Brands woo with customised merchandise

Earlier, people preferred to get their clothes stitched instead

of buying a ready-made shirt or trouser. Gradually, the industry witnessed a shift towards readymade clothing, since brands began offering various sizes and fits to suit the body measurements. Once again, brands, especially in the luxury segment are wooing customers with personalised, made to measure merchandise, whether clothing or accessories. And even the consumers are showing keen interest in getting a personalised product at a higher cost and relatively long waiting period.

According to a recent report, the demand for customisation covering niche products and services such as signature perfumes, personalised dials in watches, and name initials on handbags and T-shirts helped luxury brands such as Brioni, Louis Vuitton, Paul & Shark, Rolex and Tag Heuer grow more than 20 per cent during 2011. As per the Technopak research, customised services account for 15 per cent of the about Rs 1,300 crores, luxury apparel and accessories market in the country. And the industry experts expect the customisation trend in luxury goods and services to grow since the affluent customers now want to differentiate themselves and they have the capacity to spend on such luxuries.