Daiki Brands racing ahead with its innerwear offrings

“Comfort is the new luxury, and style is something that never dies. These aren’t just experiences, but qualities that are etched in every product created by Daiki Brands,” says Akshay Mahendran, MD, Daiki Brands. In a short span of over two

years, Daiki Brands has proven to be a force to reckon with in the innerwear industry. The company has grown in size and stature and prides itself in providing high end luxurious and superior quality innerwear to its customers.

Daiki Brands has three brands - Peri Peri Skinwear for the bold yet fashionable women of the 21st century; Daiki innerwear for the man of style and substance; and Biara lingerie designed for a woman’s everyday comfort. With a keen eye on the future, yet firmly rooted to its humble origins, Daiki Brands now has a pan India presence.

“We started the company in 2010 and got into innerwear primarily by chance. It wasn’t something we had planned on. There was another company called DB Apparel, which is a four billion euro French company and which is the market leader in France. They wanted to enter India with their brand. They had heard of us and wanted to know if we could have a joint venture with them, where they have 60 and we have 40. Though we had no experience in the inner wear industry, we were game. We decided to go about starting the business,” says Mahendran.

“The company created three brands at that time, Daiki, Biara and Peri Peri. And deliberately chose names that don’t sound Indian. Biara is a play on the word bra. Daiki is Japanese for strong warrior. Dai has positive connotations in Japanese, it’s something like our Om,” he adds.

Daiki is a mid-premium brand for men. It competes with Jockey, Hanes, and Fruit of the Loom among others. It has the same price points, similar styling and comparable quality. Biara is a mass market brand. It was launched in 2010-11. It competes with the likes of Daisy Dee, Juliet, Sonari and Bodycare. Peri Peri is a flagship premium brand of women’s lingerie, it competes with the likes of Amante, Triumph. “We are thinking of building it along the lines of Victoria’s Secret,” Mahendran states.

Elaborating on the retail spread, Mahendran says, “Peri Peri is online and we are looking to do the same for Daiki and Biara. I am looking at large format stores and flagship stores. For Peri Peri, I don’t want to get into the general trade. Biara will be in general as well as online. Daiki will be in large format as well as online. For large formats I am looking at major metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. Biara is in 1,500 MBOs across India. Peri Peri is in Globus and we are in discussions with other big players.”

“We have experimented with various fabrics, special finishes and various cuts. In Peri Peri we have a quirky, funky bra for women in their twenties. This is called Miss Peri Peri and here we have experimented with micro fiber. It’s a printed bra and we have funky prints. We want to be the largest innerwear company in the country in the next 10 years,” signs off Mahendran.