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<\/i>Neha Tyagi\n& Sagar Malviya, The Economic Times <\/i><\/p>\n <\/i>Neha Tyagi\n& Sagar Malviya, The Economic Times <\/i><\/p>\n
Mumbai, 3 January 2017<\/i><\/p>\n
Experts said companies can now easily support\nchanging trends with investment in product innovation and reach. Indian\nwear, initially largely restricted to the older age segment, now finds\nacceptance among younger consumers. ![\"\"](\"..\/images\/womens-ethnic-wear-tailors-growth.jpg\")
Leading Indian womenswear\nbrands bucked the slowdown trend on the back of mostly younger\nconsumers shifting from tailor-made to ready-to-wear stylish designs at\naffordable rates and discounts. Makers of ethnic brands in the country\n— TCNS Clothing (maker of W and Aurelia brands), BIBA, House of Anita\nDongre (AND and Global Desi brands), and Ritu Kumar — all posted 14 per\ncent-64 per cent year-on-year jump in their revenues last fiscal, even\nas the overall Indian apparel market slipped to single-digit growth at\n8 per cent.
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\nSales of these four companies put together equals that of the apparel\nsections retail chains Shoppers StopBSE -0.51 % and Lifestyle\nInternational that sell around a hundred brands, and are more than\nTata’s Westside. In fact, with combined sales of Rs 1,600 crore in the\nyear to March 2016 as per their annual filings, these companies have\nnearly doubled their business in the past two years.
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\n“Consumers no longer are stuck to the idea of compartmentalising ethnic\nwear and western wear as strictly as we think it is. There is a growing\nmarket for contemporary Indian wear, which cuts across all product\nsegments,” said Anant Daga, CEO at TCNS Clothing.
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\nThe maker of W and Aurelia brands, which posted a 65 per cent growth in\nsales for FY16 at Rs 591 crore, is expecting a threefold jump in\nrevenues in five years.
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\nExperts say there’s good growth opportunity as branded women’s apparel\nis an extremely under-penetrated category and that is changing\ngradually.
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\n“The number\nof women taking up ready to wear earlier was smaller, which is now\npicking up. Also, younger women are preferring to go out wearing\nsomething which addresses both traditional aesthetic and the work\nenvironment,” said Devangshu Dutta, chief executive at retail\nconsultancy Third Eyesight. <\/span>
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\nThis growth potential has helped TCNS Clothing, BIBA, House of Anita\nDongre and Ritu Kumar — which are nearly two decades old or more —\nattract private equity investments in the past three years. While\nEverstone Capital picked a minority stake in Ritu Kumar for Rs 100\ncrore ($16.6 million), Warburg Pincus and Faering Capital invested\nabout Rs 300 crore to buy a stake in BIBA Apparels. General Atlantic\nhas picked up a significant minority stake in AND Designs for around Rs\n150 crore. More recently, US-based private equity firm TA Associates\ninvested about Rs 937 crore in TCNS Clothing.
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\nThat’s because most companies now sell fusion clothing — a mix of\nmodern and traditional wear — instead of just ethnic, which are\nreserved for special occasions.
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\nAnother growth trigger is growing popularity of online shopping that\nhas helped these brands reach out to customers in smaller cities.\nOnline retailing now accounts for 10-15 per cent of their sales.
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\nWhile online added to overall sales, companies aren’t necessarily\nenthused because of discounts. “We have been able to curtail ecommerce\ngrowth to a large extent as we believe in selling full price\nmerchandise rather than going into the discount,” said Bijit Nair,\npresident – retail at House of Anita Dongre. “But the new found\navailability due to geographical presence is helping too,” he said.
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\nSiddharth Bindra, MD at BIBA, said, “We have got bigger stores and more\nlocations. Our product ranges have evolved. We also brought larger\nheavier collections and collaborations with designers which did very\nwell.” BIBA posted sales growth of 15 per cent at Rs 441crore in FY16.\n <\/p>\n