Men’s fashion becomes smart and gets ecommerce boost

Fashion has undergone rapid changes with rising number of men accepting fashionable clothing as a part of their office wear. Days of wearing only formals to office are passe. Now jogger pants, printed shirts, casual jackets with bright accessories and footwear have stepped into their wardrobes. And the biggest catalyst for pushing up growth in men’s fashion category is the advent of ecommerce in the country.

For example, with Indian men’s moving from uni-colour and typical shade shirts to more casual, bright and printed versions, Italian fashion brand Benetton’s printed shirts are receiving tremendous response in the country. The prints ranging from abstract to kaleidoscope and animal to camouflage, the company saw its entire collection of printed shirts sell like hot-cakes over the last few seasons.

Men’s fashion gets ecommerce boost

Ecommerce has played a large role in changing the way men shop for clothes. A recent e-commerce report from Ibis World confirmed the trend. It said that online sales of menswear have grown at a faster pace over the last five years compared to every other category measured, including computers and tablets, cosmetics, shoes and even online groceries. No wonder, even in India, fashion business through e-commerce portals is expected to witness a turnover of 35 billion dollars (Rs 2,182 billion) by 2020. As per Google research, every third shopping search on Google is fashion-related and the queries on fashion are growing at 66 percent year-on-year.

A recent report by market research company Euromonitor International, globally, revealed that in 2014, menswear grew 4.5 percent reaching 440 billion dollars (Rs 27,440 billion) in sales compared to 3.7 percent growth in womenswear. By 2019, menswear is expected to contribute around 40 billion dollars (Rs 2,494 billion) in the global apparel market, offering numerous opportunities to the online as well as offline players focused on fashion business. Men’s shirts, jeans and jackets and coats are forecast to be the top performers from 2014-2019.

Amazon, which added 'complete men's category’ some time ago has seen a considerable jump in visitors, which is growing at 150 percent each month. Flash fashion platform, Fashionandyou too has seen business registering double digit month on month growth over last eight months. Interestingly, Flipkart has men's category bigger than women consisting of over 200 national and more than 60 international brands for men.

Leading fashion portal Jabong too has chalked out a strategy to bring more male customers to shop on its platform. The company has brought international brands like River Island, Tom Tailor and Burton on its website, which has been received well by the customers. Looking at the the growth momentum of online portals garment and textile conglomerates like Arvind, Raymond, Aditya Birla Nuvo and others have jumped on to the online fray. Trendin.com, an initiative by Aditya Birla Nuvo, for instance, now sells its popular men’s brands such as Van Heusen, Allen Solly, and People online.

Men’s fashion, from formals to smart casuals

Not only Benetton but printed collections at many other brands’ stores and department store chains like Marks & Spencer (M&S), Raymond, Allen Solly and Shoppers Stop are replacing solid, striped or checked shirts, that were once a favourite. M&S, witnessed 71 percent rise in sale of printed shirts and polos last year. This Spring/Summer, the brand has increased the share of printed styles almost three times.

Printed shirts have been a part of men’s wardrobe but either means to wear for parties or as beach wear but now with smart casuals fast replacing corporate attire, such styles have become a part of men’s routine wear. As per the industry estimate, prints account for nearly 15-20 percent of shirt sales.

Hottest selling men’s wear categories today include: T-shirts, sweatshirts, Polo tees and denims. Experts point out that the category is showcasing a big influence of sportswear and smart casuals with better fits. Brands such as Puma, Adidas, Reebok, Lee, Levis, UCB and Wrangler, which are getting tremendous response online, constitute around 40-50 percent of the men's fashion category.