Every year, more than 2 billion jeans are sold over the globe. This shows how denim rules the world, and the growth story continues with the opening up of new markets and new consumers. Unlike western countries, where per person average jeans consumption is very high, in India, presently the consumption is around 0.5 jeans per person and to reach a potential of even one pair of jeans per person requires another 700 million pairs of jeans annually. This shows the massive growth opportunities lying in the country. International brands are increasing their presence in the Indian market and along with metro cities, Tier-3, Tier-4 cities are also good markets for jeans. The Indian domestic market for denim has been maintaining an average CAGR of 8 per cent to 9 per cent for few years and is expected to reach US $ 12.27 billion by 2028.
As per Cotton Inc., in 2022, 59 per cent of Indians plan to purchase more jeans than they had last year while 29 per cent plan to buy the same as last year.
Growing acceptance of jeans
Beyond age and gender barriers, jeans can be worn on social and official occasions (casualwear as well as formal attire or workwear). Increasing number of women joining workforce, westernisation of lifestyle, growing rates of urbanisation and rising fashion consciousness are few of the reasons propelling the growth of jeans.
Efforts of denim mills and brands are also drivers of this growth as there are continuous new developments happening on fabric, finishes, colours, comfort front apart from aggressive promotions of innovatively styled denim apparel. The availability of large variety in jeans like skinny, tapered, regular and athletic fit are also propelling demand for jeans, so denim is considered a fundamental component of the wardrobe.
“We are doing a lot of value addition, prints and offering a variety of washes in jeans which give us value. Our auto denim spreading, automatic cutting, pocket attachment machines also help us to achieve better efficiencies in jeans manufacturing. Moving further, we are upgrading our laundry. We are having capacity of more than one lakh pairs of jeans per month.” Dhwanit Gohel Director, Zedex Clothing, Ahmedabad
Young generation is always the first priority for the fashion industry as they buy more and various surveys have shown that millennials (aged between 18–34) buy jeans the most. Rise in consumers’ spending capacity is also helping to generate more demand for apparel and so denim is benefiting from this trend.
Though denim is considered mainly a fashion statement, but as awareness for health and sanitation is growing, companies are offering denim that have yarn and finish-based alternatives which impart lasting anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties to them.
As consumers are becoming more aware of sustainability and the denim industry is very much on the radar from this perspective, companies are on the toes for sustainable initiatives. Right from adopting sustainable manufacturing processes to developing denim products which are truly sustainable like recycled denim, sustainability is now an integral part of denim production.
“The increase in demand for denim in the current scenario is driven by rise in diversified needs and higher demand for innovative/new products in terms of designs, patterns, colours and fit along with changes in fashion preferences and growing standard of living,” says annual report of Jindal Worldwide, one of the top Indian denim mills. Amidst this growing landscape, capacity enhancement is a regular practice for most of the denim mills.
RSWM, a textile conglomerate and leading company in denim, is working with global retail giants like Levi’s and H&M. It has increased its capacity by 35 per cent in last eight months and in near future, the target is to produce 35 lakh metres per month.
Vinod Denim produces 35 million metres per year and has plans to achieve 50 million within one year. Mehak Group, currently having capacity of almost 3 million metres per month, plans to increase it by around 3 times in near future.
“I am sure that in the next few years, every young person will have 3-4 jeans in his/her wardrobe. Jeans manufacturing is a complicated process and we have strength of in-house manufacturing, so we have continuous advantage. Our controlled overheads are also in our favour, so we are assured about good growth in future.” Kewalchand P. Jain CMD, Kewal Kiran Clothing Ltd (KKCL)
Renowned jeans manufacturers and brands on growth track
Post-Covid, the growth of branded jeans has remained awesome like for Mumbai-based KKCL, jeans sales stood at Rs. 340.56 crore in FY 2021-22 as compared to Rs. 155.15 crore in the previous year. Jeans contribute 56.3 per cent of the company’s total sales of apparel and lifestyle accessories. With the strength of own manufacturing, the company has units in Vapi, Daman and Mumbai. Similarly the track record of other leading Indian brands like Spykar, Mufti etc., also shows that they are geared up for growth.
It is also pertinent to mention here that the majority of jeans manufacturing in India is in unorganised and semi-organised segments as the domestic market is majorly catered to by them. This fragmented segment is also adding capacity into bits and pieces.
“Having strong focus on sustainability and best manufacturing practices, currently we are producing more than 2 lakh pairs of jeans per month and the plan is to do it more than 3 times in next one year. We also have planning to go for IPO by 2025 as we are scaling up buyers in international as well as national market.” Prasad Pabrekar Founder, The Indaco Jeans Factory, Tarapu
Pain point temporary!
Due to global supply chain disruptions, overall inflation and high cotton price, the industry has seen price hike between 25 per cent and 35 per cent. Denim industry believes that end-consumers at the domestic retail level have taken a 10-15 per cent price hit in denim garments, which does not commensurate with market reality. To overcome this challenge, jeans makers are now looking at substitutes for cotton yarn and the best possible way to do that is through blended products.
Global denim brands’ strong reach in India
With a lot of innovations and brand value, many international jeans’ brands are creating their space in India. In fact growth of these brands has also created space for Indian brands as customers are now more aware of branded and good quality jeans.
- Levi’s: 450+ EBOs
- Bestseller India: 291 EBOs and present in over 1500+ shop-in-shops and multi-brand franchises/stores
- Pepe Jeans: 250+standalone stores, (700 department store counters, 700+ multi-brand counters)
- Wrangler: 39, can add 100 more stores of Lee & Wrangler in current fiscal
Indian brands leading the race
KKCL : 356+ stores, 80+ distributors covering 4,000+ MBOs
Mufti: 300 EBOs, 1200 MBOs
Spykar: 294 EBOs, 1,000 +MBOs
