Oner creates exclusive winter range for women

Oner, the brand aimed at women 16 years and above, is looking at staying ahead of competition with its exclusive product offerings. Oner has created a new range for winter using fabrics that are not run of the mill. As Rishav Jain, Managing Director says, “We keep our exclusivity through the fabrics that we use. These are completely different from others in the market. We do not work with fabrics commercially used rather we incorporate what other players usually ignore as they either have a different clientele or are into straight fashion. We have tried to give exclusivity to the product, modified it in such a way that evening wear can be used as party wear.”

Exclusivity, key to stay ahead

Jain says it’s not possible to name the fabrics in use, as they are mostly sourced from China and some of it is local. “Fabrics’ count can go up to 20 to 25. In sweaters also, we are designing everything ourselves with a lot of research being done on fashion. Wool and other blended fabrics have been used with prints in the entire range from jackets to sweatshirts and sweaters.” Jain explains.

The brand has an expertise in winter wear as people know it for sweatshirts, hoodies, jackets and sweaters. The winter wear range includes: jackets, hoodies, sweatshirts, active wear such as track suits, designer sweatshirts, blazers, long coats etc. “In recent times, we have seen good growth in the sweatshirt segment. Reason: earlier sweatshirts were very basic but we put in fashion elements and gave it an outdoor feel. They appear more like a jacket, are comfortable to wear, with long time use in winters.” The colours too are bright.

Jain says they plan to add more products to their range, “We will consolidate since it is already very extensive. Summer share will increase, we may add some more products to it. We will also work on autumn as it has a wide base,” he avers.

Jain believes as a category sweatshirts has grown well until now but a saturation has started happening in the light of excess supply compared to demand as too many players have entered the segment and the category. It works only if the look and quality is good, designs play a crucial role, exclusivity matters and basics are not in demand.

Focus on maintaining growth

Oner’s product range is divided between basics at 60 percent and fashion at 40 percent. Meanwhile the brand is expecting to maintain its 20 to 25 percent annual growth rate. “We had about 5 to 7 percent inventory. We try to maintain it within 5 percent, but since the market is not that responsive, we have seen a slight increase,” informs Jain. Competition too is becoming intense with a rise in number of players. Oner is aimed at premium and middle class segment.

The brand is retailed through 500 MBOs, about 150 to 200 large format stores. It also has three EBOs and plans to add more EBOs to the list. As Jain says, “We plan to do more EBOs and will strengthen our position in North until we become strong in summer wear. We will grow in every retail channel in the North, Northeast and Northwest.”