Pantaloons ventures into kidswear with Pantaloons Kids

Pantaloons is now venturing into children’s clothes with the launch of Pantaloons Kids. The brand, which is a unit of Aditya Birla Fashion Retail, is piloting apparel and lifestyle stores for children in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jabalpur, Kolkata and Chandanpur in West Bengal.

The reason behind this initiative is to cater to the growing demand. And also to fill in the gap that exists in children’s wear. There are many brands catering to menswear and women’s wear but very few to the clothes of children. It was this gap that Pantaloons wanted to fill, a fact that is reiterated by Shital Mehta, CEO, Pantaloons Retail.

Kids’ wear is growing at a fast pace. It is one of the fastest growing apparel retail segments, expanding 25 per cent per annum on a like-to-like basis. A lot of new entrants can be seen in this segment. Mahindra Retail, which is part of the Mahindra Group, has tied up with US-based children’s clothing, gifts, and accessories company Carter’s Inc to bring their products to its BabyOye stores across the country. The Children’s Place, a US-specialty retailer, opened its first store in Bangalore in August last year. It has tied up with Arvind Lifestyle Brands. It is expected the brand will clock in Rs 100 crores revenue by 2017. Another brand US Polo Kids from Arvind Lifestyle portfolio will also clock in Rs 100 crores in revenue by 2017.

The reasons behind the growth in kids’ wear segment is the growing awareness of brands and willingness of parents to spend on global brands. The kids’ wear market is estimated to be worth Rs 75,000 crores a year.