Khadim’s director Siddhartha Roy Burman in Calcutta on Friday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, June 17: Bengal’s home grown footwear brand Khadim’s is going international.

It has started exporting leather bags to countries like USA, Spain, Germany and other European countries.

However, the company is not restricting itself to exporting leather products only. It has booked a 30,000 square feet area at the Calcutta Leather Complex, Bantala, for setting up of a 100 per cent export oriented unit that will cater to the export markets.

Siddhartha Roy Burman, director of Khadim’s Group of companies said: “We plan to export footwear to the international markets. In fact, we have started exporting our goods from January this year.”

The company is also looking at outsourcing footwear from China. “We are weighing the options. However, nothing has firmed up yet. But, if at all we outsource any footwear, it will be a quality product,” added Roy Burman.

The company has no immediate plans to tap the capital market for funds to foot its expansion bill. It will be met through internal accruals only.

The 50-year old company expects Rs 150-crore turnover in the current financial year. For the last accounting year ended March 31, 2005, Khadim’s reported a turnover of Rs 135 crore.

With its manufacturing facility at Kasba Industrial Area, Khadim’s at present has more than 200 retail outlets and 700 dealers in more than 17 cities in the country, said Joydeep Basu Roy, senior brand manager of the company.

“Khadim’s is a mass-market brand. We do have high-end shoes but that’s not our prime focus. We manufacture this range depending on the demand,” said Roy Burman.

The company today unveiled a new collection of its popular “Wash & Wear” footwear range.

The range was initially launched in 2002. Last year the brand sold 12 lakh pairs registering a growth of more than 8 per cent over the previous year.

The company has recently forayed into north-east India market with this new range of footwear focussing primarily on lower Assam, Tripura, Silchar and Guwahati.

Khadim’s, presently a market leader in the wash and wear segment, enjoys a 60 per cent market share in this category of shoes. It is now eyeing a 70 per cent market share by the end of the current financial year.

At present the company is manufacturing 10,000 pairs of “Wash & Wear” shoes per day.