‘In future, anything that’s natural, fluid, fashionable will be linked to LIVA’ The Aditya Birla Group has broken new grounds with LIVA, the high quality fabric made using natural cellulosic fibres, delivered through an accredited value chain. The brand vision of LIVA is to provide consumers the freedom to move effortlessly and confidently in garments that celebrate natural fluid fashion. Birla Cellulose has a reputation of being a preferred partner in the entire textile value chain and with the launch of LIVA, it is set to reach out to new consumer as an ingredient brand. Connecting consumers with Liva K K Maheshwari, Managing Director, Grasim Industries and Group Director-Textiles, Aditya Birla Group, who is credited with scripting the growth of VSF business towards a more sustainable model, talks about his vision and mission in bringing the brand LIVA closer to consumers. “Till date, marketing of fibres has been the back end of the value chain whereas brands and retail have been at the front end. When a fibre gets translated into an end product, the consumer finds it difficult to distinguish between the different ingredients in the garment. Keeping this in mind, we believe it would be good to convey the unique properties of LIVA directly to the end consumer who is the decision maker. We have studied consumers with the actual products. In future, anything that’s fluid, fashionable and natural will be linked to LIVA,” opines Maheshwari. Assuring product quality Every product has its own experience and the challenge is to stand out and define the experience it offers and make sure it keeps getting elevated. It is all about creating an association in the customer’s mind. In essence, LIVA is a promise to consumers that garments with the LIVA tag will have the most fluid, soft drape, assured by the quality backing of the value chain accredited by the Aditya Birla Group. “We believe it is important for customers to understand what they are getting. These are brand LIVA’s brand vision is to provide consumers the freedom to move effortlessly and confidently in garments that celebrate natural fluid fashion with LIVA fabrics. The brand stands for the high quality fabrics made using natural cellulosic fibres of Aditya Birla Group, delivered through an accredited value chain. LIVA promises quality backed by adequate product testing and process perfection at every stage of manufacturing. In essence, LIVA is a promise to the consumers since garments with the LIVA tag will have the fluid, soft drape, backed by the value chain accredited by the Aditya Birla Group. Consumers usually had to make a choice between fashionable clothing and comfortable clothing. The brand makes a statement which encompasses fashion and comfort experienced as a vital ingredient which forms part of the merchandise of partnering clothing brands. The strategy is to co-market LIVA with leading women’s apparel retailers to build its availability, traceability and aspiration for consumers, ranging from tagging of the garments in partner outlets to in-store promotion and in media It is one of the most sustainable in terms of raw material, life cycle assessments (LCA) and eco friendliness of the product. Our key raw material, wood pulp is sourced through a responsible wood sourcing policy which takes care of high conservation forest, bio diversity and more is planted than cut. K K Maheshwari, Managing Director - Grasim Industries and Group Director - Textiles promises for a consumer to appreciate. Today, they are only looking for one aspect namely ‘fit’, and how it looks on the body. But this is also about enabling them to experience the wearing comfort,” he informs. Spreading brand awareness Maheshwari points out that branding is essentially a promise of performance. “It’s nothing but the association that comes to mind. In essence, LIVA is a promise to consumers that garments with the LIVA tag will have the most fluid, soft drape, assured by the quality backing of the value chain accredited by the Aditya Birla Group . The comfort of wearing it is going to be greater and LIVA is just a reinforcement of an offering. It doesn’t take away from the main brand positioning,” he explains. In fact, the company has planned specific promotional efforts which will enable LIVA to reach out to its target audience, so that they understand what LIVA is all about. With this launch, the company is extending the reach on a pan-India basis to create greater awareness and product availability. In S/S ’15, LIVA tagged garments will be available through 1,625 stores, spread across 54 cities within India. Visual Merchandise to enhance the consumer experience has been focused in more than 500 stores. With India’s fragmented retail, the company has joined hands with TRRAIN to educate retail staff across the country into Cover Story