Market for the much neglected segment; the resort wear is now becoming a favorite for designers, retailers, and customers.

Resort wear is a clothing style worn round the year and for all seasons. However, itis specially used as beach wear or cruise wear. Today, resort wears have become one of the biggest selling point for retailers and designers. A garment that was once considered as a leisure wear, has emerged as a fashionable; and ready to wear market in a big scale.

From walking shorts, to kaftans, full-length evening dresses for women, and light dinner jackets, resort wear are available in a range of styles. There garments are generally inspired by sailor and yachting themes, hula girls, palm trees,and bright floral prints. Initially resort wear was marketed as an upscale garment in high end stores, and collections were affordable only for the affluent classes. They were worn by the creamy sections, which plan to spend a vacation in warmer climates. As the market for these apparels got heated up, currently retailers are bringing in the garment at prices affordable to all classes.

Market for Resort wears:

Market for resort wear is seeing exponential growth especially in the womenswear segment. Places like Las Vegas, Bahamas, San Juan, Palm Beach, Marbella, and the Mustique islands were earlier considered as popular vacation destinations.Now South Africa, Dubai, Costa Rica, Greece, and Thailand are also added to the list. People's interest to appreciate nature, and open mindedness for a cross culture has brought about a drastic change in the way people chose their vacation spots. Resort wear sees good market especially in these vacation spots.


Resort wears posses' qualities of free flowing fabrics, easy draping, and silhouettes, which makes the garment more preferable. Designers and design houses such as J. Crew, Lilly Pulitzer, Banana Republic, and Tommy Bahama are famous for resort wear. Other leading brands are Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, John Galliano, Anna Sui etc. They comprise of 70 to 80 percent of women's apparel sales. African and Egyptian prints with traditional tie and dye and block printing take this nautical trend to the next level. Cotton fabrics are mostly used for resort wears, while silk and poplin follows next. These fabrics are used due to their breathable and light weight characteristics. Linen is also growing in popularity due to its cool and comfortable virtues. Other synthetic fabrics that are thin and sheer are also considered, especially for making swimsuits and camisoles.

Indian Market:

Current era sees Indian fashion growing to new heights with designers show casing their collections both in India and abroad. This is creating a magical transformation in the fashion of the Indian population as well, causing them to opt for clothing variations. Resort wears are carving for a niche in the Indian fashion market with designers, manufacturers, and retailers hitting the right note with creative style of clothing line.Indian market for resort wears are still at the nascent stage, but has good potential. The new Indian population likes travelling, and exploring coastal regions of India, and abroad. This fuel the market for resort wears in India. It requires skill and expertise to understand the Indian mind set and manufacture garments to suit their preference and life style, more than being just fashionable.

Most of the trends for the coming season are friendly with the Indian styles. Embroidery, tie and dye, embellishments, appealing laces, vibrant block prints, and native prints are seen in clothes. Indian retailers focus on what they should store in the racks to attract their customers. Resort wears in kaftan styles with traditional designs have good market in India. Apparels embellished with sequins, tie and dye prints, and batik works are a hot trend. Special attention will be given to clothing styles with cross cultural influences, and mix and match styles.

Resort wear gets the fashion spotlight:

Designer collections for 2013 feature patterns that go beyond the regular lifestyle. Stylish patterns in creative variations and patterns adding an extra twist to the dresses, trousers, tops, and blouses are seen on runways. Not just for womenswear, resort wear takes a new turn in the contemporary times, spreading it to the male wardrobes as well. Typically relaxed dresses, captivating loose shirts in vibrant hues, walking shorts, and men's trousers would be in fad for the coming months, and seen in the retailer's collection.

From the view of being a symbol of sophisticated lifestyle, resort wears have evolved to represent an independent fashion trend. Taking the evolving trends into consideration, resort wear is a perfect platform for designers to show case their creativity, manufacturers and retailers to add profits, and the customers to live a variant lifestyle.

References:

    Apparel Online, July, 2012
    Wikipedia.org
    Indiatoday.intoday.in