Innerwear makers on a new role

With a significant shift in consumer preferences, from unbranded to branded innerwear, manufacturers

are looking to branch out in the leisure segment. To woo the youth (16-25 age group), companies are looking at brand extension into leisure wear and increasing focus on design and development. 

Maxwell Industries for example, will add a leisure wear range for its brands VIP and Frenchie X in a year’s time. Similarly, Jockey, known traditionally for its innerwear range, has started promoting its leisure brand Jockey Sport to make the transition from an innerwear to a lifestyle brand. To focus on the leisure category, the company has appointed separate distributors. Nearly 20 per cent of its 380 distributors sell only Jockey Sport. Forbes Brands, a division of Shapoorji Pallonji’s Gokak Textiles, too is entering the segment in a year’s time. The company has just launched Facit, its youth-focused innerwear brand. They are looking at products like pajamas, Bermudas and shorts in leisure wear portfolio and will launch six ranges of innerwear to meet the demands of the New Age consumer.

The total innerwear market in India is around Rs 11,900 crores of which 34 per cent is men’s and the rest is women’s. The highest growth has been witnessed in the super premium and premium segments. Innerwear companies who have entered new product ranges should be aware of the fact that the right marketing strategy is needed to reach the end customer. While industry players are enthused with the growing opportunities in the innerwear and extended products market, most say companies have a long way to go before they can evolve to meet international standards. Future growth has been estimated at 11 to 12 per cent till 2014.