Focusing on organic products, UV&W targets 72 percent growth

Raking in 44 percent growth in thermal wear business last year, UV&W targets close to 72 percent growth this year. “Last three seasons have been good. We are seeing good business,” says Vartul Duggal, GM (Marketing), UV&W, adding, “The market is not very favourable yet, but we are optimistic about thermal wear category.”

Organic thermal wear range

The brand’s products in thermal wear and other categories are in 100 percent organic cotton only. It offers thermals for five years and above, men, women, boys and girls. “We lunched thermals in 2009 and have three categories. One, is double chest thermals, which gives extra coverage. We also make thermals with 270 GSM, it is top quality and we have it in three colours: white, blue and anthra. For men, we have round neck, double chest and half-sleeve thermals. For women, we have stockings and sleeveless thermals,” says Duggal, elaborating on the entire range.

The brand tries to keep its products simple, subtle and basic because the target audience prefers these styles. “We always experiments with styles but this year we experimented with colours. By next year, we may add two new colours. However, use of organic clothing in India is limited. The target audience is small because of low awareness but we are educating people about it,” explains Duggal.

There is no limit in offering organic clothing, feels Duggal. “But we have to be careful about the entire process, from sourcing raw materials to the end product. Being careful about processing leads to high turnaround time. Smoothing of yarns and planning takes times. Sourcing of yarns is licenced, it takes five to seven months in advance to come up with something new,” he adds.

Success through online retail

UV&W is present in about 2,000 outlets. Two are EBOs, five franchise stores and rest is distribution network. The brand is available on almost all online portals in India and is getting a positive response from this channel. This is helping the brand spread awareness about organic clothing.

The market, Duggal says, has been hit badly in the last couple of years because of online retail. “Also the specified time period for retailing thermals is 45 days as against 65 days for other items. This is an issue. However, there is plenty of scope for thermal wear brands to grow,” he affirms.

“Brands such as Jockey are doing well in thermal category. We consider them our only competitor, but they are our competitor until their customers do not check our product. Once he uses our product, we believe, he will never again go to other brands,” asserts Duggal.