Wildcraft

Last updated

Wildcraft India Ltd.
WILDCRAFT
FormerlyWildcraft India Private Limited
Type Private
IndustryRetail
Founded1998;25 years ago (1998)
Headquarters
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Gaurav Dublish, Siddharth Sood
Bhupinder Singh (Chief Product Officer)
ProductsOutdoor Clothing, Footwear and Gear
Website wildcraft.com

WildcraftIndia Ltd. (styled in all caps, WILDCRAFT) is an Indian outdoor gear, footwear, clothing and travel accessories company with its headquarters in Bangalore. The company's products are sold in over 200 exclusive stores and 5,000 multi-branded stores in India and abroad. [1] The company is led by its co-founders Gaurav Dublish and Siddharth Sood.

Contents

History

Wildcraft's first product in the 1990s was a dome tent. The company shifted to manufacturing packs and associated outdoor gear and expanded to multi-terrain footwear and outdoor clothing. [2] In 2014, it rolled out an expanded range of gear including clothing and footwear, [1] hiring an additional 1,000 employees across its factories located in Bangalore. [3]

It ventured into technical clothing in 2015, into performance footwear in 2017 & launched an innovative line of travel cases in 2019. Between 2015 and 2018 Wildcraft developed a 90-liter technical rucksack for the Indian army, won the contract and supplied it to the armed forces from 2020 onwards. In 2020 Wildcraft developed a line of personal protection gear (respirators and Hazmat suits) and became one of the world's largest lifestyle brands marketing this during the Covid era.

During the COVID-19 lockdown in India, Wildcraft India diversified its product portfolio by making products like Personal Protective Kits (PPE). [4] [5]

Operations

A Wildcraft store in Chennai WildCraft Retail Clothing and Footwear.jpg
A Wildcraft store in Chennai

Wildcraft makes backpacks, rucksacks, camping and hiking equipment, among other things. The company's products are sold in 175+ exclusive stores and 4,000 multi-branded stores in India, [1] growing by 20-30 stores each year. [6] Wildcraft products are also available in the Middle East and South Asian countries. [3] [7]

Until March 2020, Wildcraft employed more than 3,700 people. Few months later, it scaled up its manufacturing facilities by collaborating with more than 60 factories through a hub and spoke model. By July, the company employed about 30,000 people. [8] [9]

Finances

Wildcraft was started by a group of outdoor enthusiasts and run initially as a hobby with a limited commercial focus. [2] Under the leadership that has led the firm since 2008, it pursued an expansion strategy and increased revenue over 100x in less than a decade. [3] According to Dublish, the company grew at a compound annual growth rate of 75% from 2007 to 2012 [2] and continued to grow annually at 50% till 2018 & is now pursuing a 25% revenue CAGR. In September 2013, Sequoia Capital, a California-based private equity firm, invested [10] ₹70 crore, giving it an enterprise valuation of about US$50 million. [6] Wildcraft clocked retail sales of ₹400 crore in FY 2017, and is looking at a total deployment of ₹350 crore, to achieve a run-rate of ₹1,000 crore by 2020. [3]

Related Research Articles

Berghaus Limited is a British outdoor clothing and equipment brand founded in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, and now headquartered in nearby Sunderland. It was founded in 1966 by climbers and mountaineers Peter Lockey and Gordon Davison, initially as an importer and distributor of outdoors products. Lockey and Davison's outdoor store in Newcastle upon Tyne, went by the name of the LD Mountain Centre. In 1972 they began designing and manufacturing their own products for sale in their shop. They gave their brand the German name 'Berghaus' which translates as 'mountain house'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Britannia Industries</span> Indian food and beverage company

Britannia Industries Limited is an Indian multinational FMCG company specialized in the food industry, part of the Wadia Group headed by Nusli Wadia. Founded in 1892 and headquartered in Kolkata, it is one of India's oldest existing companies and best known for its biscuit products. The company sells biscuits, breads and dairy products throughout India and abroad. Beginning with the circumstances of its takeover by the Wadia Group in the early 1990s, the company has been mired in several controversies connected to its management. However, it still has a large market share and it is profitable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trent Limited</span> Indian retail company

Trent Limited is an Indian retail company, which is part of Tata Group and based in Mumbai. Started in 1998, Trent operates Westside, a retail fashion chain, and Landmark, a bookstore chain with brick and mortar stores in various locations of India.

Karrimor is a British brand of backpacks, outdoor and sports equipment, and clothing.

GoLite is an outdoor hiking and backpacking gear company that relaunched as an apparel manufacturer under new ownership in 2018. Humanitarian and environmental initiatives are a key part of the new ownership. As of 2018, GoLite has donated 14,000 uniforms to help health care workers in Uganda and Guatemala using company fabric resources. The new sustainable clothing collection is intended to combine outdoor performance and athletic functionality. GoLite is headquartered in Seattle, WA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reliance Retail</span> Indian retail company

Reliance Retail is an Indian retail company and a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Founded in 2006, it is the largest retailer in India in terms of revenue. Its retail outlets offer foods, groceries, apparel, footwear, toys, home improvement products, electronic goods, and farm implements and inputs. As of 2023, it has over 245,000 employees at 18,000 store locations in 7,000 towns. Apart from physical stores, the company also sells products on its e-commerce channels.

Mountain Warehouse is a British outdoor retailer selling equipment for hiking, camping, skiing, cycling, running and fitness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tata Starbucks</span> Joint venture company

Tata Starbucks Private Limited, formerly known as Tata Starbucks Limited, is a 50:50 joint venture coffee company, owned by Tata Consumer Products and Starbucks Corporation, that owns and operates Starbucks outlets in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lifestyle (department store)</span> Indian fashion brand

Originating in India in 1999, Lifestyle is a retail fashion brand which comes under Dubai-based retail and hospitality conglomerate, the Landmark Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urban Ladder</span> Furniture retailer

Urban Ladder is an omnichannel furniture and decor retailer started in 2012 and headquartered in Bangalore, India. The company, founded by Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa, provides curated furniture products and home decor solutions. Urban Ladder operates across 50 offline stores in India, including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai and continues to service other locations through its e-commerce website.

Patanjali Ayurved is an Indian multinational conglomerate holding company, based in Haridwar. It was founded by Ramdev and Balkrishna in 2006. Its office is in Delhi, with manufacturing units and headquarters in the industrial area of Haridwar. The company manufactures cosmetics, ayurvedic medicine, personal care and food products.The CEO of the company, with a 94-percent share hold, is Balkrishna. Ramdev represents the company and makes strategic decisions.

Nykaa is an Indian e-commerce company headquartered in Mumbai. It sells beauty, wellness and fashion products through its website, mobile app, and over 100 physical stores. In 2020, it became the first Indian unicorn startup headed by a woman.

Bajaj Finance Limited (BFL) is an Indian non-banking financial company headquartered in Pune. It is one of the leading non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) of India with a customer base of 73 million and holds assets under management worth 270,050 crore (US$34 billion).

SEVEN is an Indian lifestyle brand that manufactures and markets casual and sportswear clothing and footwear. The brand was launched in February 2016 by Indian cricketer and former captain of the Indian national cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and RS Seven Lifestyle. Dhoni is the brand ambassador of SEVEN and also owns footwear side of the business.

Mufti based in India, is a men's clothing fashion brand, founded by Kamal Khushlani in 1998. The company was started with a ₹10,000 loan from Khushlani's maternal aunt. It manufactures shirts, jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts, sweaters, Joggers, Blazers and jackets. It is owned and managed by Credo Brands Marketing Private Limited. It owns 1,400 multi brand outlets and 120 large format stores. In July 2018, Mufti signed Kartik Aaryan as a brand ambassador.

Swiggy is an Indian online food ordering and delivery platform. Founded in 2014, Swiggy is headquartered in Bangalore and operates in more than 500 Indian cities as of September 2021. Besides food delivery, the platform also provides on-demand grocery deliveries under the name Instamart, and same-day package delivery service called Swiggy Genie.

Relaxo Footwears Limited is an Indian multinational footwear manufacturer based in New Delhi. The company is the largest footwear manufacturer in India in terms of volume and second-largest in terms of revenue. The company makes products under 10 brands including Flite, Sparx, Bahamas and Schoolmate.

Stovekraft is an Indian company that manufactures cooking appliances under Skava, Pigeon and Gilma brands. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. Among its cooking appliances are mixer grinders, pressure cookers, cooktops, toasters, chimneys and kitchen utensils. It sells its products in 23 states in India and 12 countries overseas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cred (company)</span> Indian financial services company

CRED is an Indian fintech company. It is based in Bangalore. Founded in 2018 by Kunal Shah, it is a reward-based credit card payments app. Cred also lets users make house rent payments and provides short-term credit lines. Cred has received criticism for being overvalued and lacking a sound monetization strategy.

Tejas Networks is an optical, broadband and data networking products company based in India. The company designs develops and sells its products to telecom service providers, internet service providers, utilities, security and government entities in 75 countries. The company has built many IPs in multiple areas of telecom networking and has emerged as an exporter to other developing countries including Southeast Asia and Africa.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Babu, Venkatesha (18 December 2014). "Sequoia-backed Wildcraft plans to expand further". Business Today .
  2. 1 2 3 Menon, Shyam G. (29 June 2011). "Hiking in uncharted territory". Business Line .
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Wildcraft to expand into Middle East, South East Asia markets". The Economic Times . 17 December 2014.
  4. "Myntra partners Wildcraft to offer protective masks". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  5. Tewari, Saumya (27 May 2020). "Wildcraft India forays into PPE category, offers hazmat suits, face shields". mint. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  6. 1 2 Dhamija, Anshul (17 December 2013). "Sequoia Capital invests Rs 70cr in Wildcraft". The Times of India .
  7. "Wildcraft lokos to clock Rs 1,000 crore in sales by FY20". DNA India. 9 April 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  8. Anand, N. (11 June 2020). "Wildcraft unveils COVID-19 gear, ramps up staff". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  9. "Wildcraft plans to raise Rs 150 crore; targets Rs 1,000 crore revenues in FY21". Deccan Herald. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  10. "Sequoia: India". Sequoia Capital. Retrieved 26 January 2015.