Nautica, the marine inspired label keeps its focus on casuals

Nautica the bridge to luxury brand of apparels and accessories that takes inspiration from marine life has launched a collection in keeping with the season’s colours. The brand retailed by Arvind Brands in India has a product portfolio that imbibes an American sportswear look offering a wide range of smart casuals, performance wear, denims, swimwear and outer wear.

Nautica has a global presence in over 80 countries and in India, it is available in over 60 stores across 25 cities.

Trendy summer range, lure consumers

Nautica’s product portfolio consists of knitted top wear like crew neck t-shirts and polos and under wovens, it has shirts, rainbreakers and outerwear. Bottom wear range has denims, woven trousers and cotton woven shorts, swimwear shorts as well as trunks.

For this season, apart from evergreen Nautical shades of navy, red and white, the brand has also incorporated pastels in various hues like sky blue, peaches, sea green, pink, lavender and bright yellow, orange, navy and white in its new clothing line. Sumit Dhingra, Country Business Director, Nautica, says “The hot trending products at the moment are pure linen, geo and tropical prints, summer checks, poplins, Oxford, gingham, super soft fil-a-fils shirts, moisture wicking pique tees, poly performance polos, cut & sew with print & embroidery emblem details T-shirts and carrier crew tees.”

Prospects of knitwear in India

As per Dhingra, knitwear has grabbed a sizeable share of business in portfolios of sportswear brands in India. Consistent growth of T-shirt business over a period of time has contributed a lot to the rise of knitwear business. “When it comes to fashion, knitwear has an edge over woven as it operates mostly on casual side of business. With formal wear brands venturing into casual wear, large format stores floating their own casual wear private labels, online channels opening several opportunities for numerous casual wear start up brands, the demand for knits in various forms like T-shirts, shorts and knitted pants has increased many fold. This has led to innovation in products whether it is fabric, silhouette, cut and & sew detail or prints,” he opines.

He points out that active wear has grown in a big way in India in the past few years. Brands like Nike, Adidas and Puma have led this industry with their footwear but over the years have grown into multi category brands increasing the share of functional apparels and accessories in their assortment. “In some specific segments, it is possible to build a brand with only knitwear products. But to really develop a strong lifestyle brand, a mix of knit and woven would do justice,” he sums up.