Switcher, the Swiss sports, outdoor and casual apparel company known for its use of sustainable products, is now controlled at 51 percent by PremDurai Exports Private, an Indian company that has been an original manufacturer of Switcher products for around 25 years and that has held the Indian retail license for the brand for the past decade.
Switcher has enjoyed a financial turnaround since Antonio Rubino joined the company in 2006 as managing director. It reached a record profit last year although sales remained stable at around CHF 60 million (€44.6m-$34.6m), with only 20 percent of that generated outside Switzerland.
Switzerland remains the major market for the company, which sells around 7 million garments annually there through more than 360 points of sale under the Switcher, Respect and Whale brands. It also has a presence in Germany, France, Austria and some other European countries. A large part of the turnover goes through 60 single-brand Switcher stores - all franchised. The company has sold seven previously owned stores.
Under Rubino, who is going to leave the company, Switcher got out of several unprofitable operations and invested heavily in the outdoor and sports segments, which now represent 15 percent of sales and are growing. Switcher has been the official supplier of the Swiss Olympic Committee since 2006 and will hold that role through the London Olympic Games.
Other managers have left Switcher including Jean-Philippe Torgue, a former executive of VF Corporation who has had been acting lately as international sales director of the Swiss company.
Robin Cornelius, founder of Switcher and former CEO, is getting again more involved in the operation as executive chairman, with a 49 percent stake.
The new controlling shareholders have stated that they want to expand Switcher’s presence in India and in Europe, especially in Germany, Norway and Sweden.
PremDurai is the garment export arm of PGC Industries, a vertically integrated group that spins its own cotton and employs nearly 8,400 workers across a variety of companies. It started its own retail operations last year and now operates 75 T-Mart Super Stores in India.
The acquisition of Switcher will raise the Indian group’s total turnover to about $150 million for the 2010-11 financial year. Besides India, Switcher has been sourcing garments from manufacturers in Bangladesh, Portugal, Slovakia, Turkey, Romania, China and Taiwan.
