The beauty of a woman lies in hergraceful charm, and it is the desire of every woman to look gorgeous withoutlosing the essence of what makes her uniquely attractive. A right kind of apparelenhances her beauty and makes her look presentable. Womenswear is morecomplicated comparatively with menswear. Its trends are capricious and keepchanging constantly and swiftly in every season in design, fabric, color, andstyle, whereas, men's wear trends evolve slowly with predictable changes.
WomenswearMarket Scenario:
Indian womenswear market isgoing through a phase of renovation. Total value of womenswear market isestimated to be around Rs. 37,000 crore during 2007. It further indicates apositive growth rate of 14% a year, for the next five years reaching Rs. 61,000crore by 2010. With the increasing number of working women, and simultaneously;the amount of their disposable incomes, womenswear market has taken a newdimension with the entry of many new as well as foreign brands. Consistentchanges in fads, increasing information and knowledge of dressing sense due tomedia exposure, have also supplemented to the metamorphosis. With more womencoming into spotlight now, they seek to dress well, look presentable and alsoprefer to buy branded clothing. Thus this segment of the apparel market hasample growth opportunities, as the market still remains untapped with only afew notable brands.
Womenswear includes both intimatewear and outerwear. Main categories are suits and coats, T-shirts, jumpers,tops, jackets, skirts, blouses, sweaters, and sweatshirts. Ethnic Indian wearslike salwar suits also add to it. As the number of working women increase,market for fusion wear and western wear are likely to grow simultaneously.
ProminentWomenswear Brands:
Indian retailers believe thatwomenswear and lingerie are the two categories that have a potential market andnew brands can be introduced frequently. Branded wears for women is having anencouraging conversion rate of 60% on large store formats. Many manufacturerswho were initially concentrating only on men's wear have started to focus moreon the formal wears for women. Their main targets are working women in the agegroup, 22-40. Raymond has established its womenswear brand through itsflagship brand 'Park Avenue', and its casual wear with the label 'Color Plus'. Itis targeting to achieve 25% of the share in womenswear market estimating arevenue of Rs.400 crore by 2010. Premium labels such as Allen Solly, Esprit,and Mango have a solid market. Indian Terrain, with an intention to refocus itsbusiness has expanded its portfolio by including womenswear in its collection.
Lingerie market is also seeing arosy future in India. Organized players will comprise 40% of the total lingeriemarket by 2009. Branded intimate wear 'Jockey' registered a 50% growth forwomenswear during the first half of 2007, comparatively with a 30% growth inthe menswear segment. French brand 'Etam', and Italian 'La Perla' have alreadymade their Indian debut.
With organized retail structuregaining much more importance and new malls springing up, potential for brandedwears foresee a lucrative market. Women like to look and feel attractive in theclothing she wears. With more and more women coming out of their shells forwork, their challenging job environment, and women involving in jobs requiringlong-haul travel, more requirements is felt for western wears. Retailers haveto take care of providing a more conducive environment as they like to shop inprivacy. With all positive aspects retail market for womenswear will witness acut-throat competition in the forthcoming years with every retailer fightingfor a slice in the pie.
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