Fusion ethnic wear gets a boost with growing demand

With festivities around the corner, ethnic wear market has been attracting crowds. Not only this fusion ethnic wear has become a preferred festive dressing—women sporting Indian-style pantsuits and men, sharply cut Nehru jackets. According to a Technopak report, ‘Understanding India’s Ethnicwear Market’, the size of the Indian ethnic wear market was estimated at Rs 82,220 crores in 2014 and is expected to touch Rs 126,210 crores by 2019. The market is dominated by women’s ethnic wear which contributes 83 per cent to the total market followed by kids’ ethnic wear and men’s ethnic wear with shares of 9 per cent and 8 per cent.

It’s the perfect confluence of ethnic and western, that’s ruling the roost in the fashion industry these days say experts. In order to cash-in on the growing demand, companies are expanding their presence into the territory which is growing by 15-20 per cent a year. The recent entrant is Max, the most popular Landmark Group brand. Max is launching the men’s ethnic wear segment with a private label, Tavish, an extension of its women’s ethnic wear – Tavisha. The decision came on the back of Tavisha’s success in the ethnic market. According to Vasanth Kumar, Executive Director at Max, ethnic garments account for 18 per cent of the brand’s revenue, up from 12 per cent two years ago.

Apart from Max, Manyavar vetured into women’s traditional wear segment with the brand Mohey in May this year. The Vedant Fashions-owned Manyavar, operating 400 stores (including 30 outlets of Mohey) plans to add a total of 300 more stores by the end of 2020.

Flourishing kids’ ethnic wear

It’s not just men and women segments that are gaining traction, the highest booming category is of kids. Popular women’s ethnic wear company Biba Apparels recently announced plans to open five stand-alone kids’ wear stores. These stores will only sell ethnic apparel and contribute Rs70-75 crore to Biba’s total revenue. For Siddharath Bindra, MD, Biba Apparels, there is a blurring of lines between ethnic and western wear today. The former is now versatile and easy to wear to work but still ethnic.

Surmounting challenges

While the market looks promising, the challenge for companies is to stay relevant and contemporary as ‘fusion ethnic’, a mix of western wear and traditional wear, becomes the choice of customers, feels Abheek Singhi, Senior Partner & Director, Boston Consulting Group. While for some, it is a different theory for growth of the ethnic apparel segment—a shift from the unorganised sector to large retailers and companies. Earlier it was largely addressed by unorganised retailers. That has shifted to the branded space, points out Ankur Bisen, Senior Vice-President, Retail & Consumer, Technopak Advisors.

Earlier, daily-wear ethnic apparel was addressed by neighbourhood boutiques and tailors and only occasion wear was considered ethnic in the branded space. This growth has also attracted investors into this category. In August, private equity firm TA Associates Management invested $140 million for a minority stake in TCNS Clothing that owns women’s ethnic wear brands including W. There have been multiple investments that have happened in this space in the last two-three years. Investors see growth opportunities here. The first round of investors has exited and now, second cycle of investors are entering.