The company plans to address gaps in these segments. It has partnered with Madura Garments, and recently launched a kids wear line in select exclusive Esprit boutiques at Bangalore and Mumbai.

In the lingerie segment, the company plans to soon launch the Body wear line at Delhi, and plans to take these two lines to more of its stores, beginning with the metros and later followed by other upmarket cities across India.

According to Manjula Tiwari, Brand Head, Espirit plans to take the body wear and kids wear lines to at least 8 Esprit stores by March 2008, followed by 20 stores in the coming year.

According to Tiwari, around 90 per cent the kids wear market, estimated at Rs13,000 crore) is in the unorganised sector, with most organised players selling via private labels.

She added that kids clothing in India is "too dressy suited for certain occasions, and mostly made of synthetic materials". Identifying the need for clothing from natural fabrics that has an international, smart, and casual look and quality, Esprit is ideally suited to address the segment''s needs.

Tiwari added that the casual kids wear segment has few branded players in India.

The Kids Collection has a classy and clean design, appealing to international tastes and a modern urban look.

The body wear category has elaborately styled camisoles, strapless bras, multi functional and corselet''s, along with lace-up inserts, beads, tiny decorative tags, multicoloured lace, flowers and embroidery add pretty highlights to bras, shorts, mini briefs, strings, camisoles and suspenders.

The lingerie market has a similar tale, with a lack of quality products and options in terms of sizes, shapes and fits dominating the storyline. Also absent is an international shopping experience, according to Tiwari. Esprit is seeking to address this gap while completing the women''s offerings in the country with lingerie and body wear.

The kids wear line caters to little individuals from in the 3-10 year age bracket, and is housed between the Rs400 to Rs1,200 price points. The body wear collection hovers between Rs600 and Rs2,500.

Globally, 7 per cent of Esprit''s $4 billion sales come from kid''s wear, while Body wear brings in about 4-5 per cent.

Presently, Esprit has 16 stores and 12 shop-in-shops in India, with expansion plans to see the count go up to 20 exclusive stores and 15 shop-in-shops by the end of 2007-08, and an overall count of 60 by 2008-09.

The present boutiques span 5,000 to 8,000 sq ft. Esprit is planning mega stores of 10,000-15,000 for the future, which will give the brand that much more floor space to bring in more products from its international range of accessories, footwear, baby wear and men''s body wear.