Business Of Fashion - June 2023

In this issue

The Indian sportswear market is still relatively less tapped and has immense potential to grow. However, it remains largely unorganized and is dominated by a few major brands.
Factors such as healthy lifestyles and government initiatives to promote sports, to name a few from a long list, are driving the market. How the market is positioned in an economy that is expected to cross the $5 trillion mark in 2027 and where the consumption is expected to double made us ask a lot of questions.

While fashion brands continue to grow, various D2C brands have revolutionized retail by relying on big data and AI. It can be said that many of them have already established themselves by focusing on quality, design, and customer service. Additionally, no business, it can be said, has overlooked sustainability; instead, it has been made a cornerstone by the established and newly launched. This is seen as businesses responding to consumers’ demand for greater accountability

Azorte unveils 'Summer on my mind' collection

Azorte, Reliance Retail's large format fashion store, launched its SS23 collection, Summer on my mind. Telugu actor Sreeleela launched the collection at Azorte, Sahara City Mall, Hyderabad.

1 min

Kazo introduces Spring Summer collection

Kazo, a women's fashion brand has recently launched its spring summer clothing collection. The brand claims that the printed wrap mini skirt is a standout item in the new collection, featuring a herringbone print and tie-up design.

1 min

Personal Touch Skincare launches Elysium

Personal Touch Skincare launched Elysium, an eye cream that has been formulated with cutting edge technology, top-of-the-line ingredients and unparalleled results to address all your eye concerns'.

1 min

Bunny Corset introduces summer collection

Bunny Corset, a name in exquisite corsets, has introduced its summer collection.

1 min

Chennai-based Sundari Silks enters Mumbai

Chennai-based saree brand Sundari Silks has opened its new flagship store at Vile Parle, Mumbai.

1 min

Shoppers Stop bring's first Home Stop store to Dehradun

Shoppers Stop has opened its first Home Stop format store in Dehradun. Located at Centrio Mall, the store, it says, aims to provide end-to-end home decor solutions under one roof.

1 min

Bengaluru gets another Zara store

Zara has launched a new store at Forum Mall in Bengaluru. The store spreads across more than 23,000 sq. ft. and is sprawled across two floors housing all sections.

1 min

Allen Solly opens new store in Bengaluru

Allen Solly, casual workwear brand from Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd., has opened its largest flagship store in Bengaluru at HSR Layout.

1 min

Nykaa appoints new CFO and CTO

Online fashion and beauty platform Nykaa has appointed P. Ganesh as chief financial officer (CFO) and Rajesh Uppalapati as chief technology officer (CTO).

1 min

Vogue Eyewear launches campaign featuring Taapsee Pannu

To mark its 50th anniversary this year, Vogue Eyewear has unveiled a new campaign featuring the India brand face - Taapsee Pannu.

1 min

Abhishek Ganguly quits Puma, launches Agilitas Sports

After quitting Puma, Abhishek Ganguly along with Atul Bajaj and Amit Prabhu have announced their entrepreneurial venture Agilitas Sports.

1 min

Korean brand Laneige ropes in Athiya Shetty as India face

Laneige, skincare the Korean brand, has announced Bollywood actress Athiya Shetty as its first-ever brand face in India.

1 min

Trent net profit jumps 40% to ₹105 crore in Q4

Tata Group's retail arm Trent has declared a 40.4 percent on-year jump in standalone net profit in the fourth quarter ending March, 2023 at ₹105.13 crore, on robust sales along with margin expansion.

1 min

Bata India Q4 net profit up 4.2% at ₹65.62 cr

Shoemaker Bata India reported a 4.22 percent rise in consolidated net profit to ₹65.62 crore for the fourth quarter ended March, 2023.

1 min

SoleSearch raises ₹6 cr on debut

SoleSearch, an Indian street culture brand with an e-commerce platform for limited edition sneakers, and streetwear, accessories, collectibles just raised ₹6 crores in their first funding round.

1 min

Curating FASHION that speaks

Shoppers Stop, India's leading fashion and beauty destination, 'curates fashion that speaks to the hearts of its customers. It takes great pride in its large presence in the retail sector, with 102 (including airport doors) stores spread across 50 cities in India. In an exclusive interaction with Images Business of Fashion, Venu Nair, MD and CEO, Shoppers Stop said, \"With increasing usage of social media, the fashion aspiration of tier 1 and tier 2 towns is on a high. Customers want to be updated with latest fashion and beauty trends and are ready to invest.\" Excerpts

3 mins

TIMEX: Staying true to its core belief

Helped by higher demand that now needs fresh capacity-enhancing investments, India has outpaced Europe as Timex Group’s second-largest market by revenue. The US-based watchmaker, which has a manufacturing at Baddi, on the border of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, plans to increase its capacity for both domestic and overseas sales, harnessing the unit’s potential as a sourcing hub. The company, which is the official timekeeper for Gujarat Titans, produces watches under its own brand Timex and also other premium fashion brands including Versace, Guess, GC, Nautica and Salvatore Ferragamo, among others. Recently, it announced the acquisition of Mumbai-headquartered premium watch retail brand, Just Watches, for an undisclosed sum. As part of this deal, Timex India will be taking over all the physical stores of Just watches along with their e-commerce platform-justwatches.com. To find out more, Images Business of Fashion interacted with Deepak Chhabra, Managing Director Timex Group India. Edited excerpts of the interview.

4 mins

How D2C Brands Maximize Sales with Data-Driven Insights

This D2C business model has also provided brands with an enormous amount of data that they can use to improve their sales and marketing efforts. One of the key advantages is that it allows brands to have complete control over the customer journey, from product development to marketing and sales.

3 mins

Classicuir: Designed in Paris, made in India

Founded by Priyanka Sethi, Classicuir caters leather products that combine 'timeless old style with modern design and they are designed in France and made in India'. The brand says its target audience is working class women and housewives in the age bracket of 28-55, women who love travelling and with household incomes of at least ₹30,000.

3 mins

DIGITAL CUSTOMISED TAILORING SOLUTION

Two brothers, Dhruv Toshniwal and Udit Toshniwal, who hailed from a family with an experience of 45 years in the textile industry, founded The Pant Project to cater customised fashion. The idea to launch the brand online was a result of the pandemic as physical retail stores were closing down. We saw this as an opportunity to leverage the power of the internet to digitize the traditional tailoring experience and offer never-seenbefore levels of service, the brothers shared.

2 mins

SPORTSWEAR MARKET WHERE FASHION MEETS FUNCTION

With increasing awareness about the importance of physical activity, more people are taking up sports and fitness activities. As a result, India’s sportswear market has registered significant growth over the years.

8 mins

DESIGNED IN MELBOURNE MADE AT THE BEST FACTORIES

Melbourne-based fashion brand Forever New has recently announced that it has deployed end-to-end post purchase technology stack of Unicommerce to strengthen its omnichannel operations. In an exclusive interaction with Images Business of Fashion, Dhruv Bogra, Country Head, Forever New said, We have made omnichannel capabilities a top priority in order to provide excellent customer delight. Our organisation has been concentrating on this sector for some years and has a longstanding relationship with our technology partners.” Excerpts

4 mins

'We will add at least 10 more stores this year'

HRX (Hrithik Roshan Extreme) was strictly an online brand until last year. It offers a range of products including t-shirts, track pants, jackets, tights, as well as sports accessories such as footwear, and backpacks for men and women. Its store collections are inspired by the Bollywood actor's everyday choices for workouts. The brand, jointly owned by Hrithik Roshan and Exceed Entertainment, was launched first on Myntra.com in November 2013 with an athleisure line for men. Recently, the active lifestyle apparel brand has secured an official fan merchandise partnership with four teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has unveiled physical stores. The brand's journey signifies the success story of a home-grown sportswear. In an email interview with Images Business of Fashion, Afsar Zaidi, Co-founder of the brand said, In the course of the journey we evolved, made mistakes, corrected the course, outshone competition, ma strong community, garnered enough love and finally once all the chief milestones- in terms of business, product and consumers were covered, we decided to go omni. Excerpts

3 mins

Attitude and aura of Italian heritage and workmanship

Fila says it has been able to balance the product manufacturing locally versus import in its portfolio. The apparel manufacturing contribution is 80% India and 20% import. The brand is operated under Metro Brands since it was bought over from Batra Group. FILA will be present across all Metro and Mochi stores, Abdon Lepcha, the brand’s Creative Director informs Images Business of Fashion. Excerpts

3 mins

A FOOT FORWARD: The Landscape and Future of the Indian Sportswear Market

Today, sportswear has transcended its athletic origins to become a fashion statement embraced by people from all walks of life. Several factors have stimulated this growth. The emergence of health and wellness trends, an increase in sporting events, rise of sports celebrities, higher disposable incomes, and a shift in lifestyle patterns towards fitness activities are some of the driving forces.

4 mins

GOOD INDIAN: A SUSTAINABLE D2C BRAND IN TOWN

The environmental and social cost of the fashion industry has compelled brands to rethink fast fashion and stress on the need for more sustainable business models and practices. The latest brand to have joined the club is Good Indian.

2 mins

JUTTIS THAT SPEAK CHARM

Shirin Mann Sangha claims to be an accidental entrepreneur. As a child she admired her mother wearing juttis and always loved the craft. But the idea of making struck her when she could not find the right juttis for her own wedding. She founded Needledust in 2014. Over the years, it has gained a prominent position in the jutti market, captivating customers both in India and internationally.

3 mins

PAIO: MAKER OF CONSCIOUS FOOTWEAR WITH STRONG DESIGN ELEMENTS

A completely made in India brand, using locally sourced materials, PAIO's ethos is based on the idea that fashion need not come at the cost of a precious life. Shweta Nimkar founded the cruelty-free and vegan footwear brand in 2015 with one simple agenda - to create conscious footwear with strong design elements inspired by everything around us, while making sure each product is comfortable.

5 mins

BRIDGING THE GAP IN KIDS FASHION

Swati Saraf says that Les Petits was launched in 2011 with the aim to bring trending global kids’ fashion to the country. The luxury fashion boutique for newborns to 12 year olds offers premium fashion apparel, accessories, and furniture from leading international brands under a single roof. Over the years in the industry, we have presence in prime locations of Palladium Mumbai, DLF Emporio and DLF Avenue Saket in Delhi. And recently, we launched our fourth store in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad,” Saraf, who is the President of Les Petits, informs Images Business of Fashion. Edited excerpts

4 mins

Seamless blending of Indian techniques and textiles

Founded by Aneeth Arora, Péro interprets international aesthetic using local material and skills. It claims to have taken inspiration from what surrounds us, to make a product that connects with people, wherever in the world it is placed. It claims that the Indian-ness of the brand rests in the textile process, where materials pass through the hands of one craftsperson to the other, carrying forward the Indian tradition of hand-crafting and creating pieces that are at once unique. Arora, a textile graduate from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and a fashion graduate from National Institute of Fashion Technology, calls herself a 'textile and dress maker'. Located at Delhi's Patparganj, it recently launched its spring-summer collection. IMAGES Business of Fashion interacted with the founder to find out more about the brand.

3 mins

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Business Of Fashion Magazine Description:

IMAGES Business of Fashion is a monthly resource for fashion retailers, brand owners and industry leaders in India. It delivers fashion business intelligence on emerging retailers, disruptive technologies and domestic and global brands that are making their mark in the industry at a time of unprecedented change.

With a 24 year old loyal reader base of over 60,000 top decision makers, fashion retailers and fashion buyers, spread across all sectors of the business of fashion in India, IMAGES BoF has constantly proven itself as easily the most focused and best targeted fashion business media in India.

Launched in 1992, the monthly magazine is an informed, analytical publication on the fashion business in the country. It has played the role of a catalyst in the retail evolution in India focused on and driven by branding, marketing and retailing of fashion in the country. It enables continuous information exchanges through its activities - facilitating networking among investors, retailers and brand leaders. The publication is amongst the country’s top recall business magazines in India and its reach extends to 2,00,000 of India's top decision makers in retail and retail support business.