Casuals elbowing in on brands

Apparel majors are dressing down their offerings in sync with the redefinition of work clothes. With the pedigree white collar giving way to jeans, indigos, cotton checks and T shirts, apparel companies are rapidly propping up casual categories into their high recall brands.

While the casualisation process itself is a decade old, dating back to the dotcom days, observers say, brands this time around are adopting a different tack by building segments into their brands, leaving the core values untouched.

However high cost of promoting these segments is eroding margins, as these categories account for less than 10 per cent of each label's revenues or less than Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) currently.

Apparel makers counter that they "are warming up to meet the demand in the coming years and the cost is more an investment." This move is imperative as work clothes constitute 75 per cent of the men's apparel market.

Besides, there is business reasoning as well. They predict sub segments will drive the brand in the coming years by posting 20 per cent plus growth annually, more than double the industry growth.

Madura Garments, for instance, anticipates the shift to be prominent in the next three years.

Vasanth Kumar, vice-president marketing says these segments will notch at least 30 per cent of the total brand sales by then.

The result, Madura Garments has positioned a casual category into each of its formal labels.

While its premium end offerings Louis Philippe, Van Heusen and Allen Solly now have Premium Casuals, Informals and Clean jeans all targetting the white collar worker, even its mass market brand Peter England is aggressively promoting Elements.

At the other end, upper crest mark Arrow has said Arrow Sport will be its flagship product. Raymond is scaling up its informal labels Parx and ColorPlus, while Wills LifeStyle is launching several ranges in its informal and evening wear section.

Observers point out that while there is a latent demand for these smart casuals, apparel makers will have to display the product and not just stack it.

Thus, they add, the onus will be on owned retail outlets and not MBO's.