BackEthnic wear segment is winning the race
Reliance’s move comes on the heels of several investments made by ABFRL in the segment
PremiumLast Friday, Reliance Brands Ltd (RBL), a unit of Reliance Industries Ltd, agreed to buy a 40% stake in MM Styles Pvt. Ltd, owned by Bollywood’s favourite designer Manish Malhotra. The investment in a homegrown luxury ethnic wear brand was an important milestone for RBL, which, so far, had been in the business of introducing premium, bridge-to-luxury and luxury international brands to India.
Again, on Tuesday, RBL’s holding company Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd said it was picking up a majority stake in Ritika Pvt. Ltd, the fashion house owned by designer Ritu Kumar that retails semi-formal and bridal ethnic wear, among other things.
At the time of the MM Styles deal, Reliance Brands said that it was eyeing homegrown talent rooted in Indian design sensibilities.
Reliance’s move comes on the heels of several investments made by apparel company Aditya Birla Fashion Retail Ltd (ABFRL) that traditionally sold men’s formal wear brands Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England. Since 2019, it has picked up stakes in ethnic wear labels such as Jaypore, Sabyasachi Couture and Tarun Tahiliani.
Harminder Sahni, founder, Wazir Advisors, the company that advised Tarun Tahiliani on the partnership with ABFRL, said most large apparel companies completely missed out on the raging growth in readymade ethnic wear segment. Most continued to sell western formals. “They woke up to the potential of ethnic readymades when success stories such as Manyavar, Biba and W emerged," he said.
Ankur Bisen, senior vice-president, retail and consumer at management consultancy Technopak, agreed. The Indian ethnic wear market has had a dream run for the past 10-15 years for two reasons. One, ethnic wear moved from cut-piece to ready-to-wear. Second, it moved from sarees to fusion wear such as a kurta with slacks or jeans, he said. “Homegrown brands rode the trend to prove that ‘ethnic’ was not just a sidebar reference but mainstream fashion," he said.
Manyavar, owned by Vedant Fashions Ltd, recently filed a draft red herring prospectus with Securities and Exchange Board of India to raise funds via initial public offering. The category leader in branded Indian wedding and celebration wear market has a pan-India presence.
An earlier Mint report said, as of 30 June, it had a retail footprint of 1.1 million sq. ft covering 525 exclusive brand outlets, including 55 shop-in-shops in 207 cities and stores in the US, Canada and the UAE. The firm aims to double its national footprint over the next few years.
In time for Ganesh Chaturthi this year, Louis Philippe and Peter England, known for men’s western wear, also launched new collections of ethnic wear. Interestingly, these brands are part of ABFRL’s portfolio, which also sells international brands such as American Eagle, Ralph Lauren and Ted Baker.
Again, while investing in Tahiliani, ABFRL had announced its focus on ethnic wear for the next few years as young Indians rediscover their culture and heritage. The company said that its portfolio will address all ethnic wear segments: value, premium and luxury.
Obviously, spotting the potential, Titan’s saree brand Taneira also entered the ready-to-wear category with the launch of EIRA premium-priced, handcrafted kurtas last December.
Ethnic wear saw a comeback in the 2000s when India started to feel proud of its roots, said Sahni. The IT and retail boom brought the young to metros from small towns. While the earlier generations who moved to big cities for jobs tried to assimilate by mimicking metro consumers in habits, the newer generations changed that, he said. “Today, our news, films, food celebrate small-town India. The young are confident of their fashion, too," he said.
The mammoth ethnic wear market has pushed big firms to tap the brand value of designer labels, their skills and knowledge base, said Bisen. Both Sahni and Bisen expect companies to make use of their design sensibilities and craft strategies to scale operations rather than operate in niches.
Technopak estimates suggest that of India’s $20 billion ethnic wear market, 93% is women’s wear. That’s because women wear ethnic to work. Men still don’t. That’s a change Sahni is rooting for. Also, he’s keen to see when Armani and Gucci make Indian clothes to partake in this momentum.
Shuchi Bansal is Mint’s media, marketing and advertising editor. Ordinary Post will look at pre-ssing issues related to all three. Or just fun stuff.
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