'Skilling weavers will give us an edge'

Titan Company’s Taneira wants to bea one-stop shop for women’s ethnic wearand become a 1,000-crore brand by 2027. Ambuj Narayan, CEO, Taneira, tells Christina Moniz how the brand is working to attract younger customers to be able to reach that target. Edited excerpts:

Considering women's ethnic wear is a highly unorganised category, what brand differentiation are you creating for Taneira? Market research tells us that sarees alone are a 50,000-crore category, growing at around 6% CAGR. The ethnic wear market is even bigger at over 1.4 trillion. Within this, the organised market is growing at a much higher rate of 8-10% CAGR, which is why we're seeing many brands enter this category now. The branded market for sarees is still much smaller than the unorganised market, so we see plenty of scope for growth.

There is a significant shift among consumers from unbranded to branded apparel. In the past, sarees were not a wellbranded category and that is why our objective is to redefine the category. We bring over 100 clusters of diverse textiles and craftsmanship under one roof. If we stay true to our proposition and maintain excellence in our garments, we will gain a decent market share in the ethnic wear category.

One of our key priorities as a brand is to empower the artisan and weaver community. So we have 13 weavershalas across India, which provide training in safe and hygienic work spaces. We aim to open 10 such centres every year, since they have helped us attract skilled weavers who had previously given up on their craft because of a dearth of opportunities. These initiatives also give us an edge in this category.