term, it would set up shops in ITC Maurya, DLF Emporio (Delhi) and UB Mall (Bangalore) in the last quarter of this financial year. The other cities could be Kolkata, Chennai and Ludhiana.