Spiritual gurus tap Indian apparel segment with niche brands

India’s fashion retail category is now being crowded by some of the country’s top spiritual gurus who have already launched their own apparel brands. In June 2018, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s FMCG brand Sri Sri Tattva forayed into the fashion and clothing category with brand ‘Byogi’ which offers a range of yoga wear, ethnic and casual wear. It is available online in India, the US, in parts of Australia, and in the UAE in partnership with Al Maya chain. In India, the group has opened a store in Bengaluru and intends to roll out standalone franchise outlets across the country.

More recently, yoga guru and businessman Baba Ramdev launched an apparel store Patanjali Paridhan that houses its sportswear brand Livfit, menswear brand Sanskar and womenswear brand Aastha. The Haridwar-headquartered group promoted its jeans by riding on the affordability factor — jeans priced at around Rs 500 as against international labels that sell for upwards of Rs 5,000 in malls. While launching its Paridhan store in New Delhi, Patanjali revealed plan to roll out 100 Patanjali Paridhan stores by March 31, 2019, and another 400 by March 2020. Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation runs Isha Shoppe online that sells clothing products, mostly ethnic and yoga wear, jewellery and accessories.