Indian menswear gets a colourful twist

The mundane men’s bottom wear is suddenly donning fresh colourful shades with men’s wear brands adding a dash of bright hues to their Spring/Summer collections. Be it denims, chinos, cargos, linens, or just plain vanilla trousers, the menswear

line across domestic and international brands are now showcasing reds, yellows, greens, orange, rust and gold — in both corporate and casual dressing. While internationally, the concept has been doing the rounds for over four seasons, the Indian man is gradually waking up to the trend this spring.

For instance, Van Heusen has introduced a range of coloured bottoms across chinos, linens, and jeans, which account for 40 to 60 percent of the respective product categories. The company says the response to the coloured bottoms in the first two weeks of the Spring/Summer season has been exceptional. Even Indus League Clothing, part of the Future Group and makers of brands Indigo Nation and Scullers, is experiencing the range in red, blue and green trousers going off the shelves.

Peter England, which caters to a larger audience in the Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 price category, too has a range of coloured men’s bottomwear in gold, rust, emerald and cobalt and has sold almost 5000 coloured bottom wear pieces with the rust and emerald shades being the top-sellers. Even e-platforms are witnessing a surge in sales of coloured trousers. Online fashion store Myntra has reported a 300 percent jump in sales of men's coloured trousers since it soft launched the product range in the Autumn/Winter of 2012.

The Collective, a super-premium lifestyle retail chain from Madura Garments Lifestyle Retail too offers pop colours like neon green, terracotta, and aubergine. The retail chain's brand portfolio, which includes True Religion, 7 For All Mankind, Adriano Goldschmied, Citizens of Humanity, has also introduced coloured bottoms through trims, patches, and other detail work. Example being the Jacob Cohen denim brand, priced at Rs 40,000 onwards, which The Collective has introduced this season, has colour crafted pony hair patches sporting the brands logo. International denim brand Levi's has also significantly increased its offering of coloured casual bottoms this spring/summer with the introduction of an all new line of cargos, chinos and trousers.