Inside Fashion Vol. 23 No. 1

FOCUS JEANS

WERE BORN FROM PASSION

A passion for inimitable style, a passion for SUPERLATIVE FINISH, a passion for perfect class. That's two decade long attitude, to sow passion and reap perfection.

PREMIUM SHIRTS

Founder & Mentor

Sanjay Chawla

Director, Publisher & CEO

Salil Chawla

Mangaging Editor

Sujata Dutta Sachdeva

Editorial Team

Ajanta Ganguly, Ranjit Kaur, Narayan Subramaniam

Marketing & Sales

Bipasha Bhattacharya

Webmaster

Abdul Hussain

Manager Coordination

Dinesh Poojari

Graphic Designer

Anil S. Kadale

Ph: 022 2875 5181, 2877 2282, 3001 4700 E-mail: dfuif@yahoo.co.in / dfu@rediffmail.com

LAUNCH PAD

Inditex launches Bershka in India

Bershka is planning to open in India with a store in Bangalore.

This is a youth brand belonging to the Spanish Inditex and is popular among youngsters for its bold, trendy fashion. Bershka is also popular for its nineties-themed fashion and for its collaborations with celebrities including Billie Eilish and Powerpuff Girls. Inditex launched Bershka in 1998 and Bershka would be the third Inditex brand to enter India after Zara and Massimo Dutti. Zara’s sales in India jumped 61 percent and the Spanish brand posted a profit of Rs149 crores for the fiscal year 2022. That year Zara again turned profitable after a pandemic-induced loss of Rs 41 crores in the previous year when sales declined 28 per cent amid lockdowns and other Covid restrictions in various states in the country.

Zara is operated in India through a joint venture between Inditex Group and the Tata-owned Trent. There is another joint venture between the two groups for selling Massimo Dutti in India. Inditex Trent Retail India currently operates stores in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Surat, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Gurugram. Zara has already introduced its beauty products in India this year amid a boom in the country’s beauty and cosmetics market.

Kenneth Cole retails on Myntra

Founded in 1982, Kenneth Cole sells worldwide through stores as well as e-commerce platforms. Kenneth Cole has created a mark for itself over the years among global fashion and lifestyle consumers. Kenneth Cole began with fashion footwear and then expanded into men’s and women’s fashion clothing, shoes and accessories.

Bradford brings Maradona to India

Football icon Diego Maradona is a cult hero with global appeal. There is a high demand in the Indian market for the categories that Maradona is bringing and licensing is seen as an appropriate route for a brand like this to be part of the growth story,We think that Maradona is a cult hero whose global appeal cannot be ignored for too long,” Bradford License India is a joint venture between Bradford Licensing and Franchise India. Established in 2010, the venture has been marked as India’s first end-to-end licensing solution provider, formed with the objective to increase awareness and support the growth of licensing in the country. Bradford develops strategic licensing businesses resulting in successful consumer products and services, for leading global brands in corporate, fashion, character, entertainment and the sports genre. Steering transformation in the retail industry, Bradford enables retailers and manufacturers to maximize profits and revolutionize customer experience through brand extensions, which is the ultimate brand marketing tool.

Lashkaraa combines artistry and craftsmanship, ready for launch in India

Myntra has added American fashion brand Kenneth Cole on its platform.

Myntra is a fashion e-commerce major. Kenneth Cole will have a dedicated online brand store on the Myntra platform offering over 140 stock keeping units across categories like T-shirts, shirts, jeans, and winter wear. With this association, Kenneth Cole aims at expanding its presence in the Indian market and banking on Myntra’s large customer base to fuel its growth in India.

Since Myntra is one of the leading platforms in the fashion and lifestyle space Kenneth Cole is looking forward to partner with Myntra to meet the hyper-growing stylish aspirations of Indian consumers. Myntra has a wide reach and popularity with India’s fashion-forward consumer base. Myntra’s operating revenue surged 45 per cent in fiscal year 2022. Myntra is confident of the brand’s being able to build a deeper salience with millions of shoppers across the country, especially with Kenneth Cole’s product-driven approach.

Sportswear brand Maradona is coming to India. Besides sports goods, the brand will offer eyewear, electronics, footwear, beverages, perfumes and deodorants for Indian fans. The Indian partner for the brand is Bradford. The aim is to celebrate the legacy of Maradona and introduce him to the millions of younger fans who never got to see him play.

Lashkaraa’s ensembles highlight the impressive artistry that involves complex and exquisite craftsmanship.

The US-based Indian wear label caters to a woman for all occasions from a cocktail jamboree to a sun-downer soiree. Recently, the brand designed a whole collection around butterflies. This Indian traditional wear brand was launched in the US in 2014.

The brand has since expanded from women’swear into men’swear, children’s wear, and jewelry. Offering a collection of garments including shararas, ghagras, churidar, saris, kurtas, and sherwanis, the brand caters to shoppers looking for anything from occasion wear to casual wear.

Silhouettes are designed to be timeless and inspirations include Indian history and heritage craft techniques. To appeal to Indian shoppers, the brand has launched its most embellished and decorative collection to date, aiming to build a strong customer base across the country as it further expands its product selection. After carving a niche for itself in the US, the brand is now introducing its collection in India. It also marks its foray into heavily embellished outfits, something that’s neverseenbefore. The aim is to design collections that provide clients with effortlessly stylish combinations with a light touch of history.

Lashkaraa already has a strong presence in the US, Canada, UK, and the Middle East.

LAUNCH PAD

US surf brand Hang Ten arrives in India

US surf wear brand Hang Ten has come to India.

Established in 1960, the brand will have new categories for the Indian market. Planning to expand its global footprint, Hang Ten will sell other products in addition to its core surf wear business. Hang Ten will now be growing its reach by offering licensing options in a variety of categories all over the world.

Hang Ten’s vision is to be a globally diversified brand. The licensing model will thus help the brand establish a presence across a diverse range of areas, which is driven by a commitment to offer its customers cutting-edge, best-in-class products as well as increasing the Hang Ten community across India.

Hang Ten intends to capture a large share of the Indian market with casual clothing such as T-shirts, shirts, jackets, trousers, jeans, shoes, socks, caps and hats, hoodies, and sweatshirts in both male and female categories; T-shirts, shirts, jackets, trousers, jeans, shoes, socks, caps and hats, hoodies, and sweatshirts will be available under children’s wear for both girls and boys. In addition there will be frames and sunglasses, smart watches, and fragrances.

Bradford has the license for the brand. In India, the licensing industry is expanding quickly and is a multibillion-dollar market globally.

Mona B comes to India

D2C brand Mona B is making an online entry to India. This will be through its website and major marketplaces like Amazon, Myntra, Ajio, Tata Cliq and Jaypore. By 2024 the brand aims at entering offline channels through multibrand stores like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Iconic, etc. This is an American lifestyle brand. Mona B products are designed in the US but will be manufactured 100 per cent in India, giving the brand its distinctive identity. The

vision is to take the idea of zero waste living to each household globally through products that are high utility and a part of daily lives.

Mona B offers a diverse range of products

starting from women’s bags, unisex bags, laptop sleeves, duffle bags, backpacks, placement mats, drink ware, pet accessories, coasters, carpets, passport covers, travel bags, and so on. It works on designing and manufacturing bags and lifestyle products by using recycling, upcycling, and eco-friendly practices. Mona B vegan leather bags are crafted using skin-friendly, eco-friendly and animal-friendly dyes in the latest American designs. As a brand, Mona B produces bags by upcycling trash.

The designs are not only eco-friendly and produce less waste, they are also super trendy.The waste issue in the fashion industry is notoriously known to be high. Nearly threefifth of all clothing or accessory material lands up in incinerators or landfills in less than a year of being produced.

Ozon comes to India

Russia’s e-commerce platform Ozon is expanding to India.

The hope is that entrepreneurs in India take advantage of the platform to start selling their products in Russia. Russian consumersdemand various products from India, including health and beauty products, interior decoration, jewellery and clothing. Ozon has opened in China and already has 10,000 Chinese sellers offering goods to Russian customers on its marketplace, with China accounting for 95 per cent of sales through its cross-border sales unit. Chinese products are in high demand in Russia.

The most popular orders from China are usually electronics - smartphones, laptops and computer parts - as well as small appliances and clothing. E-commerce is booming worldwide but Russia is showing particularly dynamic growth in this sector. Online shopping is overtaking traditional retail in terms of growth and the number of online orders in Russia doubled last year, while the size of the e-commerce market grew 52 per cent in rouble terms. By 2024 the Russian e-commerce is expected to more than double its current value. With a population of more than 145 million people, and an online shopping audience of more than 70 million, Russia currently ranks 12th in the world by e-commerce sales.

Indian Terrain offers boys metaverse range

Indian Terrain has launched a metaverse range for boys. The range coveringT-shirts, shirts to sweatshirts captures the essence of the future of fashion.

Indian Terrain had launched its children’s clothing line in 2015 and since then the brand has launched innovative and experimental collections for each season. Polo, reversible jackets, detachable sleeve jackets and sweatshirts are part of the flagship children’s collection brand. From simple everyday T-shirts, festive wear to smart outfits for young boys, Indian Terrain currently houses a wide range of designs under its children’s segment. The brand further plans to launch more products and designs under this metaverse collection. Indian Terrain, India’s leading highstreet men’s wear brand, based in Chennai, was founded with the aim of providing men in India with premium smartcasual clothing. It opened its first store in 2000. Two decades later, its products are available in over 1000 multi-brand outlets, over 400 doors of large format stores, 200 exclusive brand outlets and as well as key e-commerce platforms.

It has not only become a pan-India brand but has also been a leader when it comes to sustainability. Indian Terrain was the first Indian high street brand to get the Fairtrade Label certification.

It went through a process of restructuring, and eventually it was taken over by the Finquest Group in 2020. Within a short period, Reid & Taylor has bounced back and is rapidly growing. With its suiting factory running successfully in Mysore, Reid & Taylor has expanded its product basket by acquiring a premium 100 per cent cotton shirting unit at Bharuch with an investment of more than Rs300 crores. This premium shirting unit is a one-of-a-kind manufacturing unit with an annual capacity of more than 18 million meters and is spread over 35 acres of land.

Wildcraft partners with WFX Fashion

Reid & Taylor bounces back

Reid & Taylor celebrates 25 years in India.

The brand plans to reach more takers by augmenting the quality further, with innovative brands and designs in 2023.

Reid & Taylor was launched in India with a manufacturing unit setup in Mysore in 1998. The brand offers shirts, pants, suitings and ready garments. This premium suiting and shirting brand has built a strong presence in India with its premium experience and highvalue endorsements by ace celebrities. With its rapid growth in the initial years and increasing demands from consumers, the company faced a lot of challenges in the last decade with faulty supply chain management and inefficient management of distribution channels, which halted the growth of the brand.

Wildcraft has chosen WFX Fashion PLM to digitalise its operations.This is expected to improve Wildcraft’s operational efficiency and help the company grow.

Wildcraft based in India is an outdoor brand. WFX, World Fashion Exchange, is a leading provider of cloud-based enterprise software solutions for the fashion industry. PLM is a modern cloud-based system that will enable Wildcraft to streamline its processes, manage data from multiple sources and increase visibility into the production process.

Rapid expansion made it clear that Wildcraft needed a more efficient way to manage its operations than relying on paper records and spreadsheets maintained by individual employees. Till now, Wildcraft had been using a variety of different systems to keep track of production and workflow. It didn’t have a centralised system in place for managing information about production history and status. Additionally, there was no way to track real-time progress and productivity of each employee on their particular projects because there wasn’t any data available about what had already been completed or what remained to be done. This led to a fragmented view of the business and made coordination difficult.

After researching several options, Wildcraft chose WFX PLM because it met all of Wildcraft’s requirements: an easy-to-use interface that allows employees from different departments to centrally input information, robust inventory management features and collaboration capabilities so that Wildcraft can share data with its supply chain partners.

COLLECTIONS

Rangriti offers festive clothing

Rangriti’s new line features an array of festive sets. The collection features ethnic sets in jewel and muted tones as well as classic shades of maroon and black. Coin and bead embellishments add a bohemian flair and numerous ensembles come in heavyweight fabrics for the colder months.

for Indian customers. This features a range of T-shirts, hoodies, jeans, joggers, shirts and sweatshirts with a wide assortment of Pokemon characters like Pikachu and Ash. This collection has been conceptualised to cater to the changing needs of customers who are fashion-forward and wish to wear a stylish, trendy look, and sport their true love for Pokemon. The collection is not only appeasing to look at but also gives characters from the series an in-vogue twist.

Color Plus offers prints and solids

ColorPlus’ new collection features floral printed shirts as well as solid colour options. It includes a range of shirts, stain-free chinos, and winter wear, among other styles. ColorPlus also recently launched its Signature Collection, which is designed to offer timeless garments which can be dressed up or down.

ColorPlus shirts are the perfect garments for men to look stylish and presentable at the same time. The classy designs and elegant craftsmanship make these shirts perfect for any occasion. The crisp and well-fitting shirts are a wardrobe essential, be it at the office, lunch dates, or parties. ColorPlus casual shirts have various prints, designs, and patterns.

The collection also features palazzo pants, straight cut suits, lehengas, indie tops, slim fit pants, dresses, jackets, and coats, among other garments. Rangriti, a women’s ethnic wear brand, was launched by Biba as a value-focused subsidiary in 2015 with the aim of offering traditional styles at affordable prices.

The brand has exclusive brand outlets across India and operates in a large number of Tier II and III cities.In recent times, with India’s online retail boom, changing lifestyles and rapid urbanisation, the ethnic market has seen tremendous growth. Much of the market is unorganized. The increased demand for ethnic wear is not only attributed to festivals and special occasions but also the increased demand of fusion wear. The women’s ethnic wear category is expected to remain the fastest growing category in the next five to ten years. The trend will be more towards fashion consciousness and there will be a greater demand for high quality, fashionable and affordable fashion.

Celio Chennai store offers wardrobe staples

Celio’s new store in Chennai offers 1246 sq feet of effortless fashion.

This is Celio’s third store in Chennai and it offers casual wear, denim wear and smart work wear and cool wardrobe staples along with Celio’s capsule collections - Garfield, Naruto and Money Heist Korea.

In India the brand focuses on smart casuals, weekend casuals and jeans. This includes denims, tees, bermudas, cargos, linen shirts, polos, chinos, bottom wear. The target is the 25 year old Indian male, conventional style seekers or progressive consumers, socially connected and style conscious.

Founded in 1985, Celiois a French men’s ready-to-wear brand. It is present in 60 countries with more than 1100 stores. Celio aims to be among the most preferred international menswear brand in India in the next few years.

Celio has launched a Pokemon range

Solid shirts impart a minimalistic but stylish look. These elegant shirts, in several colors, complement most trousers. For a business look by pairing a white and blue checked shirt can be paired with a pair of black trousers and a pair of oxford shoes.

The brand has opened stores in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Color Plus was launched in 1993 and focuses on the smart casual segment of the men’s wear market. Raymond acquired the brand in 2002.

The various ColorPlus flagship stores and the availability of products on online stores have brought the convenience of international level shopping experience to India.

Shoppers Stop plans value format

Shoppers Stop plans to open a value format. The aim is to attract consumers to opt for lower-priced brands. The store size would be between 7000 sqft to 8000 sqft and the first of these stores would open in the next three months.

Shoppers Stop is foraying into the mass-priced segment after three decades of selling premium apparel and lifestyle merchandise.

India’s consumption structure has been skewed in the past over a narrow base of richer consumers accounting for a large chunk of the overall market. However, as the economy is broadening across many more cities and the impact is reaching further down the income ladder, the opportunity for value formats and value brands is expanding.

The value format segment is growing and during Covid consumption increased in Tier II cities. These cities also have grade-A malls now, offering retailers quality space.

Shoppers Stop’s competitors have demonstrated mixed success in the mass segment, and servicing this segment needs merchandising agility to respond to varying customer preferences across markets as well as the financial ability to sustain and scale. In the diversity of India’s market, scale alone isn’t enough to guarantee success.

Shoppers Stop may open the first few of its value-format stores in Tier II cities before taking them to metro cities.

Puma adds to NCR tally

The brand has localised the product portfolio and does channel specific pricing. Anushka Sharma is Puma’s brand ambassador for the Indian market.She will endorse the brand’s footwear, apparel and accessories including select collections through numerous activities and brand campaigns throughout the year. The brand celebrates women who embrace individuality, fashion, sports and fitness.

Asics upgrades shopping experience

sportstyle categories. The store also features sustainable materials such as FSC-certified timbers, recycled and recyclable materials, and energy-efficient lighting such as LED to reduce carbon emissions related to its operations. Multiple digital touchpoints powered by renewable, non-carbon-based energy, and the use of advanced technology which includes immersive screens and digital plinths, have also been incorporated to give customers a superior digital shopping experience.

Asics, a Japanese sports performance brand, will continue to develop experiential retail locations, adopting new materials and technologies to improve their sustainability while also providing a holistic shopping experience and service to consumers. Innovation, creativity, and design remain at the core of the brand.

Reliance Brands plans to open Balenciaga store

Puma has opened a store in Faridabad. This adds to the brand’s presence in the Delhi National Capital Region.

The sportswear brand’s new store measures 5,159 square feet and houses clothing, footwear, and accessories. The store opened its doors with a 60 per cent offer on select items to celebrate the launch.

Puma has witnessed strong growth in India and gone on to become the number one sports brand in terms of sales over the last few years through its association with actors, singers, and sportspersons.India is a strategic market for Puma.A combination of global strength and local execution has accelerated the brand’s momentum in the country. Puma expects India’s growing young population and increasing interest in fitness and sports to set it up for success in the future.There’s a lot of traction on sportswear now with women and younger consumers and sportswear is becoming a lifestyle statement.

Asics’ new Noida store provides an upgraded shopping experience. It combines digital innovation, unique shopper experiences, and an unmatched product offering.

Spread over 1560 sqft of retail area, the store’s concept is inspired by the brand’s philosophy of asound mind in asound body, which focuses on an all-encompassing spirit that inspires the athlete in every individual, affects the material choices, and guides the customer experience.

The store will immerse consumers in a world where both the mind and the body are stimulated and will offer a wide variety from the running, core performance sports and

Reliance Brands plans to open a Balenciaga store in DLF Emporio Mall in New Delhi.

DLF runs Emporio Mall, a luxury shopping center that is home to dozens of ultra-luxury labels including Louis Vuitton, Bvlgari, Armani, Jimmy Choo, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Versace.

Reliance Brands has signed a long-term franchisee agreement with French luxury group Kering to sell Balenciaga products in India. After Bottega Venta, Balenciaga is the second partnership for Reliance Brands with Kering, a French group that also owns luxury brands Gucci, Saint Laurent, and Alexander McQueen, among other labels.

Reliance Brands, the high-end fashion and lifestyle retailing unit of Reliance Retail, has in the 15 years of its existence marketed around 100 luxury and bridge-to-luxury global brands in India including Armani, Ermenegildo Zegna, Jimmy Choo, Salvatore Ferragamo, Burberry, and Bottega Veneta.

Earlier this week, Balenciaga sparked a heavy global backlash from consumers and from social media users for referencing child pornography and featuring child models alongside fetish-themed teddy bears.The controversial ads also came under attack from Balenciaga’s brand ambassador Kim Kardashian who said she was shaken by the French brand’s latest commercials’ disturbing images.The spots were created to advertise the French luxury brand’s spring 2023 activewear brand in collaboration with Adidas. The backlash has forced Balenciaga to remove the controversial ads from its website.

Uniqlo finds its footing in India

Uniqlo has more than 12,000 products online and services 17,000 pincodes in India. Just about everything that is launched in Japan finds its way to the Indian market. Ever since its inception in 1984, Uniqlo has always done casual wear, specifically, everyday essential clothing.The Japanese apparel brand opened its first store in India in 2019 in New Delhi. Now Uniqlo has nine stores in India (seven stores in Delhi NCR, one in Chandigarh, and one in Lucknow) with the largest one at 35,000 square feet in Delhi NCR. Considering the brand started operations in India just four months before the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown, the first three years were not profitable. The e-commerce platform was launched by July 2021. But after three years here, the brand is now making progress. While the brand does not yet have physical stores in the south, Bangalore is one of its top performing markets on the e-commerce channel. Uniqlo sources from India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Japan and Bangladesh. India is an important market for the brand and the idea is to prosper and grow together not just with the customer but with society at large by creating employment opportunities. Uniqlo will expand its production in India.

Numero Uno on retail expansion

are as big as 1500 sq ft. The brand works on spring/summer and fall/winter. It offers 150 options of basic styles and 400 options of fashion styles every season for both men and women.

spree and plans to open new stores with a focus on Tier II, III and IV cities in 2023. The value fashion retailer offers a wide selection of men’s, women’s, and children’s casual, ethnic, and occasion wear as well as accessories and lifestyle goods.

The company currently runs 414 stores across Tier II, III and IV cities. This winter V-Mart is seeing a good response for sweatshirts, pullovers and jackets. Once it gets colder,especially in the northern part of the country, the retailer expects more sales of heavy jackets, mufflers and caps.

V-Mart Retail’s revenue for the second quarter rose by 50 percent. Net loss narrowed to Rs 11 crores. In all six new Unlimited stores were opened in South India this year and they have been delivering higher sales productivity as compared to the legacy Unlimited stores.

Limeroad was acquired by V Mart earlier, is the primary omni e-commerce vehicle for V-Mart’s online presence. Limeroad is an online fashion marketplace.

Ikea to expand in Uttar Pradesh

Numero Uno has opened one more store in Haryana at Sonipat. The store offers jackets, jeans, and shirts. Currently, the brand has 200 exclusive brand stores, more than 700 multibrand outlets, and many megastores across India.

Numero Uno started with men’s denim in 1987 and moved into other categories. It is one of the few power brands that fuses international trends, innovative fabrics, washes, treatments and accessible pricing. This is one of India’s first indigenously manufactured denim labels. It targets young, aspirational, fashion conscious and upwardly mobile consumers who are self assured with access to technology and a propensity to spend on lifestyle. The product range includes denims, trousers, shirts, T-shirts, jackets, sweatshirts, sweaters, footwear and accessories.

The average size of a store is anywhere between 500 sqft to 700 sq ft. Flagship stores

In 2008 Numero Uno introduced Espana, a collection of premium denims developed in collaboration with Jeanologia from Spain. It incorporates Jeanologia’s special techniques and washing knowhow to create classic vintage denims. The washes range from totally raw unwashed to rugged washes, abrasions and damages. The stitching details are minimalistic but are unique and distinct.

V Mart opens 15 stores

Ikea plans to invest approximately Rs 4,000 crores on operations in Uttar Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh is the most populated state in India and has over 200 million inhabitants. The area thus represents a large retail opportunity for Ikea to further establish itself in the Indian market.

Ikea specialises in home furnishings, home textiles, home décor, and accessories and currently operates brick-and-mortar stores in Indian cities including Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, New Delhi, and Gurgaon. Globally, the business runs over 458 stores in 62 different markets and is also known for its selection of Swedish foods.

V-Mart Retail opened 15 new stores during the October-December quarter.

The 15 new stores include two in Jharkhand, four in Rajasthan, five in Uttar Pradesh, one in Uttrakhand, one in Telangana, one in Madhya Pradesh and one in Tripura.

The company has been on an expansion

Ikea’s sales in India went up by 77 per cent in fiscal 2022. Total income went up by 73 per cent. Total operating expenditure, excluding interest, depreciation and amortization, was up 45 per cent. The company’s expansion plan and operations were impacted due to the global pandemic. However the home furnishing retailer not only managed its operations in an effective way but also extended its support to society through its various partners for helping needy people and for minimising the spread of the pandemic. The company also ensured the safety of its co-workers while managing its operations.

During fiscal year 2022, Ikea continued to work on its plans towards positioning, growth and profitability of the omni-channel business in India.

Raymond records huge revenue surge, to open more stores

This wedding season Raymond recorded its highest ever growth in revenue. The company witnessed a sharp turnaround in sales due to higher consumer spending in its stores following the Covid pandemic.

Sales were up by 38 per cent from the same time compared to 2019. Around 3.2 million weddings were hosted in November 2022 and December 2022, which would have generated a whopping business overall for sectors including clothing retail.

Raymond is known for its suits and textiles and has 1400 clothing showrooms across the country.Textiles and clothing are a major source of revenue for the company, contributing to 50 per cent of the revenue of the company.In the coming months, Raymond aims to open more stores in smaller towns to cash in on rising consumer spending, while broadening its clothing lines to include more traditional Indian garments -- often popular during Hindu wedding rituals.

Raymond, a wool mill near Mumbai set up in 1925, originally supplied blankets to armed forces in the country. The brand known for its textile business has also diversified its business in consumer products ranging from shaving creams to condoms and also in technology such as auto parts. Raymond also runs a real estate business selling apartments on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Style Bazaar expands footprint

value retailers and the retailer is following a cluster-based approach in which it goes deep in almost all the districts of the states so as to have a better economy of scale and brand visibility.

Style Bazaar’s parent company Style Retail is preparing to launch an initial public offering which would value the business at Rs 2,500 crores. The business is expected to file its draft red herring prospectus in February 2023 and will use part of the money it will raise from the IPO to enable it to continue to expand its retail footprint across India. The business plans to use the funds from the IPO to expand its brickand-mortar footprint across India.

Da Milano is opening seven new stores. These will be in Indore, Amritsar, Goa, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Pune. There are six stores in UAE. The brand aims at extending its footprints in the south east Asian market by the end of 2023, including Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and further parts of the UK. Da Milano is renowned for its authentic Italian design and artisanship. Founded in 1989, the brand has an eye for design, a professional team, and good channel facility partners. With over 80 stores across India, in all major metropolitan cities, the brand has established itself as the one-stop solution for quality leather products across the nation. From selection to design, an array of colors in vogue creations, an ambiance that invites all, and an innate sensitivity to customer feedback, Da Milano is also the only brand offering a lifetime service warranty on all its products. Prioritizing customer satisfaction above all, it ensures effortless style and contemporary designs that meet client aspirations season after season. Every store is in a prime locality — be it in a market or mall. The brand hosts 45 varied categories, from handbags to computer bags, small leather goods to corporate essentials for both men and women.

MiniKlub aims at 150 EBOs

MiniKlub expects to touch a total of 150 exclusive stores in the next two years.

Currently, the babywear brand has 47 stores,with three more exclusive outlets set to open very soon. The brand is focusing to increase its footprint in Tier II and III cities as these regions contribute more in overall sales as compared to Tier I cities.

Style Bazaar has opened stores across India. These include Orissa, Jharkhand, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The value and fashion retailer offers clothing, accessories, occasion wear, western and ethnic wear.

Style Bazaar plans to add around 100 new stores over the coming two to two and a half years. The business aims at Tier II and III cities for store expansion where it targets middle class shoppers. The average store size is 9000 sqft and Baazar Style is present in the value segment in east India. The larger vision is to become one of the country’s largest

Style Bazaar based in Kolkata was incorporated in 2013 and operates its retail business under the brand names Style Bazaar and Express Bazaar.

Da Milano expands across India

Seeing a 15 per cent YoY growth in the first non-Covid festive season, the brand saw an uptick in offline sales as compared to online. About 80 per cent of the brand’s overall business comes from the newborn and baby categories. This year, the newborn category contribution increased 49 per cent over the previous year followed by children at 34 per cent and baby at 12 per cent.

The company is increasing its visibility and brand awareness by investing in social commerce. The brand got benefits from raw material exports as it does forward-blocking of yarns. About 60 per cent of the company’s manufacturing is done in-house in states including Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Currently, the brand is present in more than 450 multi-brand outlets, leading large and regional large format stores. Also, it has a marketplace presence with Myntra, Amazon, Flipkart and Ajio. The brand wants to explore markets like Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai.

Mohey signs on Kiara Advani

Kiara Advani is the new brand ambassador for Mohey. Mohey is an ethnic fashion and bridal wear brand launched in 2015 and has over 50 stores across the country along with a strong online presence.

California. The D’yavol brand is owned by Slab Ventures, a company founded by Aryan Khan, LetiBlagoeva, and Bunty Singh. In the coming months, D’yavol will release a series of products starting with a premium beverage in partnership with Belgium-based brewing company Anheuser-Busch.

Anushka Sharma represents Puma

Anushka Sharma is Puma’s brand ambassador for the Indian market. She will endorse the brand’s footwear, apparel and accessories including select collections through numerous activities and brand campaigns throughout the year.

This has lehengas, saris, gowns, blouses, sari gowns and suits, bags, clutches, dupattas, ponchos and jewellery like rings, ear rings, neck pieces, mangtika and belly belts. Every Mohey garment is handpicked for its concept, attention to detail, fabric, hue, cut, embellishment and finishing.

This brand is from Vedant Fashions. Vedant Fashions plans to double retail floor space to two million square feet in the next few years. The company owns brands like Manyavar, Mohey and Mebaz. Most of the company’s exclusive brand outlets are owned and operated by franchisees. The company has over 300 franchisees and a total of 537 exclusive outlets (including 55 shop-in-shops and 12 international stores) spread over an aggregate retail floor space of approximately 1.1 million square feet in 207 cities and towns in India and eight cities internationally. About 90.14 per cent sales were generated by franchisee-owned exclusive outlets in the financial year 2021.Moreover, 60 per cent of Vedant’s retail area is in Tier II and III cities while the balance is spread over Tier I cities.

Aryan Khan launches lifestyle brand

Aryan Khan has launched a lifestyle and fashion brand called D’yavol. The brand will offer products across fashion, beverages and exclusive experiential events. A capsule apparel collection will be dropping in early 2023. D’yavol aims to be a brand with multiple verticals, the first two of which will be beverages and apparels. The first apparel line from the brand will be launched in March 2023 and will be available to customers across India on the brand’s webstore.

Aryan Khan, the son of actor Shah Rukh

Khan, says he has always been drawn to products that succeed at conveying a distinct individualism while remaining rooted in authentic craft and this persisting interest sparked the creation of D’yavol, a brand that aims at seamlessly combining uncompromising quality, edgy design, and reverence for heritage knowhow and bringing authentic and disruptive products backed by uncompromising quality and design, demonstrating the world’s best products.

The idea of this venture came to him years ago, while he was still a student at USC in

The brand celebrates women who embrace individuality, fashion, sports and fitness and feels this new association will further drive its approach towards fitness and lifestyle in the country and in turn inch the brand closer to consumers across cohorts. And the actor in turn with this association hopes to able to connect with and encourage more women to lead a fit and healthy lifestyle.

Puma has witnessed strong growth in India and gone on to become the number one sports brand in terms of sales over the last few years through its association with actors, singers, and sportspersons.India is a strategic market for Puma. A combination of global strength and local execution has accelerated the brand’s momentum in the country. Puma expects India’s growing young population and increasing interest in fitness and sports to set it up for success in the future.There’s a lot of traction on sportswear now with women and younger consumers and sportswear is becoming a lifestyle statement. The brand has localised the product portfolio and does channel specific pricing.

Kartik Aryan represents Superdry

Actor Kartik Aryan is brand ambassador for Superdry. He will represent the brand in India, speaking to younger consumers within this market and helping target an audience of a younger demographic within the Gen-Z community.

in the country and has been diversifying its product range along with aggressive offline expansion plans for the second half of 2022. This D2C fashion, lingerie and personal care brand has been at the forefront of offering an unparalleled D2C as well as offline retail experience to patrons, constantly engages with and interacts with customers to seek feedback on the products and accordingly innovates the product offerings for them. The aim is to reach out to more consumers by offering an omnichannel experience and an enhanced shopping experience.

Myntra signs on Anushka Sharma

like fragrances, body sprays and body plus hair washes.

The UK market represents around 50 per cent of Superdry’s weekly sales and the US around ten per cent.Profits have been rising thanks to women’s apparel and recycled products. Women’s wear accounts for 51 per cent of Superdry’s revenue, up from 41 per cent in October 2021. Organic and recycled products accounted for more than half of the sales in the 22 weeks up to October, up 11 percentage points year-on-year.

All indicators point to brand health moving in the right direction: revenue, marketing, and sustainability messaging are all moving in the right direction. Superdry will produce enough organic cotton to meet all of the company’s cotton needs, making it self-sufficient in the face of rising prices for the material.

Actress Shraddha Kapoor new face of Clovia

Clovia has named actor Shraddha Kapoor as brand ambassador. With this association, the brand hopes to bring about a change in perception and spread a positive message among its target audience. She is seen as resonating with the brand’s ethos and having mass popularity and the persona of a strong, independent and free-spirited individual.

Clovia is a direct-to-consumer lingerie and personal care brand. Launched in 2012, Clovia offers fashion lingerie, innerwear, nightwear, shapewear, swimwear, athleisure products under the brand name Clovia and personal care products under the brand Skivia.

Clovia sells its products through its dedicated e-commerce store and multi-brand platforms like Myntra, Nykaa, Flipkart and Amazon. The brand currently has 41 exclusive brand outlets

Anushka Sharma is brand ambassador for Myntra. She will promote the brand’s beauty category. Myntra has a range of 7,00,00 beauty and personal care styles from over 1,400 international, domestic and D2C brands. Myntra is one of the leading fashion destinations of the country. The platform has also come up with tech innovations to provide its customers with a better shopping experience. These include a skin analyzer, product finder, beauty profile, and virtual try-on. Myntra is facing orders for international brands from shoppers in Tier II cities and beyond. Nearly 40 per cent of the demand for international fashion labels is driven by shoppers in Tier II cities and beyond. The move also points to more recent aggression displayed by Indian retail houses in bringing global brands to the country to capitalize on the growing demand for branded apparel. Greater variety helps draw in more shoppers and capture consumers across price points. For instance, Myntra onboarded American retailer Macy’s by listing its private labels in the runup to the festive season sales earlier this year. More recently, UK’s Boohoo marked its foray into the Indian market with Myntra and will sell brands such as Boohoo, Dorothy Perkins and Nasty Gal across categories like dresses, tops, bottoms, and footwear

The new collection featuring the actor as the face of the brand offers an array of Superdry signature styles, including biker and puffer jackets, statement hoodies, stylish tees, and polo shirts, as well as a wide range of denim. Premium British fashion brand Superdry has products

With grand weddings back, business is brisk for ethnic wear brands

IIndian weddings are back with a bang and the festive season has sky-rocketed the sales of the Indian ethnic wear segment to an allnew high. Premium players such as Vedant Fashions Limited (VFL), Nalli’s, Jahanpanah, Ritu Kumar, Manoviraj Khosla, Biba, Fab India and Neeru’s among others are again selling like never before after the dismal Covid years.

Women’s ethnic wear brands are showcasing and selling a versatile collection of saris, kurtas, shararas, salwar kameez sets, lehenga sets, palazzos, anarkali kurtas and various styles of churidars. For men too ethnic wear kurtas, Nehru jackets, dhoti kurtas, sherwanis and Indo-western men’s clothes are doing good business. Kids too are now a big part of this ethnic wear segment of all brands with the most versatile product portfolio of all.

India’s wedding industry on new high after Covid years

Meanwhile, the wedding industry is expected to see growth of 200 per cent this year after two years of Covid put a halt on all big social gatherings. The ethnic wear market is driven by almost 9.5 million to 10 million weddings each year. As the new concept of multi-day and multi-event wedding celebrations is catching among all communities, there is need to wear appropriate occasion-specific clothes. There is a radical shift from the tailor shop to the ready-to-wear boutique stores, an addition of Indo-western wear and an increased product portfolio of men’s clothes.

Along with this is an increased penetration in Tier II, III cities of India where aspirational clothing and more disposable incomes are on the rise thanks to improved logistical connectivity, digital access and platforms like Instamojo. Also, since these shoppers are not as brand conscious as peoples in metros, affordable prices along with trendy quality products are the USP.

A CRISIL (Credit Rating Information Services of India) study shows, the branded ethnic wear segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18 to 20 per cent between FY20 and FY25 and will account for 28 to 32 per cent of Indian wedding

and celebration wear market. The versatility of products in ready-made branded ethnic wear is no comparison to tailored clothes at local or premium tailors. Even in branded stores, the garments can be sized to exact specifications along with a premium shopping experience. If we fail to adapt, we fail to move forward and the modern ethnic wear segment has shown us just that.

Manyavar remains a bestseller brand

As a first mover in wedding and festive wear segment Vedant Fashions Ltd (VFL) has seen its business grow. With celebrity brand endorsements and a uniform panIndia presence by strong retailing supported by an omnichannel network, VFL has metamorphosed from a simple start-up to brand leader in less than two decades. Founded by Kolkata-based first-generation entrepreneur Ravi Modi, this branded Indian

wedding and celebration wear market segment player has come into its own with the flagship Manyavar brand having emerged as a category leader and a brand of first recall, thanks to celebrity endorsements by Anushka Sharma, Virat Kohli and Amitabh Bacchan among others. With first-mover advantage, efficient marketing, promotional strategies fewer sales or discounts, Manyavar has allowed VFL to achieve a higher gross margin of 75 per cent on net end-customer sales as compared to other rival ethnic brands that usually make 45-60 per cent. VFL’s business strategy is to have a pan-India presence with a strong retailing proposition supported by its omnichannel network and the strength of its brands. As an aspirational occasion-specific brand, Manyavar is VFL’s flagship brand but now the company is also focussed on upselling its other brands such as Twamev, Manthan Manyavar, Mohey and Mebaz while catering to the mid-market segment also.

“The branded ethnic wear segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18 to 20 per cent between FY20 and FY25 and will account for 28 to 32 per cent of Indian wedding and celebration wear market.” Says a CRISIL study

Pandemic fallout, activewear trends on fashion catwalks

“The global activewear market has grown from around $342.9 billion in 2020 to $380 billion this year and is projected to reach $455.4 billion by 2027. Keeping this in mind, almost all global brands are recognizing the importance of merging active and street styles.” As per Statista

with the festive season and on setting winter, will boost sales by pushing up the average selling price of their apparel as well as the quantity sold across all segments. Puma is also focussing on the omnichannel shopper and online sales which will contribute 43 per cent overall sales along with celebrity endorsement with popular icons from the sporting, music and films fraternities.

As Abhishek Ganguly, MD, Puma India and Southeast Asia explains the second half of the year is 60-62 per cent of the business across channels and categories, compared to the first half at 38-40 per cent.

This time buoyancy is high for offline. Retailers are back and they say it’s our year to get back business and not just for the sportswear category but for the entire fashion industry. Brands like Puma are expanding and opening more stores even though online sales have grown. Certain platforms are growing more than 50 per cent over last year in this category.

The pandemic has been a blessing in disguise for the global activewear market with health and wellness having become top lifestyle priority. Consumer interest in the top styles in comfortable athleisure and streetwear styles is now far more than buying clothes straight off the catwalks in Europe, as the concept of hitting the gym instead of a party is the trend now.

Fitness factor dictates fashion dressing

Consumer Tracking Service data from NPD Group, the American market research company that offers industry expertise and prescriptive analytics, recently reported activewear sales revenue increased by 39 per cent from January through April 2022, compared to 2019 with 44 per cent more consumers focussing on their health and wellness. The lines demarcating

fashion segments are fast blurring. It’s not just athletes who splurge on the segment, just about everyone is incorporating activewear into their style statement of comfort dressing,

As per Statista, the global activewear market has grown from around $342.9 billion in 2020 to $380 billion this year and is projected to reach $455.4 billion by 2027. Keeping this in mind, almost all global brands are recognizing the importance of merging active and street styles. According to the Global Activewear Study 2022, the top activewear purchases are shorts/capris (57 per cent), pants (56 per cent), bras (55 per cent), shirts (53 per cent), sweatshirts/hoodies (51 per cent), and underwear (44 per cent).

Puma athleisure rocking the casual segment

Sportswear giants such as Puma are hoping that the second half of the year like always,

Puma believes sportswear transcends the boundaries of the pitch and the court. Celebrity endorsement by Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sunil Chhetri, Mary Kom, and Duti Chand sporting athleisure clothing are carrying this segment naturally into the fashionable and casual segment across all ages.

Meanwhile, e-commerce is the way forward as consumers now want to shop omnichannel but multi-brand physical stores such as Shopper Stop and Lifestyle, regional retailers like Kapsons and more than 410 mono-brand stores in India are keeping the cash registers ringing.

In fact, the brand’s gym-to-the-runway (airports) strategy look has caught on like a house on fire with people creating an airport or a casual clubbing look with sportwear garments, looking smart and trendy yet comfortable.

As Yves Saint Laurent once said “fashion fades but style is eternal” and like everything that gives pleasure, clothes too are meant to be worn with comfort blended with style, as the post-pandemic catwalk styles days are proving.

Indo-western catching up by storm

The versatile nature of Indo-Western fashion can create a look for any occasion with outfits that range from glamorous to causal and occasions from a wedding to streetwear.

The East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet is a concept that doesn’t hold water in the Indian apparel fusion segment that blurs the boundaries between cultures. Western-style clothing combined with Indian designs and patterns and other fusion fashion styles is now flying off the shelves. Industry experts say that India has emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing fashion markets over the past few years and is projected to grow at 15 percent CAGR by 2022 and become a $102 billion market for apparel. The fusion wear segment of pairing different fashion concepts together will hold a key chunk of the market pie.

Many popular fashion brands like Sabyasachi, House of Indya, House of Masaba, Manish Malhotra, and Anamika Khanna have took an Indian twist on a Western silhouette with their design concepts, embellishments, and embroidery. Others who are making a mark in the fusion segment include Shivan&Narresh, Mishra, Monika Nidhi, Papa Don’t Preach by Shubhika, Ridhima Bhasin, Punit Balana, and Ridhi Mehr among others. Other than these designers, even main stream apparel brands also have been observing this as a phenomenal growth sub category.

The gen X age group has taken to Indo-western clothing by storm and the popularity of social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok has made life easier for most brands to get media coverage and be liked and loved. The versatile nature of Indo-Western fashion can create a look for any occasion with outfits that range from glamorous to causal and occasions from a wedding to streetwear.

Fusion dressing is a versatile segment

Consumer Tracking Service data from NPD Group, the American market research company that offers industry expertise and prescriptive analytics, recently reported activewear sales revenue increased by 39 per cent from January through April 2022, compared to 2019 with 44 per cent more consumers focussing on their health and wellness. The lines demarcating

fashion segments are fast blurring. It’s not just athletes who splurge on the segment, just about everyone is incorporating activewear into their style statement of comfort dressing, As per Statista, the global activewear market has grown from around $342.9 billion in 2020 to $380 billion this year and is projected to reach $455.4 billion by 2027. Keeping this in mind, almost all global brands are recognizing the importance of merging active and street styles. According to the Global Activewear Study 2022, the top activewear purchases are shorts/capris (57 per cent), pants (56 per

cent), bras (55 per cent), shirts (53 per cent), sweatshirts/hoodies (51 per cent), and underwear (44 per cent).

Puma athleisure rocking the casual segment

The fusion works is a versatile and flexible one of mix and match where there are no strict fashion rules. Just wear what you want in the casual setting by pairing the staple wardrobe essentials like jeans with a traditional kurta or a western dress with an ethnic motif scarf. With kurtas available in different styles, colors, and patterns, women are sometimes wearing them short over trousers or wearing longer kurtas on their own as a dress, making them suitable for any occasion.

Currently, palazzo sets are all the rage in Indo-Western wear with women wearing patterned palazzo trousers with simple tops creating a casual chic Indo-Western look. Palazzo trousers now also have a modern silhouette with a crop top or halter neck top. For social occasions such as weddings, another popular Indo-Western look involves pairing an Indian motif embroidered lehenga with a plain, crop, or halter neck top or a spaghetti top. Instead of wearing the traditional embroidered blouse, this kind of dressing is a rage among the younger generation at weddings and social functions. Among young women in the Indian community living abroad, this kind of Indo-Western fusion wear is very popular and many designers are targeting this niche segment by exporting their products as well as having a physical stores in many countries, besides online channels.

The men’s apparel segment also has incorporated this fusion concept by introducing the Jodhpuri Suit set and flowing Angrakhastyle kurtas. Along with this are jackets that are paired with various lowerbody clothing in different ways to achieve a different look indo western Achkan that look quite similar to traditional sherwanis but yet are different and can be paired with jeans and other men’s bottom wears are also popular. Indo-Western fashion is on the rise and most smartethnic brands have incorporated it as part of their product portfolio, as this rise is expected to remain constant in the near future in India and abroad.

The rise of unisex and gender-neutral fashion

Unisex and gender neutral clothing has the fuss-free and comfort factor that was associated with men’s clothing and has become increasingly important for the modern woman who can actually do away with the fuss and inconvenience of female fashion.

The times are changing and fashion is changing with it. What was once clearly demarcated as feminine or masculine apparel is now more fluid as both genders crossover into each other’s traditional boxes, experimenting and popularizing clothing as a feel good and happy expression of one’s self. Unisex and gender-neutral fashion helps people express themselves more openly and honestly and to feel more comfortable in their skin. It’s no coincidence that this rise coincides with a surge of LGBTQIA+ awareness and is absolutely connected to broader discussions of gender and sexuality. Even for those who don’t identify as part of the queer community are leaning into the notion that gender shouldn’t dictate what clothing you are or aren’t allowed to wear.

The Pot Plant makes an inclusive statement

Delhi-based The Pot Plant is an example of how boutique brands in India are braving their way to break down mental barriers of the feminine and masculine wardrobes that exist due to pre-conditioning.

The Pot Plant proudly claims “We are a melting pot of inclusivity, sustainability and artisanal communities. We are about finding the freedom of expression in clothing that is fuss free and comfort driven. Our brand’s belief lies in the designers’ zeal to push the boundaries when it comes to textile engineering and design. Harboring a deep love for traditional textiles and time tested hand me downs, The Pot Plant takes the path less explored by bringing together Indian craft with gender fluid, inclusive fashion. From clothes that last a lifetime to fashion that recognizes no gender

The Pot Plant upholds eco- living by touching base with various aspects of sustainability.”

A brave statement that scores on all points – inclusivity, the legacy of Indian textiles and garments and eco-friendliness.

Fashion doesn’t need to be limited to

gender specific

Champion of inclusivity and diversity, the YouTube comedy icon and actor Lilly Singh appeared on a Vogue cover wearing a black embroidered bandhgala sherwani from the

House of Falguni Shane Peacock, paired with traditional heirloom jewellery. This outfit choice by Singh highlighted how the perception of fashion doesn’t need to be limited to only “feminine” and “masculine” categories.”

For some, wearing a dress or power suit is a proud statement of identity, while for others it’s just nice to feel free from societal boxes. The bottom line appears to be, if it makes you happy then why not?

Global majors launch unisex range

Unisex and gender-neutral clothing isn’t just about the consumers’ feel good and self-expression factors. It has an economic benefit as well for brands. Design per se

isn’t inherently feminine or masculine. Fabrics and patterns can be worn by either gender or non-binary person. By taking the gender-fluid route, brands can cut costs on design time and sourcing fabric as well as manufacturing. Unisex and gender neutral clothing has the fuss-free and comfort factor that was associated with men’s clothing and has become increasingly important for the modern woman who can actually do away with the fuss and inconvenience of female fashion. Icon brands such as Zara introduced a line of unisex clothing for adults, while GapKids did the same for children’s wear. Haute fashion houses like Hood by Air, J.W. Anderson and Gucci have all released unisex lines.

Brands get going with store openings

ith consumers thronging the malls and high streets, there is a slew of store openings at malls and on high streets. The newfound confidence is apparent in the announcements of new outlets of apparel and footwear brands, both in urban centers and in small cities. The brands get going with store openings that have

Wspurred sales of casual and informal clothing sales.Fitness enthusiasts are willing to spend on shoes and backpacks and hikers are looking for travel gear that meets their needs. Apparel brands including Shoppers Stop, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, and many others have chalked out expansion plans for their physical store network.

It is not only adults who are serious buyers. Children have emerged as buyers with likes

and preferences of their own, fuelled by social media and insta and peer and youtube influencers. And what they liked three months back may not be what they like now. So brands are getting nimble and quickly adapting to the changes. Online retailers are updating their offerings with unprecedented regularity. All in all, buyers are hitting retail with a vengeance and brands are looking to make sure customers don’t go back disappointed.

Victoria’s Secret New Delhi store opens, features innovative designs

Victoria’s Secret’s store in New Delhi features innovative designs. This is the retailer’s second store in India and is part of the brand’s newly introduced retail concept, Store of the Future, providing a unique shopping experience for all customers.

Store Of the Future features streamlined navigation to effortlessly guide customers throughout the space, a modern fitting-room, as well as a welcoming and seamless shopping experience. The store features a wide selection of the brand’s signature bras, panties and sleepwear across a multitude of collections. It’s a different look and feel for Victoria’s Secret. It’s bright, it’s light and it doesn’t have as much imagery as the earlier stores. Consumers can see the product pop and it’s much easier to navigate the store. Personalised, one-on-one bra fitting appointments with specially trained bra fit experts will also be available.

Alongside the brand’s best-selling lingerie, there will also be Victoria’s Secret Beauty including popular fine fragrances, scents, and mists. The store joins more than 1,350 Victoria’s Secret stores worldwide.

Victoria’s Secret is a specialty retailer of lingerie and beauty products with modern, fashion-inspired collections, fine fragrances, body care, lounge wear, and Victoria’s Secret’s Pink. The brand’s first store in India opened in Mumbai a few months back.

Bangalore gets yet another Shoppers Stop

Shoppers Stop’s new store at Bangalore is spread across an area of 55,696 sq ft. The store houses over 500 international, national, and exclusive brands spread across multiple categories.

This is the retailer’s seventh store in Bangalore and in all Shoppers Stop has a presence across 98 department stores in 49 cities. With each new store opening, Shoppers Stop strives to elevate the brand experience for consumers and has been on an expansion spree post the Covid pandemic and plans to open 12 to 15 stores every year.

The department store saw strong sales driven by footfalls as well as eyeballs online. Categories which have seen a good surge are Indian wear, home, men’s wear, especially suits and jackets. Gifting as a category with things like watches also saw good growth. So there was a multi-category growth across Shoppers Stop stores. Shoppers Stop’s income increased 43 per cent for the second

quarter.

The momentum from last year and the first quarter of this year continued for the department store chain. Customer sentiments

were reflected in footfalls, average selling price and average transaction value

American Eagle opens store at Calicut

American Eagle has opened a store in Calicut. The company is expanding its retail presence in the country through franchisees, with plans to add another 50 stores in India over the next three years.

American Eaglehas entered India through an agreement with Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail. The company made its debut in the Indian market in June 2018 with its first store launched in Noida.

Based in the United States, American Eagle Outfitters is a global specialty retailer offering clothing, accessories, and personal care products. The company was founded in 1977. Currently, American Eagle operates over 1,000 stores in the US, Canada, Mexico, China, and Hong Kong, and ships to more than 85 countries worldwide. American Eagle Outfitters and Aerie merchandise (an intimate apparel and lifestyle retailer and sub-brand owned by American Eagle Outfitters) are also available at more than 200 international locations operated by licensees in 24 countries. For the second quarter of fiscal year 2022, the retailer had total net revenue of $1.2 billion,

and the Aerie business recorded $372 million in revenue, up by 11 per cent from last year.

Founded in 1997, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail is an Indian fashion retail company

Ethnix plans to open 80 stores

Ethnix plans to have 80 stores by the end of fiscal year 2023 and 150 by the end of fiscal year 2024.As of now there are 45 stores.

Ethnix, a wedding wear brand run by Raymond, is geared up to capture a higher share of the wedding market and to leverage its brand and distribution network. Apart from this, Raymond also has an existing network of 1500 stores, some of which will also be selling ethnicwear or wedding wear products. India’s leading fashion and textile company Raymond has plans for big fat Indian weddings.

The wedding season is one of the most important focus areas for a majority of Indian retailers and brands. India’s wedding market size for the months of November 2022 and December 2022 was estimated to be Rs 3.8 lakh crores, of which branded apparel formed Rs 50,000 crores.

Augmented urbanization, fashion upgrades and enlarged disposable income are driving the growth of the global bridal wear market. Also technological advances, entry of local players, and augmented luxury weddings are some of the factors that have accelerated the bridal wear market growth. The idea of sumptuous weddings has also contributed to the rising popularity of weddings at destinations.

based in Mumbai with a network of more than 3031 stores with a presence across 25,000 multi-brand outlets.

Smart retail store Azorte opens at Hyderabad

Azorte has opened in Hyderabad. This is Azorte’s third store in India, the others being at Bangalore and Navi Mumbai. This is a premium fashion and lifestyle brand run by Reliance Retail. Azorte stores cater to all consumer segments and are aimed at disrupting the way Indian consumers shop for international and contemporary Indian fashion.

Boasting an eclectic mix of intuitive retail technology, these smart Azorte stores showcase the best of global and domestic fashion trends and have an original take on style ranging from footwear, fashion accessories and more. The shopper is at the heart of the Azorte store design. To make the discoveryto-checkout journey seamless, the store format has several industry-first tech-enabled interventions including mobile checkout, smart trial rooms, fashion discovery stations and self-checkout kiosks. RFID-enabled interactive screens placed strategically across the stores, for instance, double as virtual styling assistants. Smart fitting rooms help shoppers complete the look and at the touch of a button request for additional sizes and other products. In addition, customers can opt for self-checkout

or mobile checkout, instead of queuing up at manned counters. While the smart stores offer an elevated customer experience through

consultants.

Tasva opens Jaipur store

Tasva has opened a store in Jaipur. This is Tasva’s 33rd franchise outlet in India.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail partnered with couturier TarunTahiliani to launch Tasva as a men’s ready-to-wear brand in December 2021. In October 2022, Tasva made its e-commerce marketplace debut with Myntra. Until then it was retailed on its own website. As part of ramping up its offline presence, Tasva launched more than five stores in December 2022 at different locations. The recently launched stores are situated in New Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Lucknow and Mumbai.

In February 2021, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail acquired a 33 per cent stake in Goodview Properties, giving it access to the existing luxury couture business of Tarun Tahiliani. The two brands have since developed and launched the brand Tasva. Followed by the launch of its first store at Bangalore in December 2021, Tasva opened two more stores in the same month in New Delhi and Mumbai. Tasva operates in 20 cities across India. Tasva celebrates traditional crafts in a contemporary approach with fabrics ranging from silks to cotton to brocades and

tech-aided solutions, shoppers can discover the human touch, too, in the form of in-store fashion

velvets. Accessories include safas, sarpeches, brooches, pocket squares, buttons, sehras, stoles, shawls and footwear. The brand

connects modern silhouettes with traditional craftsmanship techniques, diverse fabrics and textures.

Hyderabad gets Diesel Red & White

Diesel has opened a Red & White store in India. This is at Hyderabad and it is the first such store in India, spread across 4193 sq ft. Elements of renewal, disruption and transformation are layered into the architecture. Interiors are clean, and they invoke a feeling of being in a stripped-out shell. The rawness of this immersion engages the customer’s senses on a fundamental level and showcases Diesel’s products in a modern way. Customers get enveloped in Diesel’s ethos as they enter the store. The huge digital façade at the entrance and store interiors is an immediate impression of boundary-pushing retail, blending a unique atmospheric experience with the physical act of shopping. The store displays a collection of compression shorts, sports bras, bodysuits, sweats, hoodies, tees and more. The vibe has a retro sport influence and takes inspiration from archival iconic Diesel codes such as color-blocking in a bold primary palette, proportion plays, logo taping, and an overall impression that recalls the bold aesthetics of the 1990s and early 2000s.

Diesel is an innovative international lifestyle company, producing a wide-ranging collection of jeans, clothing, and accessories. Since its creation in 1978, Diesel has evolved from being a leading pioneer in denim into premium casual wear, becoming a true alternative to the established luxury market.

Turtle opens in Hyderabad

Turtle has opened a store in Hyderabad. This is the apparel retailer’s 150th store in India though its first in Hyderabad.

A leader in the evolving Indian men’s wear fashion market, Turtle is answering the call for an audience demanding better branded experiences in their search for a stronger sense of self-identity in terms of style. With over 3000 touch points across the country, and a rich heritage of almost 30 years, the collection includes a range of formal and casual shirts, trousers, denims, T-shirts, athleisure, winter, ceremonial collection and accessories. Turtle is committed to shaping a culturally reflective, thoroughly modern brand that is relevant and instinctively stylish. The continued commitment is to keep fresh, to fashion a style that reflects the aspirations of youthful Indian men.

Turtle opened in 1993. From a company primarily into men’s readymade shirts, to a leading brand in menswear fashion, Turtle has come a long way. What started with a

production capacity of just 20 shirts a day today has an exhaustive in-house retail unit. The target consumer is males over 21. The

plan is to have a strong presence in the east of India. The vision is to provide the best in fashion and quality at affordable rates.

Forever 21 opens second store in Chennai

Fast fashion retailer brand

Forever 21 has opened a store in Chennai. This is the brand’s second store in Chennai.

Forever 21 offers clothing and accessories for women, men and children. Forever 21 operates by bringing in new merchandise daily to keep the store exciting. The American fast fashion retailer is known for its cheap and trendy apparel and accessories. In the US Forever 21 has shifted its focus to rebuilding its presence while turning to collaborations, influencers and a bettercurated assortment to drum up excitement for its brand once again.

The brand was founded in 1984 and has more than 550 stores in 27 countries across the globe.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail runs Forever 21 in India as a franchise operation. In July 2016, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail acquired exclusive online and offline rights to the India network of Forever 21. The brand reaches out to 300 towns and cities in the country.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail hosts

product lines that range from affordable and mass market to luxurious, high-end styles and cater to every age group, from children and youth to men and women. Over the years, the

company has brought various global brands like Simon Carter and Ted Baker to the Indian retail market.

Biba opens two more stores in Pune, AP

Biba has opened stores in Pune and Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh. The store in Pune has a full glass façade and a deep interior. It is bright, spacious, and launched with Biba’s latest collections for winter 2022/ 2023.The store houses Biba’s full collection of women’s ethnic, occasion, and casual wear with segments for accessories and lounge wear, among others. The store also has a segment for Biba’s girls’ clothing range and has a wide selection of kurtas.

The store in Andhra Pradesh is 7,000 sqft and also retails the brand’s full product selection. The women’s ethnic wear brand has a massive store expansion program.

Of these stores 40 per cent would be flagship stores, around 3000sqft to 5000 sqft in size. These stores would have a different experience for customers. The trial rooms, for instance, would have special lighting techniques that allow customers to see how a dress would look in the afternoon or in the evening. About 20 per cent of the brand’s stores are franchise-owned.

In addition to its two new store launches, Biba has launched its latest bridal and wedding collection. Featuring classic wedding looks for

the colder months, the collection is made from Liva fabric, an eco-friendly textile by Liva Fluid Fashion.

Lee Cooper opens stores in Pune, Manipal

Lee Cooper has opened stores in Pune and Manipal. The brand has also just opened stores in Indore and Gwalior.

In 2021 Reliance Retail and the US-based Iconix jointly acquired the Lee Cooper brand’s rights for India. Prior to this, the manufacturing rights of the brand were held by Kishore Biyani’s Future Lifestyle Fashions. Lee Cooper apparel was being sold at various retail formats owned by the Future Group including Central, fbb, Brand Factory along with many e-commerce platforms. Lee Cooper was introduced as a footwear brand in India by M&B Footwear in 1995.

The stores offer a wide range of denim collections, footwear and accessories for children and adults. The brand caters to men, women and children. Known for its apparel and denimwear collections, denim is the main product and it contributes to nearly 90 per cent of the business in bottom wear and around 50 per cent in top wear. Lee Cooper considers the young and the youthful, who exude attitude and confidence at all times, as its core target customers. They look cool without trying too hard. Founded in London in 1908, the brand has a presence in many countries across the globe. Iconix is a joint venture unit of Reliance Brands. Reliance Brands will be able to manufacture and distribute Lee Cooper branded products in India.

Blackberrys enters Nepal with two stores

Blackberrys has opened two stores in Nepal. Spread across 2,000 sqft and 2,700 sqft, both stores offer a wide assortment of the Blackberrys range including suits, jackets, formal wear, casual wear, ethnic wear, footwear, accessories, and much more.

The new stores showcase Blackberrys’ latest range of wedding collections, which are tailored to make men look impeccable and leave a lasting impression on their special days. The exclusive range of suits, tuxedos, blazers, and ethnic wear perfectly blends sophistication and modernity. With a wide range of colors, fabrics, and styles to choose from, there is something for everyone – whether an ethnic wear enthusiast or a western lover. From twopiece and three-piece suits to bandhgalas and jackets, the range has something for every occasion. From formal wear like trousers, suits, jackets, and blazers, the brand also offers semi-formal and casualwear offerings such as khakis, shirts, denim, T-shirts and innerwear, and shoes and accessories.

The stores also offers the brand’s newest

category, Tech-Pro, an all-new range that offers unrestricted movement that keeps men effortlessly stylish and comfortable through its stretchability, smart dry, and wrinkle-resistant

features. With the launch of its two stores in Nepal, Blackberrys is poised to become one of the leading men’s wear brands in the country.

Max opens mega store in Thane

Max has opened a store in Thane. The store is 10,000 sq ft. Customers can expect a world-class shopping environment stocking the latest in international fashion from around the globe, as well as Max’s own label of in-house designs in carefully chosen color palettes. Shoppers can enjoy great prices on an excellent range of over 3,000 styles every season, in brand-new designs, silhouettes, and fabrics.

Max, a leading brand in value fashion, is currently attracting major attention from customers this holiday season. Max commenced its store trading with a flat 50 per cent off which is uncommon at the time of new store launches. Max is currently offering customers attractive discounts of up to 50 per cent off on a wide variety of choices in order to fulfill their desire of upgrading their wardrobe and embracing the new year in style.

Max, an Indian fashion label owned by Landmark, offers apparel, footwear, and accessories for the entire family. Max Fashion has innovative, forward-looking business strategies to mark its dominance in the value fashion market. Max retails out its own private label merchandise which is created by a team of in-house designers who are exposed to international fashion trends and excel in tailoring the styles to suit Indian sensibilities.

Arrow opens another store in Bangalore

Arrow has launched a store in Bangalore. The 800 sqft store reflects Arrow’s new retail identity which emphasizes the brand’s rich American heritage, contemporary style, and New York point of view. The store is elegantly decorated with state-of-the-art fixtures, the brand’s signature gold A vector logo, and a bright aesthetic that adds to the overall premium look and feel.

The store will showcase the brand’s versatile new range. In shirts, the collection includes auto press and iconic white shirts, formals with a myriad range of colors and textures, suede blazers with elbow patches and knit blazers, New York trousers, auto flex trousers, soft touch chinos, corduroy chinos and knit trousers. Also, it being the wedding season, the store will also feature a great combination of ceremonial shirts with interesting fabric mixing textures and prints paired with premium-looking blazers and elegant bundis (waistcoats).

Arrow has been instrumental in shaping menswear since 1851. It was launched in India

in 1993 as one of the first premium international brands in the country. The brand currently has over 200 exclusive stores and is available in over 1,000 multi-brand outlets in 109

cities across India. The brand is strategically increasing its footprint across cities, not just with standalone stores, but also with various multi-brand outlets and department stores.

Fabindia opens curated store in Bangalore

Fabindia has opened an experience center in Bangalore.

The 21,000 sqft store sprawls across three floors and has been designed to be convenient, communal, curated, and immersive with true lifestyle-led categories and services like home and lifestyle, apparel, personal care, and wellness.

The store has an interior design studio which has a team of expert designers that are available to help visualize and customize a home with a choice of window treatments, handcrafted curtains and blinds with a wide array of fabrics and colors. Customers can also get free consultations for home makeovers. The home and lifestyle store is spread across 14,000 sqft with an experiential format and a complete product range of universal assembleto-order beds, and a dining and wardrobe category that is spread across 7000 sq. ft.

The brand also offers an extensive collection of wall art, area and accent rugs, lighting, kitchen and dining as well as a dedicated section for Fabkids collections and a gifting section with an exciting assortment of pre-

packed gift sets, and physical Fabgift cards. Fabindia offers multifaceted lifestyle product categories that that are handmade and curated

using traditional techniques and skills of 55,000 artisans and 12,000 farmers pan India.

Madame opens 18 new stores

Madame opened 18 new stores across India during the last 12 months. The company now operates 155 outlets across the country and has launched in locations such as Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam, and many more.

In addition, the business is working to increase its customer base through its e-commerce platform. The women’s wear brand caters to customers in Tier II and III cities who are equally aware of global fashion trends and are looking for brands to offer them western fashion options at affordable prices. The brand’s sales grew by 25 per cent during the October-December quarter and it expects a strong end to the financial year on the back of its retail expansion. Madame was created in 1993 to meet the fashion needs of progressive and modern Indian women. In keeping with this vision, Madame’s fashion keeps up with the latest trends and is also easy on the pocket. The brand manufactures its clothing in Ludhiana and currently has exclusive brand outlets across the country as well as a presence in over 700 multi-brand stores and e-commerce platforms. At Madame, personal expression through fashion is not just about clothing, but about giving confidence to young women in India.

25 Years of Pan America

With a merchandise value of Rs 500 Cr, makes a mark in men’s fashion

Starting as a small zonal brand in 1997, Pan America is celebrating its silver jubilee after a successful run as a leading mid-segment menswear value-for-money brand that offers stylish clothing. With a merchandise value of over Rs 500 crore, the company has an extensive men’s fashion portfolio that is ontrend, affordable and comfortable everyday wear.

Affordability, quality as its USP

Pan America, the mid segment men’s fashion brand from Royalex Fashion India was incepted by MG Reddy, Founder. He was later joined by Rajkumar Lalwani as co-founder

• Launched in 1997 with small office

• Has touched a merchandise value of Rs 500 crore

• Pan America growing at a CARG 12-15 per cent per annum

• A mid segment fashion brand for men, affordability, quality are its USP

• First EBO opened in 2000, now has 80

• 5,500 MBO’s, 250 shop in shops and 8 large format stores

• Has a presence in Dubai and Middle East

and together they created the idea of a brand that would focus on delivering the American philosophy of value for money. Later, they were joined by Ashok Bhandari, who brought with him extensive knowledge of marketing,

distribution and channel management. The brand set up its first EBO in 2000 and made its first international foray in 2009; had its first alliance with a large format store in 2010. Starting with shirts priced Rs 325 onwards the

company went on to add trousers, jeans and T-Shirts over the years.

Pan America’s USP of affordable yet highquality clothing has attracted a big customer base, including those who may not have been able to afford more expensive brands. Having created more competition for other brands in the mid-segment, Pan America has led to better pricing and a more varied product portfolio and the overall expansion and growth of the mid-segment fashion.

With a production capacity of four lakh garments per month manufactured at its state-of-the-art factory in Bengaluru, which complies with the ISO 9001 standards, Pan America is rapidly growing at a CARG 12-15 per cent per annum. With a strong network of

distributors in almost every state along with routinely undertaking regular research and feedback from trade partners to implement data for better product offerings, the strong brand equity has been built up over the years.

Focussed on absolute comfort and great quality trendy clothing at affordable prices, Pan America’s range has it all: formal, casual and party shirts, formal, casual, designer trousers, jeans, and T-shirts. “Reflecting the American philosophy of life to deliver sheer value in everything, we have created a varied portfolio of fashion lines with a focus on comfort and durability. We buy the finest fabrics from top-of-the-line mills that include: Vardhaman Fabrics, Birla Century, Baruche, NSL, Monte, LNJ Denim, Bhaskar Denim, Arvind Mills, Bombay Rayon Fashions, Raymond, Nahar Industries, Alok Industries among others,” says Ashok Bandari, Director. The brand gives great importance to the right wash technique in critical areas of garments such as seams, pockets, cuffs, and collars. “We also use the softest of bio-enzymes that give the perfect fall and fit for every garment and have a range of international accessories to add sheen to the design implementation for longer durability.”

Latest collections and innovations

Pan America recently launched its all-new winter collection with an exclusive range of men’s shirts, suits and blazers. “We keep

Ashok Bandari, Director

strengthening our portfolio with new designs and latest styles and trends. Currently, we are adding more athleisure elements into traditional and standard clothing styles in men’s garments,” says Bandari.

The brand’s designers are always experimenting with new and more durable fabrics and materials and adding new product lines such as a range of accessories to ensure that our garments stand out in this stiff menswear mid-segment competitive market. “The entire process is monitored by a group of in-house fashion experts who ensure that the latest fashions are delivered to the entire India and Middle East market faster and ontime,” Bandari opines.

Fast spreading retail footprint across India and beyond

Having started with just one EBO in 2000, the brand now boasts of an all India presence with 80 EBO’s, 5,500 MBO’s, 250 shop-inshops and 8 large format stores. “Along with this, we have a global footprint in Dubai and across the Middle East in counties such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait. We have a corporate office in Bengaluru, spread over seven floors to accommodate our employees and our rapid expansion,” Bandari points out.

The brand ventured into e-retailing as it saw significant increase in online shopping in India due to the pandemic. “To provide our customers with a seamless shopping experience, we will soon adopt an omnichannel strategy that will better serve them and boost our sales figures,” he informs.

On recent trends in Indian retail influencing the apparel segment, Bandari says, it’s a whole new world now with the blurring of urban and rural styles of men’s dressing. Post pandemic, omnichannel shopping with customers buying online has been growing rapidly although they still want the physical experience of in-store shopping.

“The Pan America range has it all with formal, casual, and party shirts, formal, casual, designer trousers, jeans, and T-shirts in the mid segment men’s clothing range. Our brand reflects the American philosophy of life of delivering sheer value for money while creating fashion lines with focus on comfort and great quality.”

“Most brands like ours are now adopting the omnichannel approach to deliver the same buying experience across multiple channels at different price points. This demand is more data-driven to tune product development as per changing needs and preferences of consumers.”

Also, the fast fashion model of constantly introducing new styles and trends has led to shorter product lifecycles, making it difficult for brands to forecast demand and manage inventory, he believes. “Consumers are becoming more conscious of the environmental and social impacts of their clothing purchases, leading to a shift towards sustainable and ethically produced apparel.”

Pan America prides itself on the fact that in the last two and a half decades, even as a leader in menswear segment, it has been able to maintain the same starting price for shirts. Even today, one can buy smart shirts at Rs 325 despite the ongoing inflation. Over the years, the brand has seen its popularity growing among professional men who want to look sharp but prioritize comfort and affordability.

Bandari says, the mid-market was a niche segment when the brand first started but its success like many others has helped it establish the mid-segment as a viable and desirable market for both consumers and brands.

“Pan America’s success story has potentially increased accessibility and inclusivity in the fashion industry with more urban and semi-urban professional men being able to afford on-trend clothing.” Having moved on from its original customer target of young men in their 20s, it now caters to a far broader age group, including men in their 30s and 40s with a more versatile product portfolio.

With the strong support of distributors and trade partners along with a strong employee and customer base, the brand’s philosophy of ‘Stronger together always’ is expected to see it through the current turbulent postpandemic years and beyond.

“We always strive to leave a mark with everything we do. Be it through our fashion lines, customer service or innovative products, our brand values are rooted in the American philosophy ‘Life’ which emphasizes the importance of delivering sheer value for money.”

DUKE : Authentic Indian fashion brand, combining casualness and elegance

Duke is a premium lifestyle brand that combines casualness with cool elegance. The company’s values are based on its authentic fashion understanding heritage, dating back to the launch of the brand in 1966. Since then, the brand has been further developed, taking influence from the latest International fashion trends, and is now a truly a pure Indian Fashion Brand with pan India presence. Duke offers full ranges of clothing for men, women, and kids. In addition, it has made deep inroads into the thermal, intimate wear, footwear, and accessories markets as well. The company’s lifestyle store offers a unique blend of global fashions, international trends and innovative customer services, to customers in India and abroad.

Duke’s history began when Komal Kumar Jain started making t-shirts in a small setup in Ludhiana, India. He quickly turned his passion for quality and design into the business of making casual wear. In 2003, his son Kuntal Raj Jain joined the company and retained their father’s dedication to garment craftsmanship and attention to detail. Still today, Komal Kumar Jain is the source of inspiration behind Duke’s core brand values integrity, refinement, character, understanding and optimism. Now Kuntal, the new promoter of the brand, is taking on the challenge and opportunity to turn it into a global brand.

The brand’s philosophy and mission is to provide quality garments with contemporary styling at an affordable price range for the masses and to establish the fact that

Duke products are as contemporary as any international brand and to be termed as Indian Multi-National Brand. The brand’s positioning and USP is that it has always been loved by its consumers for its quality and price. Its USP has always been providing International styles and quality products at a reasonable price, and that’s what it does. All its collections are inspired by international designers and trends. Duke has several firsts to its credit such as pioneering the t-shirt culture in India and being

India’s No.1 t-shirts brand. Its target consumer group has always been the youth, and its products are youthful and trustable when it comes to quality and style. Duke has 8-10% market share in T-shirts and 7-9% of market share in jackets. The brand is run by a team of dedicated professionals who play a very vital role in the company’s success.

The USP of the products is that they use the best quality material, best manufacturing techniques, latest designs, and collections inspired by the international fashion trends and styles. They are skin-friendly and naturefriendly, and the brand believes in sustainable fashion and durable products.

The latest collection launched is the Autumn/ Winter collection inspired by Spain’s fashion and lifestyle culture with various styles having superb fits, international designs, variety of fabrics, and interesting patterns. Duke’s mission is to make available the international designs and styles at an affordable price for the masses.Duke uses an aggressive, digital, organized and tech-based retailing strategy to make our products easily accessible to customers all over India. They have 400 EBOs, over 4000 MBOs, and 500 LFS, as well as a presence on e-business platforms such as Flipkart, Ajio, and Myntra.

“We are constantly working to expand our reach and make our retail strategy stronger and more beneficial to our customers, with plans to open new franchisees and expand to new cities. We are also planning to expand our online presence to make it even more convenient for our customers to shop with us.”, concludes Kuntal Jain. 

Duke has several firsts to its credit such as being India’s No.1 t-shirts brand. Its products are youthful and trustable when it comes to quality and style. Duke has 8-10% market share in T-shirts and 7-9% of market share in jackets.

India’s upcoming Union Budget to relieve textile sector’s stress

India’s major export markets are no longer yielding the profits of past. The government is aware that textile manufacturers across major national hubs have been going through a downturn as pricey cotton forced them cut their production days, affecting cost efficiencies drastically. Being competitive in global economy is the only way for $200 billion apparel and textile sector to survive.

opined that “Our thinking is to avoid inverted duty structure in trade and to make sure that if it is necessary to import raw material, the price should not be excessive, which will make our final product uncompetitive.” The official also added in his statement to the business daily that “We are also taking steps to boost the production of cotton by implementing newer techniques for efficient farming. Branding activity of Indian varieties of cotton, such as ‘Kasturi cotton’ is also taken up in collaboration with the industry, which will have a long-term positive impact on the industry. Free trade agreements, especially with the EU, UK and Australia, will open up large markets for Indian textile products.

Expectations from the government

Being competitive in global economy is the only way for $200 billion apparel and textile sector to survive. With the first flush of postpandemic consumerism on the wane with the Ukraine-Russia war proving to be a huge roadblock to Western economies, India’s major export markets are no longer yielding the profits of past. The government is aware that textile manufacturers across major national hubs have been going through a downturn as pricey cotton forced them cut their production days, affecting cost efficiencies drastically.

In this light, there are positive indications that much-awaited Union Budget 2023-24 will bring a relief to the beleaguered textile sector. The government is expected to improve the textile and apparel sector’s competitiveness for a more restrained Western customer who is now feeling a hard pinch of inflation and recession. As per government reports textile duty adjustments will help make Indian sellers competitive in the Western markets.

Cotton roadblock

From a domestic textile manufacturer’s point of view, expensive Indian cotton is a big cost issue and has affected production lines. Since February 2021, the Indian government had imposed a duty of 11 per

cent on imported cotton, which added to the already “too expensive cotton” woes for the textile manufacturers who relied on imports as cheaper alternatives. This financial year experienced peak prices of Rs 1,00,000.00 per candy. This left local manufacturers seek importing cotton despite the 11 per cent duties and imports of ‘Cotton Raw & Waste’ jumped 260 per cent to $1.3 billion between April and November 2022, compared to $361.83 million during the comparable period a year ago.

Atul S Ganatra, President of the Cotton Association of India, in a recent interview with a leading Indian business daily said the government’s 11 per cent import duty on cotton from 2 February 2021 has drastically eroded the competitiveness of value-added products in the international markets, and the Indian textile industry, which is the second largest employment provider in the country, is now constrained to work with only 50 per cent of its installed capacity. The silver lining for India is the projected increase in cotton production locally in the new cotton season in the first quarter of 2023 which will see prices of raw cotton falling to what is considered a more acceptable price.

On the other hand, export of raw cotton material by India may register a decrease due to global demand for the same weakening. The senior government official quoted earlier also

Several institutions and associations of the Indian textile sector have made recommendations earlier for discussion during the period of pre-budget decision making. One of the most important decisions is for the government to actively promote the production of extra-long-staple cotton (ELS) as currently India imports between 5,00,000 and 6,00,000 bales of 170 kilo bales of ELS, paying an 11 per cent duty.

Outlook for retail in 2023 bright, say experts

The prediction for this upward growth is slated for not only 2023 but for the next decade as India readies itself to become the third largest global economy by 2030. From consumers’ perspective, the drivers of this growth will be led mainly by Gen Z and millennials and the sector is rearranging its offerings and services to cater to the largest consumer segment in India.

India’s retail sector is expected to experience resurgence in growth and buoyancy, and offline shopping would return, feel experts. They predict, unless another wave of the Covid-19 pandemic or a major global recession came in the way, happy days are predicted for this sector which did take a big hit in 2020 and 2021. As India as a nation continues on a growth trajectory that is being hailed by icons of financial institutions including World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, retail sector will flourish and see phenomenal growth in the next three to four years, say industry leaders. The wave of consolidation is likely to hit India’s fast-growing retail industry in 2023 also as larger players seek to strengthen their footprints, leverage technologies to improve efficiency and expand beyond metros. While growth prospects are promising, the industry is entering 2023 with “cautious optimism” amid inflationary headwinds and concerns over spurt in coronavirus cases in different parts of the world.

Outlook for 2023 and beyond

After the retail sector’s major comeback in 2022, the prediction for this upward growth is slated for not only 2023 but for the next decade as India readies itself to become the third largest global economy by 2030. From consumers’ perspective, the drivers of this growth will be led mainly by Gen Z and millennials and the sector is rearranging its offerings and services to cater to the largest consumer segment in India.

Product quality, its provenance in terms of sustainability and premiumisation will play key roles in determining the success of retail brands. The new and most powerful Indian consumer segment is ready to pay more for better products. This is an opportunity for retailers to cash in and deliver. As some experts say, the retail sector is in an enviable position compared to other countries as only a few nations are going to see this kind of success. However, retailers need to envision a large and diverse market like India like the EU which is a cooperation of 30 nations with different attitudes, cultures and requirements. A one coat will fit all will become a thing of the past in India as different states will have to be addressed as different consumer segments. The disparities in financial successes,

development rate and overall opportunities in different states will drive attitudes, cultures and requirements accordingly. Tier II and III cities will also play an important role in retail offerings and the metropolis model may not be applicable without relevant tweaks.

Consultancy EY’s India Leader-Consumer Products & Retail Angshuman Bhattacharya says India seems to be skipping the modern trade wave, with two of the large modern trade chains adopting a path of B2B commerce and kirana integration, with an ambition to create a data-unified retail environment. D2C data, delivery information, and telecom data integration are likely to drive the eventual convergence of offline and online channels towards a “connected commerce” model of tomorrow, he said. According to him, the industry is likely to continue witnessing consolidation, as the scale gets driven through technology-led integration and efficiencies.

As per the Retailers Association of India (RAI) said the retail in the country is expected to grow better than all other key markets across the world. In fact a RAI report had said, Eastern India recorded the highest growth with over 25 per cent jump in July 2022 as compared to July 2019, with South India coming in second with 21 per cent growth. The traditionally more affluent markets of North and Western India witnessed 16 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. The flourishing e-commerce industry is growing at a CAGR of 23 per cent and the new wave of D2C retail in the country, will invariably lead to a greater presence of organized retail players in the near future.

After the lessons the pandemic taught the sector, retailers will continue with their multi-

channel approach and marketplaces such as B2B commerce and D2C, and also focus on diversifying their supply sources. According to retail experts, D2C data, delivery information, and telecom data integration are likely to drive the eventual convergence of offline and online channels towards a “connected commerce” model of the future.

Category indicators from 2022

According to a RAI report for April to November 2022, overall growth rate was 19 per cent. Quick serve restaurants (QSR) and footwear experienced the highest growth with 30 per cent as compared to 2019 whilst beauty and personal care lagged at only 7 per cent growth.

Deloitte India Consulting Partner Rajat Wahi feels, “We are also likely to see continued consolidation in retail, with many smaller and less profitable retailers exiting the business in favour of more efficient and larger players who are able to leverage technology to drive efficiency across their retail operations, expanding beyond metros and Tier I cities to Rurban/Tier II, III and IV cities.” According to Wahi, the retail industry is also likely to see more tech adoption in stores to track the customer journey, from search and discovery to selection and checkout.

Bhattacharya says in the apparel and lifestyle segment, traditional EBO (Exclusive Brand Outlet) based models are transforming into the ‘store of the future’ models with virtual and endless aisles, online catalogues and trials, try-at-home, and delivery to home. “These may allow for more profitable scale-up of retail players, with lower burdens of rentals, manpower and working capital.”

Consumption is back on track, brands to gain

As per a prediction by the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), a trust established by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the golden age of retail is here as the sector is poised for mega growth. Valued at $0.8 trillion two years ago, it is expected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030. Today, India is regarded as the fifth-largest place for investing in retail space. Accounting for 8 per cent of India’s work force and 10 per cent of its GDP, retail in India is not only showing its dynamism in growth but also a lucrative area for investment.

Key drivers fuelling growth

Government’s policy support has been a welcome incentive. As per these policies, about 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail and 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail through the automatic route are being implemented. The government approved a PLI scheme in April 2022 and the beneficiary is the textile sector. This scheme will enormously boost the sector’s manufacturing and export capabilities. The approved financial outlay stands at Rs 10,683 crores. The proof of the sector’s attractiveness is evident with the increase in the entry of foreign retailers entering the market. IBEF states, the cumulative FDI inflows stood at $588.53 billion between April 2000-March 2022 and India’s retail trading sector attracted $3.96 billion FDIs between

April 2020 and March 2022. Additionally, innovative financial solutions between retailers and Indian financial institutions that offer easy credit are driving consumer demand for durables. And as per the Retailers Association of India (RAI), the retail industry achieved 96 per cent of preCOVID-19 sales in September 2021, driven by the rising demand from consumers.

Consumer consumption fuelled by love for brands

As India’s middle-class grows and virgin territories of India’s retail markets remain untapped, international retail giants are zooming in on them, making their presence felt in these untapped markets. This in turn is helping local retail sector grow quickly. Urban India is spending more on its love for branded products across the board – clothes, accessories, footwear, jewellery et al. All these are evolving as business and lifestyle categories, seen as attractive by urban consumers spread across Tier I, II cities. Soon, India is expected to displace the US to become the second largest online market after China. Predictions are, Indian logistics companies will have the capabilities of delivering 2.5 billion D2C shipments by 2030. The e-commerce boom has been an unprecedented one. Although faced with daunting challenges due to the pandemic and subsequent global economic slowdown,

India continues its consumption well. Growing purchasing power, accessibility to a plethora of products and services, awareness and a change in attitude towards lifestyle are key drivers – household consumption in India stood at Rs 140 trillion in 2021.

Well-known success stories

One the big corporate success stories of Indian retail is the Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL). A 411 per cent in consolidated profit of Rs 29.44 crores in the Q2 FY23 was attributed to a fantastic festive season and unabated flow from its e-commerce platforms. Compared to this year, last year’s net profit for Q2 was a mere Rs 5.09 crores. Avenue Supermarts, the company operating the D Mart supermarket chain is another shining retail story. The company reported a robust 63 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit at the end of Q2 FY 23 at Rs 730.48 crores. It has earned the distinction of being India’s most profitable low-cost retailer that is helping shift Indian retail from the unorganized to the organized sector.

Long identified as a write-off, Bata India has recovered and come in to play, riding the wave of India’s retail success. Net profit in Q2 FY 23 rose 47.44 per cent at a consolidated net profit of Rs 54.82 crores.

Indeed, its happy times for this vast category as it continues rolling into a future of promise and profits. 

The golden age of retail is here as the sector is poised for mega growth. Valued at $0.8 trillion two years ago, it is expected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030. Today, India is regarded as the fifth-largest lucrative place for investment, showing its dynamism in growth

Non-metros lead in retail growth with brands expanding presence

India is seeing doubling of retail space. Tier II, III cities like Baroda, Indore, Nagpur, and Udaipur are going to see new malls with an area of approximately 2.50 million sq. ft. added to their current portfolio. FMCG market in Tier II and III cities are expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.6 per cent between 2016 and 2025.

The Indian economy sustained itself throughout the pandemic and the recent financial upheavals plaguing most of the world thanks to the aftermath of Covid 19 and conflict in Ukraine. India remained stable only because its domestic market provided the much-needed resilience. Not a surprise, as indicators point out that much of the domestic market resilience was contributed by the country’s Tier II and II cities which promise the potential of enormous socioeconomic growth. Mindsets are changing as these cities become attractive alternatives to work and live in when compared to metros heaving with population, congestion, high levels of pollution and expensive living. The country has an impressive lineup of these cities where residential and commercial real estate are experiencing a phenomenal boom as is retail and lifestyle products – Ahmadabad, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Bhopal, Indore, Kochi, Amritsar, Goa, Guwahati, Jaipur, Agra, Coimbatore among others.

Reputable and premium development boosts growth

Well-known Indian developers have realized

the potential as Covid-19 introduced the hybrid and work from home models that made relocating to Tier II, III cities with their affordable cost of living attractive. Migration from metros has not only begun, trends indicate that this is going to continue. State governments have focused on developing infrastructure not only comparable to metros but in some cases, even better. Developers are providing metro quality facilities in their commercial and residential projects that make life easier for the metro migrants.

In the last few years, Lucknow is the epitome of the arrival of non-metros as key hubs of India. Having expanded its periphery, it has become a very attractive investment hub that has acquired millions from new businesses and established corporations that realize its potential.

Now, UP’s capital is a connecting link between the other cities and towns of the state and the National Capital Region. Kochi and Amritsar are already well established international tourist destinations with modern international airports, like Lucknow. Indore and Ludhiana have become an integral part of India’s multi-modal logistics network, contributing to the domestic supply chain.

Entry of malls and brands

A report by Anarock Property Consultants had predicted India would see doubling of retail space this year and this is coming true. Tier II, III cities like Baroda, Indore, Nagpur, and Udaipur are going to see new malls with an area of approximately 2.50 million sq. ft. added to their current portfolio. Lulu has already charted out its success story in Lucknow , Kochi and plans for Ahmadabad. Other mega names such as Raheja Corp, Phoenix and Nexus have new large-scale expansion in Tier II and III cities. Reputation Today released a report in the first quarter of 2022 stating that the FMCG market in Tier II and III cities are expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.6 per cent between 2016 and 2025.

During the pandemic, e-commerce changed the rules of the game as smaller cities experienced easy access to national and international brands hitherto only available in metros. Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo are perfect examples of international brands seizing the goldmine that is Tier II, III India. Both brands have preferred to expand in these cities rather than jostle it out in overcrowded metros with a multitude of well established brands. 

Fashion drives India’s e-commerce boom, young millennials lead retail

A recent Bain & Co. report projected for the next five years states, India will experience an annual growth rate of 25 to 30 per cent in online shopping. This phenomenal success story is being led by young consumers categorized as young millennial and Gen Z as they are natural inhabitants of the digital world and see no problem in living their fashion desires from online shopping.

The pandemic-induced lockdown has catapulted online shopping for garments and accessories to a huge business for the fashion sector. As a great leveler, fashion became accessible beyond metros and Tier I cities, reaching out to larger consumer groups with purchase power in Tier II, III cities where many brands did not have a physical presence. Traditionalists may have spoken about the advantage of tangible experience of shopping in a physical store, engaging ones senses of sight and touch, the success story of online shopping begs to differ to these pundits. What’s more, smart use of social media, technology and rich content, brought to life clothes and accessories for a customer to make a purchase decision. To corroborate this fact, many reputable brands have disclosed figures.

Gen Z takes the lead in online shopping

Puma for instance relies on online shopping for half its sales whilst H&M, Woodlands, Marks & Spencer and Arvind Fashions (Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Arrow and U.S. Polo Assn.) attribute online sales as 42 per cent, 35 per cent, 25 per cent and 26 per cent respectively.

This phenomenal success story is being led by young consumers categorized as young millennial and Gen Z as they are natural inhabitants of the digital world and see no problem in living their fashion desires from online shopping. Many fashion and accessories brands are leveraging the popularity of e-platforms like Amazon, Myntra, Ajio and Flipkart to channel their sales whilst the big brands not only use these platforms but also offer their own branded e-stores.

Surprisingly, India’s department store chains are yet to experience the success story as substantially as individual brands. Westside, Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle have reported positive growth but currently online sales contribute only between 6 to 10 per cent.

Growing online fashion marketplaces

As India surges ahead with the introduction of indigenous 5G network, online and smartphone penetration across the country is continually

growing. Fashion marketplaces have become immensely popular after Myntra revolutionized this channel. Reliance’s Ajio and Tata’s Cliq are also catching up and consistently growing market share. Unhindered by individual brand guidelines, these e-commerce fashion sites are agile, quick to respond and provide customized portfolios for individual shoppers that have proven to be a winning strategy. Additionally, these marketplaces with their

huge portfolio of brands don’t get as impacted on fickle brand loyalty.

Unprecedented growth of e-commerce

A recent Bain & Co. report projected for the next five years states, India will experience an annual growth rate of 25 to 30 per cent in online shopping. If this projections turns out to be true, India will then nudge the US out to become the world’s second largest online shopping market by 2024. In 2021, the Indian online shopper base was between 180 and 190 million. By 2027, the figures would read 400 to 450 million and valued at $150 billion. In 2022, the value is $50 billion, up 40 per cent compared to 2021. As online became the dominant channel and continue through 2022, many brands are now dedicating exclusive online collections and products that cater to a wider segment across price points.

Online shopping has spread across categories such as groceries, personal electronic devices, pharmaceuticals, etc but it is still the fashion sector that retains its pole position as the driver of India’s e-commerce boom.

What is triggering Indian corporates to get into designers’ space?

As per Edelweiss, the ethnic wear market in India is pegged at $20 billion, of which 70 percent is unorganized and this is the segment that the big retailers are tapping. As the corporates are tieingup with design house and are creating bridges between high-end luxury and pret-a-port lines, more Indians will be wearing designer brands.

was started by ABFRL when in 2019 it acquired a 51 percent stake in designers Shantanu & Nikhil’s company Finesse International Design. It has quickly followed this with tieups last year that includes a 51 percent stake in designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s fashion house as well as establishing a new company with designer Tarun Tahiliani which launched a contemporary men’s ethnic wear brand called Tasva, and together they have a goal of selling Rs 500 crore worth of men’s ethnic clothes and accessories in five years. Now ABFRL’s latest is, its 51percent stake in House of Masaba Lifestyle, owned by designer Masaba Gupta. This brand is planning to achieve annual revenues of around Rs 500 crore in the next five years with a product portfolio that will include everything from garments and accessories to lifestyle products while focusing on building a huge domestic brand for the new generation of digital-first customers.

Smooth transition from western to Indian designer brands

ith the only thing constant in life being change, there’s a brand new trend in the Indian fashion industry that is changing the dynamics of business houses. Fashion designers are now tying up with big corporate houses, as just designing and selling couture is no longer enough and they desperately need to expand their customer base with more accessible price points supported by a wider product portfolio and distribution network. Currently, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL) and Reliance Brands Ltd (RBL), are betting huge on Indian designers with a number of tie-ups with renowned designers, and legacy brands to jumpstart their global and domestic marketing and distribution networks by joining forces with leading retail companies.

WRBI and ABFRL ties up with various design houses

Earlier in 2022, RBL had bought a 51 percent majority stake in couture brand Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla and all their supplementary offerings, which included GULABO by Abu Sandeep, ASAL by Abu Sandeep and MARD by Abu Sandeep. After that Jani and Khosla have become the newest additions to an impressive line-up for Reliance who have tied up with renowned designers such as Satya Paul, Raghavendra Rathore, Ritu Kumar, Anamika Khanna, Manish Malhotra, Rahul Mishra, and Abraham & Thakore among others. Around six of these partnerships took place in just the past year proving that this trend is here to stay in the long run. RBL has entered into a partnership with Rahul Mishra into a 60:40 joint venture to create a new ready-to-wear brand.The collaboration trend

Although ABFRL and RBL have specialized in western wear brands for many years, they are now interested in Indian designers mainly due to the affordability factor. ABFRL owns and markets huge brand names such as Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, and Allen Solly while RBL, as part of Reliance Industries, has partnered with more than 60 global brands including Burberry, Coach, Jimmy Choo, Diesel, and Michael Kors, among others. But unlike the men’s western wear market, there are various Indian designers who have a versatile product portfolio, and since these brands are reasonably priced, it makes sense to enter into a partnership or even acquire them

As per Edelweiss, the ethnic wear market in India is pegged at $20 billion, of which 70 percent is unorganized and this is the segment that the big retailers are tapping. Industry experts are of the opinion that may be after 10-20 years, some of the big corporate houses will acquire the smaller design companies fully or tie up with the bigger names. As the corporates continue their tie-ups with design house and create a bridge between high-end luxury and pret-a-port lines, more Indians will be wearing designer brands.

New technologies and players set e-com for bigger play

Number of shoppers in India is likely to grow to 400 million-450 million by 2027 from 180 million-190 million in 2021. As per estimates India’s e-commerce market is expected to reach $111 billion by 2024, $200 billion by 2026 and $350 billion by 2030.

India is the cynosure of all things digital and it doesn’t come as a surprise that the country is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets. According to eMarketer, thanks to an increase in retailers joining online shopping ranks, India is boomtown for e-commerce with annual online sales in 2021 having reached $ 67.5 billion and the projected increase in 2022 was 21 per cent reaching $ 74.8 billion.

A report published in October 2022 by Flipkart and Bain & Co, ‘How India Shops Online 2022’, says the number of shoppers in India is likely to grow to 400 million-450 million by 2027 from 180 million-190 million in 2021. As per estimates by India Brand Equity Foundation, India’s e-commerce market is expected to reach $111 billion by 2024, $200 billion by 2026 and $350 billion by 2030.

Recent rise in digital literacy has led to an influx of investment in e-commerce firms, leveling the market for new players to set up their base, while churning out innovative patterns to disrupt old functioning. Giants like Amazon and Flipkart are getting a run for their money by local conglomerates, innovative startups and the Indian government backed ONDC.

Expanding consumer base

Indian consumers are adopting 5G smartphones even before the rollout of nextgen mobile broadband technology in the country. Smartphone shipments reached 150 million units and 5G smartphone shipments crossed four million in 2020, driven by high consumer demand post-lockdown.

Big growth for India-based platforms

As per a Statista report on 2021 performance of reputable Indian e-commerce platforms based on net sales, Tata’s bigbasket.com had the biggest lead with $1,222 million with Relaince’s Ajio a close second at $1.119 million, Reliance.com at $752 million, Grofers. com now known as blinkit.com at $350 million and Nykaa at $ 87 million. The success of these home-grown platforms lies in the outreach to not only value-for-money metrobased consumers but more importantly to Tier II, III cities. An example of a local success story is Meesho that focuses on Tier II and III cities and beyond. During the festive season,

Meesho overtook Amazon in recording the second-highest number of orders. This demonstrated how a massive opportunity for growth exists beyond the Indian metros.

2022 saw big opportunities

In January 2022, Walmart invited Indian sellers to join its US market place aiming at $10 billion exports from India each year by 2027. In the same month, Flipkart announced expansion of its grocery services and to offer services in 1,800 Indian cities. In February, Flipkart launched the “sell back program” to enable trade in smartphones, Amazon India launched One district One product (ODOP) bazaar on its platform to support MSMEs and Xpressbees a logistics ecommerce platform become a unicorn valued at $1.2 billion in 2022. The firm raised $300 million in its Series F funding. In June, Amazon India signed an MoU with Manipur Handloom & Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited (MHHDCL), a Government of Manipur Enterprise to support the growth of artisans and weavers across the state.

These opties are just the tip of the iceberg, and as 5G technology takes off, ecommerce in India can look forward to newer growth stories and higher achievements. 

The five largest e-commerce hubs in the country are: Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

CHAMPIONS portal to strengthen India’s MSMEs, textiles sector to gain

This sector boasts of 63 million units and employs 110 million workers. As per the government, MSMEs require all the support to help India become a $ 5 trillion economy. The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises launched the CHAMPIONS portal which stands for Creation and Harmonious Application of Modern Processes for Increasing the

In India, MSMEs contribute about 30 per cent to its GDP but have not yet received due recognition or support to strengthen itself to be more competitive and increase its contribution to the national GDP. This sector boasts of 63 million units and employs 110 million workers. As per the government, MSMEs require all the support to help India become a $ 5 trillion economy. The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises launched the CHAMPIONS portal which stands for Creation and Harmonious Application of Modern Processes for Increasing the Output and National Strength.

It was time to create a single window system for this sector. Therefore, CHAMPIONS has been put and promoted as a unified, empowering, bundled and technology-driven platform to handhold, and solve problems,

roadblocks and grievances. CHAMPIONS have set three key objectives. The first one is to aid MSMEs in difficult situations in terms of finance, raw material sourcing, labour, permissions, etc. The second objective is to help MSMEs to find new opportunities in manufacturing and services sectors. The third objective is to identify the star MSMEs who can demonstrate resilience during this tough economic time and grow to become domestic and international champions.

One of the key sectors that have outshone others and registered tremendous growth is the textile and apparel MSMEs.

Haryana to enhance its textile MSMEs

The state government plans to promote its textile industry, mainly MSMEs, through its Haryana Atmanirbhar Textile Policy of 2022. The policy has already been placed in the

cabinet for approval and will be implemented before 2025, with the state government targeting an investment worth Rs. 40,000 million and creating 20,000 jobs for the state’s youth. The Haryana Atmanirbhar Textile Policy includes entrepreneurship expansion, investment, employment generation, grants, textile parks and supply chains. In the field of textile MSMEs, Haryana has carved itself amongst the top three states and is also one of top Indian states for ease of doing business. The policy will pay particular attention to developing synthetic fibre and regenerated fibre to meet domestic and international demand. The policy has also engaged with the National Technical Textiles Mission as it wants aggressively promote the manufacture of technical textiles in Haryana as the demand for this particular textile is growing rapidly worldwide.

Walmart, Flipkart and NSIC to unlock export potential

The National Small Industries Corporation was partnered by Walmart and Flipkart to speed up the Indian MSMEs in the retail sector to expand their output capacities. The aim is for these MSMEs to leverage the export potential factor and become a part of the retail supply chain for both, the domestic and international markets. In a recently held summit that marked the completion of Walmart Vriddhi Supplier Development Programme by 20,000 Indian MSMEs, the three entities signed the agreement of development. A senior US-based Walmart spokesperson stated the organisation was committed to triple its exports by 2027 to $ 10 billion per annum and therefore are keen to support the rapid development of India’s retail MSME sector.

In a statement issued by Flipkart’s Chief of Corporate Affairs, the organisation identified technology and innovation playing a crucial in the growth of small businesses in India. It will focus on helping MSMEs through the paces of digitisation so they can enhance their outreach and growth through e-commerce. This will enable small businesses artisans and weavers across the country expand their business like never before.

Output and National Strength.

Eco consciousness drives brands, startups to ramp up clothing repairs business

Secondhand resale is by far the hottest segment in the global fashion market. Over the next five years, apparel resale is expected to grow more than three times faster than the primary market, from $96 billion in 2021 to $218 billion by 2026” cites the latest Thredup Resale Report.

The conscious consumer is driving a change in how clothing is used as a sustainable lifestyle. It’s not just cocktail chatter but a reality as investors have started pouring millions of dollars into start-ups that offer repairing services for clothes, bags, shoes and other accessories. Similarly, a large number of brands have jumped into repairing as a part of their portfolio of services as well. However, this relatively new service can only be scalable and profitable if tricky and costly logistics and workforce challenges are met. Tech platforms aimed at helping brands and consumers rejuvenate old clothes and battered handbags have attracted millions of dollars in investment over the last year.

Repairing attract startups attention

What is really driving this business? For one, EU, the 27-member bloc has outlined an ambitious policy strategy that aims to curb the industry’s environmental impact and address labor abuses. The EU’s sustainable textile strategy aims to transform the industry

by the end of the decade. It includes plans to encourage circularity, crack down on greenwashing and create more accountability for textile waste. The roadmap for regulation sets the agenda more broadly as fashion faces mounting scrutiny from regulators globally.

The second growth contributor is the rental business that was crushed during the twoyear long pandemic. As social events gain momentum, rentals are slowly clambering out of the hole they had fallen into. The third is turning into a big business – the business of resale. Secondhand fashion has existed for decades, primarily in thrift and vintage stores but the advent of online resale platforms has led to a step change in how used items can be bought and sold.

Since 2019, there have been at least 13 new resale entrants, six new resale-as-a-service launches and 14 major brand partnerships. A new report from Business of Fashion Insights reveals just five to seven per cent of resalable fashion is currently being bought and sold on resale platforms, resulting in an estimated $2.1 trillion of fashion sitting untapped in closets around the world. The latest Thredup Resale

Report cites “Secondhand resale is by far the hottest segment in the global fashion market. Over the next five years, apparel resale is expected to grow more than three times faster than the primary market, from $96 billion in 2021 to $218 billion by 2026.

Indian designers join the fray

Designer Nimish Shah, creative director, Bhaane and one of the first designers in Indian fashionscape to focus on conscious design believess, all luxury watches offer repair services – then why not clothes? Inspired by the trend across the globe, Ujjwal Dubey, founder of Antar-Agni launched ‘Restore Love’, the label’s restore and repair service. He points out, the world has been obsessed with owning more and throwing the old away, a direct affront to oldest Indian values of saving and passing on. Restore Love was born out of a demand for course correction that nature sets in front of us.

With climate change and demand for more, scrutiny of wasteful usage, the fashion industry has indeed woken up to a whole new reality. 

Caprese launches designer bags with Manish Malhotra

Caprese has launched a collection of limited edition luxe bags in partnership with fashion designer Manish Malhotra.

The limited-edition range includes five pieces that have been created using crystals, sparkling tassels, and sequins. With this latest collection, Caprese expects to make inroads in the luxury accessories segment and expects strong sales during the upcoming festive season. The collection blends fashion and functionality. The bags make a unique style statement.

company will have all its products certified by the Vegan Society by the end of 2023.

India is the fourth biggest beauty and personal care market globally in terms of revenue. The Indian beauty and personal care market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 6.5 per cent in the period between 2022 to 2027. Apart from bigger companies such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble and L’Oreal, there is a flux of other players such as Revlon, Mama Earth, Sugar, Lotus Herbals and MyGlamm pushing sales either through stores, multi-brand platforms like Nykaa or their own direct-to-consumer channels.

Language’s handcrafted footwear uses the finest materials

Caprese is the handbag and accessories brand from VIP Industries.Caprese includes women’s travel luggage in addition to women’s hand bags.The recently launched range is available on the brand’s online portal and at various physical points of sale across the country. The move comes as a recognition of the dearth of offering in the luggage category that is specifically developed to appeal to modern women. It is this gap in the market which VIP is now addressing with luggage that is visibly differentiated and created to appeal to women of today who consider their luggage as an extension and reflection of their evolved persona rather than just a utilitarian product.

Increasingly women are looking for products that are a marvelous blend of both fashion and functionality. This new range of women’s luggage is a fashionable travel partner for this modern woman. The products are not only visually different but have features more conducive to women’s packing needs.

The Body Shop hopes to double Indian business

The Body Shop hopes to double the India business in three years. The UK’s beauty products company sees India as among its fastest growing market thanks to a young population and a growing middle class.

India is now among its top five markets in terms of annual sales. The Body Shop has 200 stores in India and plans to add another 100 stores by 2025. The company is also pushing its e-com business which is now 25 per cent of its annual sales, compared to ten per cent pre-Covid, and is adopting an omni-channel approach. Globally, as in India, The Body Shop operates on a franchise model. The beauty

Language’s footwear for women is handcrafted using the finest materials. The Isa sandal is made from flat grain and has a floral leather upper. The sandal can be paired with denims or smart casuals for work and is available in a bold navy blue with a beautiful floral print. The Delaney sandal is accented by a gun metal buckle, making these slip-ons just as classy as they are comfortable. Available in a pure white, the Delaney is perfect for every contemporary woman. The Lilith Ballerina is highlighted by chic golden trims and comes in an aesthetic pink. It is the go-to footwear for all formal and casual events. The fashionable Quinn sandal iscrafted from suede upper and an Eva sole. These sandals are just as easy to wear as they are stylish and are leather lined with a cushioned footbed and two elastic straps. The Quinn is available in an eyecatching redand is not only a perfect fit for a variety of occasions but is also a must-have in an everyday wardrobe.

Language Shoes is an Indian footwear and accessories brand offering a full range of leather products. It has men’s and women’s shoes, bags, and accessories. Language ensures that only the best goes into the making of any of its products by producing most of the raw materials in-house.

FASHION & LIFESTYLE

Trident bed linen has allergen protection

Trident’s new bed linen has been manufactured with allergen protection developed by HeiQ.

HeiQ is a company based in Switzerland. Trident has used Allergen Tech, a textile technology developed by HeiQ. HeiQ Allergen Tech is 100 percent bio-based, can be added during the finishing stage of the textile manufacturing process and helps to reduce inanimate allergens such as house dust mite matter and pet allergens. HeiQ Allergen Tech is highly effective in reducing the levels of house dust mite matter, allergens from dog hair and cat hair.

Trident, which exports its products to 150 countries, always strives to develop the best products with cutting-edge technology. The collaboration with HeiQ represents another momentous milestone in the company’s journey. The three keys for Trident’s product introductions are utility, comfort and sustainability. From using fibers made from recycled materials to making products with the finest cottons like Supima and Egyptian, Trident has been constantly raising the bar year after year.

Trident is a vertically integrated textile (yarn, bath and bed linen) and paper (wheat straw-based) manufacturer and is one of the largest players in the home textile space in India. The company operates in two major business segments, textiles and paper, with its manufacturing facilities located in Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.

Baggit enters low priced segment

Handbag brand Baggit will compete with the huge unbranded segment. With this in view Baggit has launched Enoki, which will offer reliable quality handbags at low price points.

The unbranded segment offers very attractive price points but is plagued on the quality front. There is no concept of guarantee or warranties. Brands hesitate to enter this segment with a quality branded option.It is estimated that for every branded handbag sold, there are over 30 unbranded bags sold.

Enoki prices start at as low as Rs 499 for a handbag but it provides the much-needed assurance to customers with a six month warranty. Enoki offers superlative quality in a segment that has never heard of warranties. The plan is to launch a few new collections under Enoki and promote it in a much bigger way. Enoki is available online on Myntra, Ajio, Amazon, Flipkart, Limeroad, Snapdeal and offline in retail stores like Spencers and Reliance Trends. The plan is to also open kiosks/exclusive stores in malls and strategic locations. Mrunal Thakur is the brand ambassador for Enoki.

Baggit which opened about 30 years ago is the largest-selling handbag brand in the country and has a powerful online and offline retail presence.

Asics loves what it sees of India

of the business coming digitally this year, as the products are getting sold in Tier II, III and IV towns of India as well.

The company is looking to add about 20 more stores this year. Asics has plans to expand apparel production in India and would also look at making it an export hub for Asics subsidiaries, going forward. Additionally, the company is also looking at digitalisation of its retail stores to increase consumer engagement.

Liberty enters premium lifestyle

Asics sees huge possibilities in the Indian market. The Japanese sportswear brand is looking to focus on promoting the running culture in India.

At present, Asics is doing some manufacturing of apparel and footwear in India, and in terms of business, 25 per cent of its revenues are coming from products produced in India, with both footwear and apparels combined. Currently, the company’s footwear manufacturing facility is located in Dehradun and the apparel is produced in a factory close to Delhi.

Asics operates with 81 company-owned stores spread pan-India, with majority of them in the north, south and western parts of the country and some in the east. It is also present across multi-brand stores with 700 point of sales. The company has a significant digital presence as well, with more than 40 per cent

Liberty has been one of the favourite footwear brands of India for many decades. Liberty is successfully capturing the markets of Tier II and Tier III cities of the North.

In the south, Karnataka, to be precise, is the top most buyer of Liberty. There are several brands within Liberty, all of them doing well in providing their consumers with suitable, comfortable, stylish and affordable footwear. However, with the athleisure style dominating the markets these days, Leap7X, its athleisure brand for men, women and children, has been doing extremely well along with the Healers category in the recent past.

Liberty had always been perceived as a value-for-money family footwear brand but it is now perceived as a premium lifestyle brand characterized by the latest trends, class and good taste. Liberty shoes are retailed in 25 countries.

An interactive relationship has been established through periodic channel partner meets that has given a big boost to sales and greatly benefited the partners. The key focus areas for the brand right now are product development, youthful designs, manufacturing, marketing strategies and opening more stores.

One of Liberty’s top performing brands is Healers, which is based on enriching the comfort of the consumer by constructing the footwear with the latest comfort technologies. These technologies are primarily designed to provide stimulation to specific nerves and major pressure points. Healers are specially crafted to stimulate these particular points in order to improve the blood circulation of the wearer for specific body parts and increase the flow of blood to these areas.

Big brands fight it out in the post-pandemic playground

With the onset of 2023, the apparel industry is focussing on changing the customer landscape based on buying preferences and current revenue models in both online and offline shopping. In offline sales, the next generation of brand retail stores is becoming more high-tech and aesthetically appealing while moving from being just a point of sale to a total retail experience while the same is happening in online 3D visual shopping experience.

Current retail scenario

The online Indian retail market in India is estimated to be 25 per cent of the total organized retail segment and is expected to reach 37 per cent by 2030. Fashion, personal

• India’s retail market is expected to touch $1.7 trillion by the end of this decade

• Online retail market is expected to reach 37 per cent by 2030

• Retailers and mall developers saw 15-20 per cent growth in end-of-season sales this year

• With over two lakh weddings this season, the ethnic wear market seen a surge after two years

care and grocery are expected to account for around two-thirds of e-retail market. Among these, both apparel and footwear is expecting favourable growth environment with improvements in distribution and retail channels.The world of retail has undergone a massive paradigm shift due to digital shopping and supply chain transformations and evolving

customer demand. Customers expect omnipresence from retailers and brands as they want to be able to reach brands whenever and from wherever. And in this hypercompetitive market, brands that are capable of providing convenience, choice and experience to their customers have a better chance of winning the customer acquisition race.

As per Pallab Roy, Partner, Business Consulting KPMG- India, India’s retail market size is expected to touch $1.7 trillion by the end of this decade. With India being the 5th largest economy in the world, the potential of its retail market is greater than ever. Additionally, we have the second-largest number of internet users and the third-largest number of e-com users in the world. “Roughly 25-30 per cent of our mobile-using populace actively shops on the internet, making current market trends most suitable for Indian retail brands,” Roy highlighted at a recent ETRetailSalesforce roundtable conference.

Online retail turns lucrative for most brands

As per an IBEF study in December 2022 and TRAI data of October 2022, India’s e-commerce market was estimated at $75 billion in 2022, and has the potential to grow to $111 billion by 2024 and $200 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 20-22 per cent.

During and after the Covid years, online shopping has grown beyond expectations. There are now stringent regulatory measures to prevent monopolistic and anti-competitive behaviour and control unfair trade practices in this segment, just like their offline counterparts.

In the fashion space, Amazon and Flipkart have almost 60 per cent market share,

although there is now increasing competition from new entrants like Meesho and Nykaa. Big Indian retail giants like the Tatas and Reliance Industries are slowly increasing their presence in the garment and related accessories e-commerce segment alongside their usual groceries and home-related products. India’s social commerce Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) is expected to reach $20 billion by 2026, with a potential reach of $70 billion by 2030.

Both big and small apparel retail brands are going all out to leverage both offline and online models of commerce to increase their market share. Meanwhile retailers have welcomed the incorporation of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) by the government which aims to create an interoperable network for digital commerce and give a necessary push to the Indian e-retail ecosystem.

Winter portfolio propels brand sales

As per recent analysis by Unicommerce, an integrated SaaS platform that works with some of the leading fashion brands of India,

this winter has enabled online fashion industry to grow at 16.4 per cent YoY in order volumes from November and December 2022 over 2021. This growth is attributed to many factors that include evolving consumer behaviour and the rising adoption of e-commerce in the smaller cities.

The accessories and footwear segments have shown tremendous growth of 41.2 percent and 41.7 percent YoY respectively this winter season over last year with growth in fashion accessories being driven by rising consumer interest in products such as perfumes, watches, belts, hats, jewellery, and hair accessories among others. Boots and sneakers along with bags and wallets did well this season with the sharp fall in temperatures along with the wedding and festive party season in full-swing after the two Covid years.

The apparel segment accounts for the majority of e-commerce orders and has seen strong growth of 11.5 percent YoY in winter season. Winter garment products such as sweatshirts, hoodies, jackets and pullovers along with accessories such as caps, mufflers and scarves did extremely well at the cost of summer items such as T-shirts, shirts, tops, and crop tops in the top wear category. The bottom wear segment also witnessed a 10.4 percent YoY growth with denim jeans, track pants, and leggings being the favourite shopped items.

Meanwhile retailers and mall developers say they saw 15-20 per cent growth in endof-season sales this year. End-of-season sales (EOSS), which started at the end of December and continues till the first week of February, have witnessed 15-20 per cent growth, according to retailers and mall developers. Footfalls have also witnessed an increase at both malls and retail outlets. Indeed, the late arrival of winter did dampen sales in December but January helped push sales. Lifestyle Retail chain Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Devarajan Iyer says sales had picked up this month. “The sale season

As per recent analysis by Unicommerce, an integrated SaaS platform that works with some of the leading fashion brands of India, this winter has enabled online fashion industry to grow at 16.4 per cent YoY in order volumes from November and December 2022 over 2021.

started slightly late in December than the previous end-of-season sale because the onset of winter was delayed by a few weeks. In January we saw terrific demand and now we are seeing strong double-digit growth.”

Cantabil Retail, which sells apparel, also saw double-digit increase in sales and footfalls against last year. “We have received a phenomenal response from our consumers across the country. We have witnessed an increase of 17 per cent in sales and 14 per cent in footfalls than we did last year,” said Deepak Bansal, Director, Cantabil Retail India. “The harsh winter in North India has, in fact, helped Cantabil as our winter wear collection is very popular among consumers and we saw a steep spike in sales during this period. In terms of inventories, yes, they were slightly higher by around 15 per cent during early EOSS days than the regular days.”

Rajesh Jain, MD and CEO of Lacoste India, which sells polo neck T-shirts with the crocodile logo, said the brand had seen its sales go up in double digits over prepandemic days. “We have seen a growth rate of 15-20 per cent in sales this end of season compared to pre-pandemic days. It could have been higher if the north didn’t see such harsh winters. Markets in the West and South are doing well,” Jain said.

Meanwhile Infiniti Mall, which runs two malls in Mumbai, saw its sales pick up in comparison to pre-Covid days. “The response to this sale season has been optimistic and

has gained momentum, considering the last festive weekend of Sankranti. EOSS is witnessing 15-20 per cent growth in trading density as compared to 2019. Understanding the growth in customer expectations, various brands across categories at Infiniti Mall are offering up to 50 per cent (discount) for over three weeks, ensuring that our patrons make the most of the sale period,” said Gaurav Balani, deputy general manager (marketing), Infiniti Mall.

Select CityWalk in New Delhi witnessed robust sales and strong footfalls due to demand for winter wear going up. “This endof-season sale is going well and we have witnessed strong demand for winter wear at our mall,” said Yogeshwar Sharma, CEO of Select Citywalk.

Big global brands look for India foothold

While many global brands have already consolidated their position in the country, many new fashion brands are opening up shop in India with all-new collections straight off the European catwalks. Gap for example has tied up with Reliance Retail as the official retailer across all channels in India through a mix of exclusive brand stores, multi-brand store expressions and digital commerce platforms. Recently, Myntra also bagged the rights to distribute the American fashion giant Bebe as the sole distributor in the country.

As a first for the Bestseller India Group, its partnership with Trell has marked the fashion company’s entry into the social commerce sector in India. Having launched the big European fashion brands Jack & Jones, Vero Moda and Only on its platform in the mass premium segment, more international brands are being added to its massive portfolio of 1,000+ brands in beauty and fashion which generates $85.6 million every year.

The Swedish retail giant H&M India which has around 50 stores in India since its foray in 2015 and remains India’s largest fast fashion brand by revenue, recently launched H&M Home which has a wide range of homeware as more and more middle-class Indians aim

Meanwhile retailers and mall developers say they saw 15-20 per cent growth in end-of-season sales this year. End-of-season sales (EOSS), which started at the end of December and continues till the first week of February, have witnessed 15-20 per cent growth, according to retailers and mall developers. Footfalls have also witnessed an increase at both malls and retail outlets.

for an aspirational living of global standards.

In sportswear, PUMA launched a mobile shopping app in India to further enhance its digital offerings for consumers with features, such as virtual try-on and 3D animations. The company’s rival Nike too has been doing well in India along with Decathlon India, known majorly for its apparel and sportswear as health and wellness have become priority segments after Covid.

Ethnic wear surpasses sales of previous two years

Winter is also a time for numerous weddings in India, with an estimated two lakh weddings this wedding season, demand for ethnic wear and wedding clothes saw significant rise and is equal to the pre-Covid era. That has driven many brands to plan opening experiential stores in the smaller cities. With a continuous increase in demand and traction towards the Indian wear category, most ethnic wear brands are expecting to grow in the premium segment during this festive wedding season.

Brands like Fab India have launched more diversified ethnic kids wear segment along with launching a gift collection along with gift cards for wedding season presentation purposes. “Consumers celebrating festivals and attending weddings have turned to ethnic wear in a big way. The apparel and fashion business is back just like the pre-Covid days,” said Arindam Chakravorty, Brand Head, Aurelia, a part of TCNS Clothing.

Online sales are also at an all-time high and according to Myntra, the ethnic wear categories for both men and women have seen a demand of 1.5 times more than the previous years. Sales have enhanced the limelight of Indian labels and have resulted in an increased customer base of retail brands like Manyavar, Kisah, TASVA, Libas, Varanga and House of Pataudi.

Looking at the business potential, Raymond meanwhile plans to capture a higher share of India’s wedding market by leveraging its brand and distribution network. It has rolled out 45 ethnic wear stores under the brand Ethnix over the past 18 months.

Gen Z to drive growth in gender fluid fashion in 2023: McKinsey

Gen Z is the key segment driving popularity as this generation does not identify their gender on static lines like their previous generations. Many brands have decided to do away with genderbased categories for all or some of their clothing lines. Markets leading genderless clothing are Northern Americas, Europe, Japan and Korea.

Year 2023 shows a greater acceptance and following of gender-fluid fashion as detailed research in the recent published Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Company’s report ‘State of Fashion 2023’ reveals. Gen Z is the key segment driving popularity as this generation does not identify their gender on static lines like their previous generations. Markets leading genderless clothing are Northern Americas, Europe, Japan and Korea.

Growing acceptance to drive market

In a survey conducted among top industry executives during the compilation of this report, 73 per cent of American respondents said they would consider buying genderless clothing whereas 36 per cent respondents said they already had, making the US youngsters leading the world on this fashion trend. Interestingly, fashion hubs like France and Italy showed 58 and 67 per cent respondents willing to buy whereas only 22 and 21 per cent respondents had already bought genderless clothing in these two countries respectively.

The survey also indicated that amongst Gen Z respondents, below 20 years of age are more likely to buy clothes that are genderfluid and 56 per cent of this target group said they prefer buying clothes that are not gender specific. This group of young consumers is the future customer of fashion brands as by 2036, they would represent the largest segment in the fashion sector. A lot can be said about the influence of pop culture in the changing attitudes towards gender-fluid fashion. A fashion app Lyst said they saw a 33 per cent increase in searches ‘gender neutral’ in 2021. The Korean search engine Naver reported similar searches rising since 2020. Sale of handbags has reiterated this shift in many ways. The RealReal site that resells pre-loved luxury items reported that men’s interest in the iconic Birkin bag has grown considerably and when it comes to purchase of luxury handbags, men are beginning to catch up with women in terms of numbers. “Gender neutral is not a trend, it’s a reality,” said Jonathan Anderson, Creative Director of Loewe and founder of label JW Anderson, in 2021. “My whole philosophy is that you cannot

tell people what to wear. You’re not allowed to say: ‘I want this to be bought by a woman or by a man’.” According to Brigitte Chartrand, senior director of womenswear buying for online luxury boutique Ssense, “Modernised merchandising techniques can help brands sell products to a wider range of customers. For example, Ssence presents men’s pieces in its womenswear offering based on cut, fit, size or styling.

Many brands adopt ‘Made for All’ categories

Many brands have decided to do away with gender-based categories for all or some of their clothing lines. ‘Made for All’ is Uniqlo’s collection that was presented within men’s and women’s collections on their online and ins-

store channels. The collection met with great success in most Western countries. Phluid Project, the NYC clothing label has stopped clothing by gender completely. Depop, the online resale platform does not filter searches by gender unless at the request of the visitor.

Industry experts have advised fashion brands to know their young customers at a more personal level – demographics, markets and local cultures will be the key to success for gender-fluid fashion. Even in Europe, countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and Poland will be harder to crack than the UK and the very-liberal Scandinavian countries. Similarly, with the exception of Japan and South Korea, at the present moment the rest of Asia, the subcontinent and the Middle East are not ready to embrace the concept enmasse.

Apparel, footwear to be ‘deprioritized’ with consumer shift in purchases in 2023

Research indicated that in the US and Europe, apparel and footwear will be in the ‘deprioritized’ list and suffer setbacks. Bargains will play a big role in sales of fashion items for this segment as will the resale, rentals and off-price items. This will be a tightrope walk for many fashion brands as whilst not diluting their brand equity, they will need to retain and acquire customers.

The much-awaited ‘The State of Fashion 2023’ report launched on the second day of the annual gathering of industry experts in London by the Business of Fashion Voices in association with McKinsey & Co reiterates a fact that has already been trending, i.e. global slowdown of the fashion sector. It also predicts a shift in purchase of fashion will not only be determined by household incomes but also region-wise. The silver lining however, is luxury sales as this niche sector is expected to grow by 10 per cent, which is a new of relief for premium brands and hope for the industry. With uncertainty in China due to their zero-Covid spread policy and the tightest of lockdowns, the country has been deprioritized and the growth will be led by the usual markets of North Americas and the Middle East.

Luxury sales growth the good story

The successful growth is predicted for luxury is because higher-income households are least affected during these times of inflation and will continue purchasing luxury items. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will generate around $11 billion in luxury sales in 2023 as this is the region which is least affected by global recessions and inflation and continue maintaining a huge proportion of high-income households. China was the center of focus for many fashion brands but due to many internal factors that the country faces, slowdown in demand, particularly for luxury items is the challenge that these brands will need to address right away. Experts are already identifying regions that are continuing to drive growth amid economic uncertainty, such as the Middle East and the US, and focus investment in those markets. In the Business of Fashion & MkKinsey & Co State of Fashion 2023 report, Achim Berg, Senior Partner, Global Leader of McKinsey’s Apparel, Fashion and Luxury Group, said, “Global fashion sales growth will be driven by the luxury segment — up to 10 per cent, compared to up to 3 per cent for the rest of the industry.

Discretionary purchases will affect fashion segment

The interesting insight from the report is that consumers who are affected by recession and inflation will put away or completely do away with discretionary purchase. Research indicated that in the US and Europe, apparel and footwear will be in the ‘deprioritized’ list and suffer setbacks. Bargains will play a big role in sales of fashion items for this segment as will the resale, rentals and off-price items. This will be a tightrope walk for many fashion brands as whilst not diluting their brand equity, they will need to retain and acquire customers.

The report provides significant data to corroborate this fact. Customers may seek out lower-priced retailers and discounts, particularly in younger segments. Over 75 per cent of US Gen-Z and Millennials said they are taking steps to manage finances, compared

with Gen-X’s 64 per cent and Baby Boomers’ 53 per cent. Off-price retail is expected to experience a boom with pre-loved and offseason items at heavily discounted rates. In fact, off-price as a fashion industry channel is expected to contribute 12 per cent of the industry’s income by 2025.

In China, the younger generation is really not affected by the recession and inflation running through Europe. However, young Chinese are feeling the impact of their economy’s slowdown, especially driven by the Covid-19 related issues. Unemployment stands at 20 per cent for Chinese aged between 16 and 24 years, compared to the overall national figure of 5.5 per cent. This in turn has severely impacted their lifestyle purchase choices as they make drastic cuts for a simpler life than did their parents. The trend is called “tang ping” – leaving the rat race for a low key life, with far less focus on material consumption.

Metaverse emerging the new playground for fashion retail: McKinsey

Metaverse, fashion retail is at its tipping point as it leads the way fashion will be interpreted and accepted. Fashion retail has understood just how big a game changer the Metaverse is going to be. AI and AR have already been used to showcase 360 degree views of products on many online sites of fashion retail brands to present their seasonal collections and avatars of models have strutted virtual catwalks in all 3D glory

In 2014, when Mark Zukerberg acquired the virtual reality platform Oculus for Facebook, no one knew what would follow. Leap forward by seven years and October 28, 2021 saw Facebook Metaverse launched. This virtual platform was the opening up of Pandora’s Box, in a good way. The myriad possibilities of creativity that presented itself on this virtual world seemed to know no bounds.

Metaverse, new way forward for fashion

The avant-garde fashion retail leaders recognized the Metaverse for its worth. As Gucci’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer Robert Triefus states in the just released ‘The State of Fashion 2023’ McKinsey & Company and The Business of Fashion states there are more and more ‘second worlds’ where people can express themselves but brands have probably not yet understood the value attached to such individuals who want to express themselves outside the box. That’s where a virtual world with virtual products comes to play.

Triefus states, Gucci was quick on the uptake of Metaverse as a platform to engage with its customers – Gucci Garden was created within the Roblox gaming Metaverse and experience 19 million visitors. Other fashion retail marketers witnessed Gucci’s success story and are eyeing the $176 billion gaming industry

with over three billion players worldwide as the perfect platform for building their communities and keeping them constantly engaged. The commitment to gaming by gamers is becoming increasingly their real world and the pandemiclockdown was when this phenomenon surged right through the roof. American fashion retailer Ralph Lauren jumped in with South Korean social network app Zepeto and created a virtual fashion collection for users to dress their personal avatars in exclusive apparel and appearance altering skins.

Digital fashion retail just begins

For many fashionistas, digital fashion is just an organic extension of applying social media filters like they do on their Snapchat and Instagram accounts according to Simon Windsor, Cofounder and Joint Managing Director, Dimension Studio, an agency that worked with Balenciaga on its video game. Windsor reinforces with Metaverse, fashion retail is at its tipping point as it leads the way fashion will be interpreted and accepted. Fashion retail has understood just how big a game changer the Metaverse is going to be. AI and AR have already been used to showcase 360 degree views of products on many online sites of fashion retail brands to present their seasonal collections and avatars of models have strutted virtual catwalks in all 3D glory.

NFTs will become the ultimate bespoke item

Meanwhile, the McKinsey-BOF report also states Nonfungible tokens, popularly known as NFTs has seen a huge surge of interest, one of the most sought after virtual assets. These unique crypto assets are blockchain authenticated and verified before purchase. NFTs are bought, sold and exchanged on the Metaverse, and often with cryptocurrency.

Beeple, the digital artist on Metaverse (his real name is Mike Winklemann) sold an NFT at a Christie’s online auction for a recordbreaking $69.3 million. Marketing experts feel that NFTs are revolutionary. Karinna Nobbs, Co-chief Executive and Chief Experience Officer of NFT marketplace The Dematerialised explains NFTs are bigger than the Internet. They will apparently change the way we view digital ownership, creative structures, creative economy and also how we view money. A bold statement indeed which fashion retail has heeded well. Fashion brands can create their NFTs that are not only authenticated but also serve as exclusive collectibles in their own right. For its 200th anniversary, Louis Vuitton roped in Beeple who designed Louis Vuitton collectible NFTs on a video gaming platform owned by the brand. As demand for NFTs grow, the world of fashion retail is plunging into the Metaverse to ride this wave of hype of digital ownership of exclusive pieces.

Formal wear changes as ‘Smartorials’ make an entry

This trending word, Smartorial stands for fusion of men’s apparel items that are versatile in functionality and form – working for all occasions, from leisure to formal. Keeping up with this trend, established brands in formal men’s wear have started launching their interpretations

Formal wear is a niche in the fashion sector that proves difficult to gauge statistics wise simply because the definition wise formal wear includes a wide range of apparels and continues to expand. Post pandemic, the lines have blurred as traditional occasions for formal wear have lessened and its definition even more diluted. Almost 39 per cent of fashion executives surveyed by Business of Fashion (BoF)McKinsey State of Fashion Report 2023, stated occasion wear can be among the top three sales drivers in 2023. Another 27 per cent respondents in the same survey stated office wear would be another sales driver along with occasion wear although offices worldwide are still sitting on the fence regarding physical attendance and meetings. In another report issued by Euromonitor, retail sales of shirts and blouses, non-denim trousers and skirts in the US and Europe are projected to grow at a

faster rate between 2022 and 2026 than they had in the 10 years before the pandemic.

Rentals are a new and growing niche

The Global Online Rental Market report issued by Verified Market Research agency predicts a healthy growth in the formal wear category. The market size of rentals was valued at $1,304.32 million in 2021 and projected to reach $2,803.69 million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 9.97 per cent from 2022 to 2030. Demand for online clothes rental is being driven by consumers’ needs for designer outfits and truly shifting fashion proclamations.

The other driver of rentals is the collective awakening of consumer conscience towards sustainable clothing and avoiding wasteful practices. This is particularly prevalent at the moment in Europe and seeping into the minds of consumers in Australia, and the North Americas. In formal wear, the women’s

category holds the largest market share and growth potential and in terms of geography, North Americas will drive the volumes in rented formal wear.

Women’s formal wear being redefined

Typically, western office wear and evening wear were dominated by dresses and skirt suits but a new trend is emerging since this year. Labels such as J.Crew and The Frankie Shop showcased oversized suits and trousers in soft materials for customers looking for polished, fashionable but comfortable styles. Work wear label M.M. LaFleur has honed its ‘power casual’ category of structured knit tops and washable twill trousers. The brand said in early 2022, its power casual styles were generating triple the sales of dresses that used to drive about a third of the company’s sales prior to the pandemic.

Garments with hybrid details that bridge formal and casual attire are here to stay. Formal structures infused with comfortable materials that often incorporate performance fabrics, like sweat wicking or stretch are now on the ‘must have’ lists. Cashmere joggers from Burberry and Loro Piana or linen and crochet shirts from Jil Sander and Jigsaw can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion and are exactly what women today are looking for.

Emergence of smartorial in menswear

From January and September 2022, the key word ‘smartorial’ doubled on Google. This trending word stands for fusion of men’s apparel items that are versatile in functionality and form – working for all occasions, from leisure to formal. Keeping up with this trend, established brands in formal men’s wear have started launching their interpretationsItalian luxury label Zegna produced a relaxed take on daily attire in its Autumn/Winter 2021 campaign, which it calls ‘luxury leisurewear,’ offering versions of its signature tailoring in jersey knits and other soft fabrics. Similarly, labels like Kiton and Brioni have effectively shifted their focus from traditional work wear and suits towards hybrid pieces that can function well across activities.

Global maternity fashion market to be worth over $44 billion by 2030

Global maternity market is projected to be valued at $44.08 billion by 2030, having been valued at $23.05 billion at the end of 2022. According to research agency Future Market Insights, the CAGR is pegged at a decent 6.7 per cent up until the forecasted period of 2030

Maternity apparel is no longer a shapeless outfit designed for maximum comfort and nothing else. Contemporary mothers-to-be see no reason that maternity apparel can’t be stylish and fashionable as they juggle a normal work and social life. Scores of social media influencers, fashion magazines and celebrities have changed the way maternity clothing is looked at and pregnant women are lapping up this niche clothing lines world over.

The motto is: Look good. Feel good. Comfort meets style as many apparel brands diversify to include fashionable maternity wear, including items to suit occasions and locations. And why not as the global maternity market is projected to be valued at $44.08 billion by 2030, having been valued at $23.05 billion at the end of 2022? According to research agency Future Market Insights, the CAGR is pegged at a decent 6.7 per cent up until the forecasted period of 2030.

Growth drivers

There are many drivers activating this growth: Pregnancy fashion is an official category of clothing as a growing population of pregnant women in developing and emerging countries continue being in the workforce during their pregnancies and want to be dressed accordingly. The size of clothing that complements different body types has also played a role in increasing the demand for maternity clothing. Thanks to all kinds of media, there is high awareness about comfortable

pregnancy clothing that is fashionable and on trend as nowadays fashionable women do not wish to compromise their sense of fashion because of pregnancy.

Leading players worldwide

Gap Inc, Seraphine, Isabella Oliver, H& M Hennes and Mauritz AB, Brunelli and Co S.R.L., Mothercare, Boob Design, SHAICO Fashion, Pink blush Maternity, and Organic

are some of key players. These companies provide a wide range of product portfolios for the maternity wear market and have their presence in the developing regions, which provides a lucrative opportunity for them. They have built their reputation in maternity wear through high-quality and innovative products to cater to the comfort and fashion sense of modern women during their pregnancies.

Popular high street brand Zara had introduced its first line of maternity wear back in 2018 with a 25-piece set of clothing that represented Zara’s chic styling and comfort. Rival Spanish brand Mango had launched its first maternity collection two years before Zara. H& M, Seraphine, Gap Inc., are the top three market players, identified by Future Market Insights. They cumulatively accounted for nearly 5 to 6 per cent of total sales in 2021.

A leading and internationally reputed business magazine recently featured top global brands item-wise. Lululemon, A Pea in the Pod, Blanqi, Joe’s Jeans, Madewell, GapMaternity, Lively, Cosabella, Kindred Bravely, Pink Blush, Ingrid + Isabel, Hatch, H&M, ASOS, Old Navy, Hill House Home, Storq, Angel Maternity, Modern Eternity, BB Dakota, Seraphine, Nordstrom, Kimi and Kai, Summersalt, Kindred Bravely and Motherhood Maternity across affordability, casual wear, formal wear, occasion wear, swim wear, home wear and inner wear.

India emerging a strong market

The Future Market Insight Report mentions maternity outerwear has the promise of the highest growth in this niche category including leggings, jeans, skirts, shirts, dresses and tunics. The outerwear sub-category made up 76.2 per cent of all maternity wear sales in 2021. Based on sales channels, multibrand store-based retailing is forecast to hold the largest revenue share in the segment, accounting for more than 29.3 per cent of the sales in 2021.

The US is anticipated to dominate the market in North America, accounting for more than 79.2 per cent of the regional sales by 2021-end. South Korea and Japan are projected to account for 23.6 and 33.7 per cent of maternity apparel sales across East Asia in 2021, respectively. India is projected to emerge one of the most remunerative markets in South Asia, accounting for around 31.7 per cent of sales in 2021.

Indian craftsmanship makes a mark in Western fashion world

India has for centuries been associated with the finest in textile, embroidery, prints and craftsmanship. In fact, luxury was perhaps invented in the royal courts of Bharat before the Romans discovered and fell head over heels in love with luxury. India gave the world its first taste of the finest fabrics with intricate weaves and statement accessories in gold and silver, studded with diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies.

Anew battle rages on, fuelled by the politically-correct opinion leaders – that of cultural appropriation. Whilst it may be considered limiting for the ever-seeking fashion sector, always on the lookout for new ideas, there is a solid case for appropriation too. When indigenous designs and craftsmanship are superimposed on items that have no context to the said design and craftsmanship, then it is termed as fusion but the flipside is blatant appropriation.

Global footprint for Indian designs

India has for centuries been associated with the finest in textile, embroidery, prints and craftsmanship – from ornate brocades to exquisite and grand jewellery. In fact, luxury was perhaps invented in the royal courts of Bharat before the Romans discovered and fell head over heels in love with luxury. It was India that gave the world its first taste of the finest fabrics with intricate weaves and statement accessories in gold and silver, studded with diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies.

Word has it that the intricate patterns of India created the vision Louis XIV had for the magnificent Versailles. In Napoleonic France and through the novels of Jane Austen in Regency England, we see how wearing fine Indian muslin denoted the consumer’s status, taste and connoisseurship. Such was the popularity of textiles like the brightly-painted chintz, that France and England placed decades-long bans on their import in the 18th century in order to protect their own silk and wool mills. However, the desire for these vibrant textiles meant that despite hefty fines, they were smuggled as contraband and worn in the privacy of the home.

Indian embroidery is loved across the world and designers have made embroidery a contemporary statement in the Western fashion world. Another Indian contribution is draping. Be it a sari or a dhoti, Indian dress patterns often include a lot of pleats. This pattern has been creatively adopted in forming ruffle crop tops and drapes for gowns. Indo-western outfits are a coalition of elements from Indian traditions and western world of apparels. Indo-

western looks include a fun styling experience of matching and accessorizing elements of both cultures to create an alluring ensemble. Already popular in India, it is spreading across Europe in particular.

Are Indians seeing this entire legacy of transfers of their design and craftsmanship to the West as cultural appropriation? In all possibilities, Indians haven’t yet jumped on to the “cultural appropriation bandwagon and rather interpret it as appreciation. The trend to capitalize on Indian design has benefitted Indian designers as their fusion wear is gaining popularity globally for fashionistas with a luxury edge. Additionally, our craftsmen are gaining more work as bespoke designs are being ordered for in mass quantities. Fashion houses are commissioning exclusive patterns inspired by the traditional Indian designs of various regions.

In such a scenario, India seems to be not only regaining its pole position as the provider of beautiful, exquisite and timeless luxurious items but also adding this to its portfolio of soft skills to charm the world. 

Aditya Birla plans stake in TCNS

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail is in advanced talks to acquire a 51 per cent stake in TCNS Clothing.

The deal will be a mix of stock and cash, and is likely to be signed and announced soon. The transaction will provide Aditya Birla Fashion access to a strong portfolio of women’s wear brands with a strong distribution network. TCNS Clothing is the owner of the popular women’s wear brands W and Aurelia.

TCNS Clothing reported a 46 per cent growth in revenue in the September quarter from a year ago. Operating profit grew by six per cent while net profit declined 31 per cent.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail sells clothes and accessories from Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England, among others. Aditya Birla’s strategy is to build a portfolio of new-age, digital brands across categories in fashion, beauty and lifestyle segments. Aditya Birla plans to enable multiple founders to operate within a synergistic platform that will have shared capabilities and make eight to ten investments in early-stage digital first brands by the end of this financial year with the initial focus being on broad categories of fashion.

Traditional companies have the wherewithal to acquire new D2C brands to compensate for their late entry in the online space, a channel that now accounts for 30 per cent to 50 per cent for several brands.

Single window clearance for retail likely

and pan-India acceptance of a license issued by one state will be encouraged. Wholesale distribution markets may be treated at par with industrial areas or parks.

India’s retail industry is projected to grow nine per cent through 2030. Retail accounts for over ten per cent of the country’s gross domestic product and around eight per cent of employment. India is the world’s fifth largest global destination in the retail space.

Reliance acquires Metro Cash and Carry

Reliance Retail’s physical store footprint and ability to better serve consumers and small merchants by leveraging synergies and efficiencies across supply chain networks, technology platforms and sourcing capabilities.

Metro is a leading international specialist in wholesale and food retail in 34 countries. Metro Cash and Carry, its wholesale division, entered India in 2003 and currently operates 31 wholesale distribution centers centres across the country, serving business customers only. It sells products such as fruits and vegetables, general groceries, electronics, household goods and apparel to clients like hotels, and restaurants as well as offices and companies, small retailers and kirana stores.

Metro India is a key player in the Indian B2B market and has built a solid multichannel platform delivering a strong customer experience.Metro India’s healthy assets combined with Reliance’s deep understanding of the Indian merchant / kirana ecosystem is expected to help offer a differentiated value proposition to small businesses in India.

Reliance is India’s biggest brick-and-mortar retailer with over 16,600 stores.

ABFRL buys Bewakoof

Indian retail will soon have a single window clearance to acquire all registrations, licences or clearances for trade.

There may be a single license for a retail store and a general category of license for selling over the counter items for retailers without the requirement of employing qualified professionals. The aim is improvement in the ease of doing business in the retail sector. One of the proposals is an accident insurance scheme for traders and traders’ welfare boards at the national, state and district levels.

The policy is not intended for e-commerce, direct selling, multi-level marketing or street vendors and the aim is to provide a national common framework for the development of the retail sector across the country. As per the draft policy, efforts will be made to replace licenses with a simple registering process

Reliance Retail Ventures will acquire a 100 percent equity stake in Metro Cash and Carry. Through this acquisition Reliance Retail will get access to a network of Metro India stores located in prime locations across key cities, along with a large base of registered kiranas and other institutional customers, and a strong supplier network.

The acquisition will further strengthen

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail is set to acquire apparel and accessories brand Bewakoof. Bewakoof, founded in 2012, one of the first D2C brands in the country and operates in the western-style clothing segment.

AdityaBirla Fashion and Retail sells clothes and accessories from Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England, among others. The acquisition is part of Aditya Birla’s strategy to build a portfolio of new-age, digital brands across categories in fashion, beauty and lifestyle segments.

Aditya Birla plans to enable multiple founders to operate within a synergistic platform that will have shared capabilities and make eight to ten investments in early-stage digital first brands by the end of this financial year with the initial focus being on broad categories of fashion.

Traditional companies have the wherewithal to acquire new D2C brands to compensate for their late entry in the online space, a channel that now accounts for 30 per cent to 50 per cent for several brands. Although there has been a drop in late-stage funding, Indian startups are seeing an uprise in large corporates looking at acquiring established brands with great products and strong customer loyalty. This is not just strategic but also a natural growth path for these companies

Brands, retailers loggerheads with malls over rent

Brands and malls differ over rentals, while malls want an increase in rentals every year, retailers want to retain the current system of rental hikes every three years. Malls typically sign nine year agreements with the retailers with a rental hike of 15 per cent every three years. But by increasing the rent five per cent each year, retailers will have to shell out about 17 per cent in lease cost in three years.

Large retailers are opposing the move given the number of stores they operate. Brands, since they invest a lot in fit-outs, feel an annual rental hike will make the business unviable. This means every month brands will have to keep the rental hike in mind.

Some malls have started something like staggered rentals so that they can hike the rentals every year. However, in the first year, they don’t put much pressure when the brand is trying to settle in. But once they start doing well, the malls push for a rental hike.

Mall developers aim at pushing for a 20 per cent rental hike every three years given the inflation and cost of raw materials. They say the cost of everything has gone up and fresh efforts have to be always put in to sustain. Since retailers are doing good, they feel, they should not be hesitant in absorbing the hikes.

Goat acquires Chumbak

and supports growth by providing data-driven insights, supply chain expertise, financial planning, and deep expertise in brand building, digital marketing, product development, etc.

Goat, backed by marquee investors, has emerged as the leading aggregator in the fashion and lifestyle space. Goat has a portfolio of fast-growing fashion and lifestyle brands. The vision is to make Indian D2C brands world famous. Last year Goat Brand Labs acquired multiple well-known D2C brands including The Label Life, India’s top celebrity-styled brand, and trueBrowns, a premium ethnic wear brand, both of which have grown multifold since their partnership with Goat.

Apparel spending falls in the third quarter

Indian consumers spent less on apparel this festive season.

Diwali when consumers generally spend more on clothes.

The slowdown in discretionary consumption is due to a combination of factors such as withering of pent-up demand, especially after the festive season, or elevated inflation hitting household savings. No rapid turnaround in demand is expected, given the underlying economic challenges, but recovery in the staples volumes is seen as possible. Consumers are expected to remain wary in the coming months.

Marks & Spencer Q3 sales up nine per cent

Goat Brand Labs has acquired Chumbak. Chumbak is an iconic home and lifestyle brand, with unique Indian aesthetics and a wide base of loyal consumers. The brand has strong sales on both online and offline channels.

Goat Brand Labs plans to grow Chumbak to Rs 500 crores by 2025, accelerate its growth as a powerful and global brand in the home and gifting space, leveraging Goat’s deep capabilities in brand building, digital marketing, online and offline growth, and expansion into international markets.

Goat Brand Labs was founded in May 2021. Goat works collaboratively with brand founders and empowers them with the right resources to help scale their brands. It empowers brands with strong operational capabilities

High inflation impacted discretionary spends in the third quarter. As reported for DMart retail stores, FMCG and staples outperformed the general merchandise and apparel segments during October 2022 to December 2022. This deterioration due to tepid growth in apparel and general merchandise even hit the company’s margins during the quarter. Especially in December 2022, markets slowed down significantly.

By and large, inflationary pressures have hit the middle class, and therefore their discretionary spending has been limited. They prefer to postpone buying clothes. While there has not been much impact on the children’s category, the adults category has been hit. This slowdown was not just the general lull after the festival season, but even during Durga Puja or

For the third quarter Marks & Spencer’s sales grew by nine per cent.

Sales in M&S’ food business rose by 10.2 per cent at constant currency rates and 6.3 per cent on a like for like basis. Sales in the company’s clothing andhome segment increased by 8.8 per cent at constant currency rates and were up by 8.6 per cent like for like.

In addition, M&S’ international business was up by 12.5 per cent at constant currency rates. This was driven by ‘strong’ retail performance in key franchise markets in the Middle East as well as India and other owned markets. M&S food outperformed the market on volume and value in the critical four-week Christmas period for the second year running and reached its highest ever recorded market share.

Clothing and home delivered another outstanding performance, maintaining its market leadership position with its highest market share in seven years. Thanks to its unrivalled quality, innovation and growing style credentials, more customers shopped with M&S over the Christmas period than in recent years. The company saw the benefits of the acceleration in the steps taken to reshape M&S as an omnichannel retailer supported by an increasingly promising store rotation program.

Stanton Ambrose has been appointed head of marketing and PR at Celio.

A marketing professional, Stanton has over eleven years of experience in brand management, marketing strategy, customer experience and digital marketing in the retail industry. He has an impressive background and a stellar work record in the apparel industry.He has a proven track record for delivering innovation and growth to the brands he leads. Stanton has held key marketing roles across reputable companies such as Reliance Brands, Bestseller and Future Group. Having previously worked on both the digital and traditional ecosystems of the apparel world, Stanton comes with robust learnings and skills that will be pertinent to strengthening the consumer connect for Celio.

At Celio he will spearhead the men’s fashion label’s marketing department and overlook key function areas namely marketing and public relations across platforms. He will join the leadership team and lead brand strategy and integrated marketing as the brand scales rapidly and builds a stronger consumer franchise in India. He is expected to drive the agenda of strengthening the brand narrative and driving salience to the next level and building a community of consumers who resonate with the brand’s ethos.

Celio is a French men’swear brand and has a strong presence in India.

Womnen’s active wear brand Blissclub appoints top heads

Blissclub has appointed Shikha Gupta as creative director and Pamela Lee as vice president product.

Shikha Gupta joins Blissclub after a stint at Slice, one of India’s leading fintech startups, while Pamela Lee joins the brand from Lululemon Athletica where she worked in various leadership roles. Gupta will lead the creative team at Blissclub while Lee will be responsible for the product and manufacturing strategy of the brand.

INDUSTRY BYTES

Blissclub, a women’s activewear brand, founded in 2020, has a vision to enable women to discover the joy of movement and build beautiful and functional products. What began as a personal attempt at making a better pair of workout clothes has now become a revolution to get women across the country to go out, workout and move around more comfortably and freely. Designing technical apparel for movement requires a deep understanding of the problems faced by the wearer and Blissclub is spearheading a revolution to design with intent and for everybody.

The aim is to build fitness apparel crafted for the Indian woman. From threads, to zipper sliders, from wash labels to the lining of pockets, the brand believes in not just making products buwwt in crafting them, deeply thinking through every aspect of a garment.

Garima Garg is The Label Life CEO

Garima Garg has joined The Label Life as chief executive officer. She comes from Hindustan Unilever, where she was the senior global manager for sales and managed beauty brands like Lakme and Lux.

In her new role, she will be responsible for leading and scaling up The Label Life’s presence in domestic and global markets and focusing on expanding revenue channels and the brand’s reach to consumers who desire contemporary fashion.

She has experience in building global consumer brands in the lifestyle space. The Label Life is foraying into global markets and in the offline space through brand stores and currently retails an array of fashion garments, footwear, accessories, and homeware.

The brand was acquired by Goat Brand Labs in February 2022. Goat Brand Labs founded in May 2021 works collaboratively with brand founders and empowers them with the right resources to help scale their brands. It empowers brands with strong operational capabilities and supports growth by providing data-driven insights, supply chain expertise, financial planning, and deep expertise in brand building, digital marketing, product development, etc.

Goat, backed by marquee investors, has emerged as the leading aggregator in the fashion and lifestyle space. Goat has a portfolio of fast-growing fashion and lifestyle brands.

Celio appoints marketing head

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