Body wears or more commonly called Intimate wears in India has seen a huge turnaround in the last few years and today it is one of the fastest growing markets; rising customer awareness and maturity level of the companies makes it an attractive business, prompting many new players to enter the market. Be it the changing scenario of nightwear and transaction concept of nightwear to loungewear, use of seamless and organic, companies are coming up with more product categories which ultimately increase their market reach. Team AO talks to a few players about the product lines, importance of comfort and their future initiatives in this booming market…
It is boom time for the intimate wear market and though some problems still persist in providing quality products and comfort to the wearer, it is not hampering the growth of this versatile and increasingly fashion-driven market. This is largely due to the fact that the industry has witnessed a changing scenario for the good, evolving from the time of low awareness and knowledge of undergarments in women to today when a lot of enquiries regarding different fabrics, sizes and patterns are being floated to the manufacturers.
Innerwear, an amalgam of comfort, fitting and style…
Sidelining the conventional 100% cotton fabrics earlier being used in innerwear, now cotton is being blended with stretch fibres like lycra to provide stretchability and comfort in the product. “We basically deal with lingerie sets, regular bras, T-shirt bras, padded bras and double-padded bras and for these we use fabrics like stretchable cotton lycra, high quality supplex lycra, power knits for superior support and comfort in summers. We are also planning to incorporate lycra fabrics without blends in our product category, to fit the requirements of the customers,” says, Bhavin Gala, Partner, Libra Products from Bombay, who insists that Modal is the future of intimate wear fabrics owing to its resistance to shrinkage and 50% more water absorbency with respect to cotton.
Corroborating with the statement, Ravi Verma, Partner, Care in Lifestyle also stated that Modal, in 2014, is going to be India’s popular pick for intimate wear. The company believes in providing environment-friendly and skin-friendly fabrics to its customers and keeps on innovating to reciprocate to their requirements. Amid growing awareness and requirement of a product which can provide comfort and fitting without compromising on the style and pattern, companies are putting all their efforts to launch new product lines with involving variety of R&D to impart newness into the industry. Libra Products have started to develop D cups and C cups specifically in 50-52 sizes. Prateek Gupta, Director, Sona shared how the company is experimenting with different patterns and cuts in bras and panties to suit the new age customer. They are in process of launching a new bra called Coolbra, which will be made keeping in mind, breathability and movement. Another company is intimate wear, Vijay Kumar Jai Chand Lal Jain uses SFD dyes aka skin-friendly dyes, developed in-house which prevents the user from getting, rashes, itching problems and other comfort issues.
New players & growth
It is interesting to note that the vibrant Indian market is now attracting fresh investments. One such venture is of the Italian brand PRESTITIA, which was launched in India almost a year ago with its complete range being imported from Sri Lanka. But after witnessing strong growth, it has since not only started its factory in Noida, manufacturing 30,000 pieces per year, but is already looking to double its capacities very soon. “At the time of launching we were not too sure about the Indian market but now we are continuously moving forward with 25 products categories in our product basket and after South India, now North India is our focus,” says Piyush Mishra, GM Marketing of Pure Ultratech Fashion, handling PRESTITIA in India. Strawberry Lenceria, Bangalore is another six-month old brand, offering bras, panties and camisole for kids, which is planning to come out with an organic line of bras and panties soon along with getting into the premium range of undergarments in kidswear. It is also planning to launch a fashion category in lingerie, with laces and other novelty fabrics and varieties.
With the manufacturing capacity of 30,000 dozen of bras, panties, camisoles per month one and half year old company Care in Lifestyle, Sahibabad (Uttar Pradesh) is upgrading its stitching processes and launching bigger cup sizes for plus size women along with gents underwear range. Elite String Apparels, Delhi (Brand La Intimo) has just entered into the market and is offering only various kinds of men’s intimate wear, available only online with plans for retail expansion.
Established players launching new products
Having vast range of bridalwear, homewear, loungewear and sportswear, Ashapura Intimates Fashion (Valentine), Mumbai is doing business of almost Rs. 150 crore per year and the company is now focusing in a big way on panties which was started a couple of years back. “We are the only listed company of our product segment, which goes to show our credibility,” says Dinesh Sodha, Director, Ashapura Intimates Fashion. AP Enterprises (Tipsy), Delhi another two-decade old company has just introduced its nightwear ‘Bold Desire’ as it’s already doing well in bra segment. “Along with growth and new products, we can easily feel the growing expectation of Indian customers, and very soon same products of bamboo and organic fabrics will be in good demand in the domestic market. Developments are aimed to keep pace with international brands and their trends, like seamless is big in India nowadays,” says Amit Singh, Managing Partner, AP Enterprises.
[bleft]Sidelining the conventional 100% cotton fabrics being used in innerwear, now cotton is being blended with stretch fibres like, lycra, spandex to provide stretchablity and comfort in the product.[/bleft]
Bottlenecks still exist…
Despite many developments in the industry, some bottlenecks to deliver a quality product still persist like quality, fit and timely availability of raw material. Prateek Kamra of Kamra Lingeries, Delhi acknowledges, “We are observing a good growth even in rural areas where the customer is now ensuring the longevity of the product, but there are very few suppliers of fabrics and accessories who are reliable, so every time one has to ensure all the aspect of quality of raw material.” Whereas comfort of the wearer is concerned, use of quality fabric is the top priority, claim all the manufacturers but still there is no study or scientific measurement for sizing and it is still being handled by experienced masters, and in hindsight that is one of the biggest reasons that India is not seen as a intimate wear manufacturing destination by international brands, despite a thriving domestic market.
