Wildcraft aims to become largest lifestyle player in India this year

Homegrown outdoor adventure products maker Wildcraft expects to become the biggest lifestyle player in India this year, beating global majors like Nike, Adidas, Reebok and Puma, according to its founders Gaurav Dublish and Siddharth Sood.

The company, which had recently forayed into personal protection gear segment, expects to clock revenue of Rs 1,000 crore this year on the back of its existing business and also from supplies of the rucksack to the Indian Army, while seeking to contribute in building a self-reliant India in the post-COVID era.

"Today, through the word of mouth Wildcraft has very quietly ramped up to a level. We are looking at becoming the largest lifestyle player in the country, significantly above Nike, Adidas, Reebok and possibly also beat Puma of the world this year FY21," Dublish told PTI.

The Bengaluru-based firm has been clocking a CAGR of 35-40 per cent with a turnover of Rs 400 crore in FY17, Rs 500 crore in FY18, and had set a target of crossing the Rs 1,000 crore milestone by 2020.

"Yes, we are on track. We will cross Rs 1,000 crore this year," Sood said when asked if the company will meet its target despite the slowdown in the market due to coronavirus pandemic.

Exuding confidence that the company will cross the target few months down the line, Dublish said, "We have not even started doing what we do business as usual, to that extent that our factories are completely flooded with orders".

"We have the defence orders to execute, which is one of the largest orders. Last year, we finally got a go ahead to make ruckshacks for the Army jawans. We won the tender and we are going to produce those," he added.

The company also has recently forayed into personal protective gear (PPG) category in the fight against coronavirus pandemic with the launch of its re-usable PPE coverall (Hz Series of Hazmats) and protective masks 'Supermask'. It is looking at deploying around 1 lakh workforce as it scales up manufacturing and distribution of these new products.

Dublish, however, said the bigger picture for the company is beyond these milestones and play its part in buidling a new self reliant India in the post-COVID era.

Moroever, Dublish said,"we have to get back to business as usual, which hopefully will open up sooner than later and that will require us to be able to double our capacities. Then the monsoon season is coming in where there is demand for rain coats".

He said from a global context Rs 1,000 crore is still just about USD125 million, which in America or Europe is not even considered as a brand.

Considering the India potential from a sense of scale, he added, "these are just milestones which over the next 10-20 years will no longer be milestones, they will be just decimal points in the larger story of India".

"We are exceptionally positive on the story of India," Dublish said, adding that the milestone that Wildcraft envisions is to play its role in building a new self reliant India, and people across the country are proud of it.