‘Killer’ jeans makes more profit than Levi’s, Benetton & Tommy Hilfiger put together

MUMBAI: Eighteen-year-old Kewalchand Jain watched yarns of fabric rolling out of his father’s shop-floor, when they first sourced a thick, blue fabric meant for cowboys and miners – what’s popularly known as denim. Jain was bemused, or maybe, he sensed an opportunity in the blue cloth. Three decades later, his brand ‘Killer’ jeans is giving market leader Levi’s — Jain barely knew about Levi’s then — a run for its money.
"Sample this: with sales at Rs 400 crore, two-thirds that of Levi's, Kewal Kiran Clothing (KKCL), the maker of Killer jeans, makes almost as much profit as Levi's, Benetton and Tommy Hilfiger put together."

"We have tried to keep our products affordable, while at the same time tried to innovate and adapt to the changing needs," says Jain, who along with his three brothers — Hemant, Dilip and Vikas — set up their first denim brand ‘Killer’ in 1989."Most of the international brands are urban-centric and have premium pricing while small markets are highly unorganized. We are trying to fill this void with our products," Jain, who studied up to Class 12, added. The textile maker has since added brands such as Lawman, Easies and Integriti.

The newer brands not only cater to different age groups, but also bring economies of scale — the company sold nearly 23 lakh pair of jeans last fiscal, making it the market leader by volume.


The company also controls almost every bit of operations — from design to a large chunk of manufacturing — from three designing and manufacturing facilities in Mumbai and Gujarat.

This in turn has helped the company price its wares almost 30% cheaper than most rivals. For instance, a pair of Killer jeans is sold for Rs 1,599 onwards, while most brands such as Levi’s, Jack & Jones and Wrangler have price-tags above Rs 2,500 on an average.

"It is a well-run company which has kept operations pretty tight with an extremely low working capital," said J Suresh, who heads Arvind Retail that sells rival brands such as Arrow, Flying Machine and US Polo.

Despite a low-pricing strategy, the company clocked Rs 67 crore in net profit with an operating margin of 29%. And it is this margin focus that has helped KKCL shares to trade at a record high earlier this month at Rs 2,140.

Its market capitalisation at Rs 2,500 crore is now double than that of Kishore Biyani’s Future Lifestyle Fashion and Aditya Birla's Pantaloons and is marginally lower than textile major Raymond. But experts also reckon that dealing with online competition will be tough.

(This is a corrected version of the earlier story, which had misstated comparative earnings)