Indian Women Wear Market by 2010 | Prominent Womens wear Brands | Market Scenario

The beauty of a woman lies in her graceful charm, and it is the desire of every woman to look gorgeous without losing the essence of what makes her uniquely attractive. A right kind of apparel enhances her beauty and makes her look presentable. Womenswear is more complicated comparatively with menswear. Its trends are capricious and keep changing constantly and swiftly in every season in design, fabric, color, and style, whereas, men's wear trends evolve slowly with predictable changes.

Womenswear Market Scenario:

Indian womenswear market is going through a phase of renovation. Total value of womenswear market is estimated to be around Rs. 37,000 crore during 2007. It further indicates a positive growth rate of 14% a year, for the next five years reaching Rs. 61,000 crore by 2010. With the increasing number of working women, and simultaneously; the amount of their disposable incomes, womenswear market has taken a new dimension with the entry of many new as well as foreign brands. Consistent changes in fads, increasing information and knowledge of dressing sense due to media exposure, have also supplemented to the metamorphosis. With more women coming into spotlight now, they seek to dress well, look presentable and also prefer to buy branded clothing. Thus this segment of the apparel market has ample growth opportunities, as the market still remains untapped with only a few notable brands.

Womenswear includes both intimate wear and outerwear. Main categories are suits and coats, T-shirts, jumpers, tops, jackets, skirts, blouses, sweaters, and sweatshirts. Ethnic Indian wears like 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.

Prominent Womenswear Brands:

Indian retailers believe that womenswear and lingerie are the two categories that have a potential market and new brands can be introduced frequently. Branded wears for women is having an encouraging conversion rate of 60% on large store formats. Many manufacturers who were initially concentrating only on men's wear have started to focus more on the formal wears for women. Their main targets are working women in the age group, 22-40. Raymond has established its womenswear brand through its flagship brand 'Park Avenue', and its casual wear with the label 'Color Plus'. It is targeting to achieve 25% of the share in womenswear market estimating a revenue 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 its business has expanded its portfolio by including womenswear in its collection.

Lingerie market is also seeing a rosy future in India. Organized players will comprise 40% of the total lingerie market by 2009. Branded intimate wear 'Jockey' registered a 50% growth for womenswear during the first half of 2007, comparatively with a 30% growth in the menswear segment. French brand 'Etam', and Italian 'La Perla' have already made their Indian debut.

With organized retail structure gaining much more importance and new malls springing up, potential for branded wears foresee a lucrative market. Women like to look and feel attractive in the clothing she wears. With more and more women coming out of their shells for work, their challenging job environment, and women involving in jobs requiring long-haul travel, more requirements is felt for western wears. Retailers have to take care of providing a more conducive environment as they like to shop in privacy. With all positive aspects retail market for womenswear will witness a cut-throat competition in the forthcoming years with every retailer fighting for a slice in the pie.

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