Van Heusen chasing the mission of fashion for the professional

The market for formal suits in India has grown at a fast rate. Despite global trend for casual clothes, formal wear is expected to remain the preferred attire for business meetings. Keeping this in mind, Van Heusen has come up with an entirely new range of suits for A/W ’16 conceptualised around a few stories.

A/W suit stories

The brand has created a new range for A/W. Tweeds is a solid to micro check to plaid, the tweed range has all to offer in slim fit. Colours range from rust, olives, ice blue uplift the overall fashion quotient of the range. Knitted Blazers: are a small range of knitted and knit inspired structure blazers. A sharp range, these can be easily teamed with denim or cotton trousers. Smart Formals are formal suits with a twist of fashion from x-lifestyle (fashion formals). Hues of classic and fashion colours in micro checks, classic Prince of Wales, window pane checks, solids and shadow stripes for sure brings the interest element to the mundane formals. The 3-piece suit uses jacquards, contrast solid fabrics in a combination with new silhouettes to create an all new range of three piece. And there are the Ceremony suits which is a combination of two- and three-piece suits meant for dressed-up ceremony. These are all about new styling and colour tones like bright gold, teal, midnight blue, copper, wine, deep brown, etc.

Van Heusen assiduously chases the mission: fashion for the professional. Highlighting strikingly unique aspects of the brand, Vinay Bhopatkar, Brand Head, Van Heusen says, “The core audience is professionals and corporate executives – successful, sophisticated, multi-faceted professionals, both men & women, who are conscious of making their presence felt and confident at setting trends. They pursue success just as they do their other interests and passions, learning and exploring everything that comes their way. They believe that style is as important as substance.”

Formal suits market a growing story

As per a Technopak Advisors study the total suit industry is approximately Rs 6,000 crores growing at a CAGR of 4-5 percent. Around 50 percent of the total suits share is of formal suits. The formal wear market has seen a lot of experimentation in terms of fabric design, performance-specific finishes like crease resistance, wrinkle-free fabric, stain release, etc. “The widening, high-end bespoke market for formal wear is yet another growth opportunity where brands can cash in. Continued success of formal wear market will depend on the ability of brands and retailers to demarcate their customer segments through a granular understanding of their customers and tailoring their product offerings as per customers’ demand,” says Bhopatkar.

Customisation at its best

Consumers are in a phase of transition as they no longer want to stick to wearing apparels of defined styles and silhouette and want to experiment with the look along with personalisation, he points out. That is where customisation is gaining ground. Better fitted garments, enhanced comfort and personalised style is what makes people opt for customisation. Brands are looking at customisation as a new avenue to generate business and deliver 100 percent satisfactory products to consumers. In keeping with this Van Heusen has launched a concept called ‘MYFIT’, which is a made to order concept and offers consumers the power to choose from a wider range of swatches and customise fits/style as per taste.

Innovation is very important in this segment to bring differentiation in products. “As a brand, Van Heusen is known for innovation. At this point, of time the innovation in our suit category is the ‘Move Suit’, which is made of wool elastane fabric for improved stretch and fit and has internal stretch panels for superior shoulder and arm movement. The MYFIT concept, which offers customisation on style/fits across 50 styles in suits is also one of its kind concept in this industry and has seen a huge success in its last one year of existence,” Bhopatkar explains.