Market trends have been indicating growth in the bottom-weight fabrics rangewhich includes gaberdines, chinos, khakis and cords. Expecting this fashionto last a long time, Reliance is entering this segment. This is in linewith the company's plans to consolidate in the men's wear segment from theearlier focus on womens' wear. "Nearly 70 to 80 per cent of the productswill be catering to the mens wear segment," said president of the textiledivision of Reliance, K Narayan. The Vimal micro fibre adds to its range ofsynthetics, worsted suitings and furnishing fabrics. The micro fibre isexpected to generates sales of around Rs 100 crore during year 2000-2001with the retail market contributing substantially, Narayan said.

The micro fibre, 40 times finer than human hair, has been developed in-houseby the fibre division and will come from Reliance's Patalganga plant. Themicro fibre has features such as wrinkle free, wash and wear with thestrength of polyester and a fell and finish of cotton. It is not easy tomake this textile and duplilcation will not be easy, says Narayan.

Firm to focus on readymade segment
The ready to wear market has been in the thick of action with mergers andbuy-outs. But the action has just begun. Reliance is getting its acttogether. After manufacturing virtually everything that goes into textiles,it will now conquer the last frontier - the readymade segment. The decisionto either set up a dedicated facility or outsource has not been made yet. Ina year's time the company's strategy to explore this market would be ready. The target will not be the domestic market alone but also exploiting thepotential in the export markets, from where queries have already startedcoming.

The company is already merchandising its `Reance' brand and has beensourcing the garments from outside - trousers from Delhi and shirts fromBangalore. These are only available only at 60 flagship showrooms whichdeals directly with the mills. There are plans to strengthen the readymadesline and in the second stage to make them available at the normal showroomswhich are numbered at around 1100 outlets.