Work-from-home, coupled with an elevated concentrate on health throughout the pandemic, has given new wings to the athleisure attire section, which is projected to keep up momentum even post-pandemic. Brands on this house are increasing with experiential shops in 2022, to make inroads into tier-II and tier-III cities.
It’s now not stunning to seek out nearly each attire or sportswear model presently having an athleisure/activewear line, with established manufacturers akin to Nike, Adidas, Reebok and Puma main the fray. During the pandemic years, plenty of new manufacturers and direct-to-consumer startups too, had taken the web path to notch up gross sales.
According to Ankur Bisen, senior associate and head (client, meals, and retail), Technopak Advisors, the section witnessed round 15% development throughout the pandemic and would proceed to develop at an identical charge this yr. Analysts peg the Indian athleisure market at over `54,000 crore.
‘Stretching’ past metros
Brands akin to Jockey and Enamor, which began off as innerwear specialists, have seen athleisure turn out to be their fastest-growing section, and are actually seeking to increase outdoors metros, shifting into tier-II and tier-III cities.
Karthik Yathindra, chief advertising and marketing officer, Jockey India – Page Industries, shares that Jockey Athleisure and Jockey Move presently are mainstays within the general portfolio, throughout all gross sales channels. The athleisure vary presently contributes to about 25% of the corporate’s income. “We are present in about one-fifth of the geography of India, and our target is to amplify our presence five times over in our key markets,” he says.
In the case of Enamor, the class contributed 8% of general gross sales till the pandemic, however it has since grown to over 25%.
Furthermore, each ASICS India and Jockey have expanded their respective offline retail footprint with a particular concentrate on tier-II/ III cities. While ASICS has 738 Multiple Brand Outlets (MBOs) and shop-in-shop factors presently, Jockey plans to develop from greater than 60,000 shops at current to over 1,00,000 shops this fiscal.
Rajat Khurana, managing director, ASICS India and South Asia, says the sportswear model leverages the omnichannel method, working a franchise enterprise mannequin whereas additionally being current on on-line marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, Ajio, Myntra and Tata CLiQ. It has additionally opened a devoted expertise zone for a few of its merchandise.
Leading manufacturers akin to Puma and Nike are additionally upping the ante on experiential shops. Puma launched its largest digitally-enabled experiential retailer in October final yr, in Delhi-NCR. The model has an identical retailer in Bengaluru, the place customers get entry to Puma merchandise on an interactive display screen that permits for just about scanning merchandise, inserting an order straight from the warehouse, and having it delivered dwelling.
Enamor, too, started the idea of experiential retail three years in the past with metro cities and is now increasing it to tier-II cities, shares Shekhar Tiwari, chief class and operations officer, Modenik Lifestyle (the guardian firm of Enamor).
Pushing limits
Analysts say that whereas experiential centres showcase the whole model identification and assist interact with prospects higher, these should not essentially sales-driving shops.
Furthermore, regardless of the pattern of athleisure seeping into the bigger psyche of attire buying behaviour, Bisen of Technopak says the problem is to keep up value competitiveness within the face of inflation. Spandex, nylon and acrylic, essentially the most important materials for athleisure put on, depend on petrochemical supplies and plastic derivatives, and with oil costs capturing up, the worth of athleisure merchandise would, in flip, be affected. The present common ticket dimension for athleisure is 900-
1,599.
While the section might proceed to develop within the coming years, Harminder Sahni, founder and MD, Wazir Advisors, cautions that with fierce competitors within the house and low entry obstacles, will probably be powerful for any single model to dominate the market.
Read Also: How OTT viewership has advanced from single viewing to household expertise
Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook
Source: www.financialexpress.com”