Athleisure is the buzzword
HRX, a lifestyle and fitness brand founded in November 2013 by Hrithik Roshan and Exceed Entertainment, is aimed at fitness enthusiasts. HRX targets go-getters who look to push themselves to achieving their goal. India's homegrown activewear brand offers a range of products including sports shoes, men's joggers, t-shirts, backpacks and select womenswear (joggers, sports bras, t-shirts). Afsar Zaidi, CEO and co-founder of HRX, speaks with Fibre2Fashion about the fitness scenario in India.
Please tell us about your business on the e-commerce platform.
HRX, India's first homegrown fitness brand, is exclusively available on India's largest e-commerce platform Myntra and its allied portals, Jabong and Flipkart. It is the fourth largest brand in the sportswear category on Myntra.
Sportswear as activewear, and sportswear as funky-wear. What are you gravitating towards, and what is more in demand?
HRX introduced this trend to the Indian fashion terrain in 2013 when it was just beginning to grow internationally. There was certain farsightedness and trend analysis which confirmed our belief that people will definitely start aligning themselves to fitness in the years to come and dedicate a part of their wardrobe to activewear and athleisure. It is this insight that made us zero in on the functional and practical clothing category. The clairvoyance paid off, and today this is the most spotted trend on all runways and real life.
Which towns and cities do you see the most traction from?
HRX has its presence across India in all tier-1 and tier-2 cities. Being the biggest e-commerce platform of India, it caters to urban and semi-urban markets equally. As a part of the expansion strategy, one will soon see HRX in offline retail formats-EBOs and MBOs-across all major metros.
How big is the market for activewear /athleisure?
The combined market size of India's active sportswear market including sports footwear, apparel and accessories is Rs6,000 crore and is growing at 13 per cent year-on-year. By 2020, it is expected to grow at an additional 12 per cent CAGR with sales expected to reach $8 billion.
How are you differentiating yourself in an increasingly crowded market?
The brand has been envisioned to serve as a platform for bringing likeminded people together to endorse the philosophy of becoming the best version of them. HRX aims to revolutionise the fitness scenario in India, as a value-for-money, high-quality alternative to international brands. The brand strives to provide products and services of substance, drawn from Hrithik Roshan and his lifelong dedication to achieving the fittest version of himself. The brand takes off from various facets of Roshan's lifestyle and fitness regime to create value offering for consumers in relevant categories.
What are the advertising, marketing and promotion plans?
Our core focus continues to be digital marketing and all our marketing and communication content will serve the purpose of keeping our consumer motivated along his journey towards being the best version of himself. HRX is also looking at investing in an enhanced retail experience through the use of technology. Product and design innovation with continued focus on new category introductions will drive the sales. We will invest in an enhanced retail experience through the use of technology.
What are the new trends in activewear, casual and funky sportswear?
Athleisure is the current buzzword in fashion, and rules the roost in every fashion week. Theoretically, it is the trend that involves comfortable clothing designed and worn for casual and athletic activities, but this trend has taken the world by storm.
How many collections are made in a year in all the segments?
Like most brands we also bring out two collections-SS and AW. Each collection usually has three design inspirations and three capsules.
Tell us about the styles in each collection.
The mainstay is activewear and athleisure for men and women. The categories include tees, tops, tanks, tights, joggers, sweatshirts, hoodies and vests. Shoes is the next big category with focus on performance and style. While apparel forms 75 per cent of our business, shoes contribute 25 per cent of the overall revenue. Men's athleisure is our star category. Tees, joggers, tracks and jeans lead the pack. The styles are in line with international trend stories-graphic tees, infographics, techformation, geometric shapes and forms, camouflage, etc, are very much a part of the AW 17 collection.
How is the demand for yoga fashion in India?
On the rise, and keeping in sync with the demand, HRX is soon to launch a special yoga line.
What else is new in the pipeline?
We are not averse to the idea of launching anything new and innovative around the two pillars of HRX- fashion and fitness. Soon, HRX will pan across all relevant categories pertaining to the life of a fitness enthusiast or an aspirant of fit living. We have a lot of interesting business partnerships in the pipeline that will be announced over the course of time.
HRX focuses more towards collections specific to women. Please elaborate.
HRX forayed into women's collection a couple of years ago, and is working on growing the category now. HRX is a quintessential sportswear brand, and women are as much into fitness nowadays as men are. Hence, it is an important audience set that can't be ignored or missed. Having said that, developing activewear for women is a slightly more detailed exercise as opposed to men's activewear for items of clothing like sports bras, fitted vests, comfortable tights, etc, require attention to detailing in terms of fit, cut and seamlessness for fluidity of movement. Alongside, there is a very strong sense of fashion and styling that is brought into women's activewear in tandem with international trends. Factoring all this, HRX is now poised with an interesting, highly stylish, trendy and comfortable collection for women.
You are an e-fashion retailer. Any plans to enter brick-and-mortar?
It is very much a part of the strategy, and the natural progression for a brand of HRX's calibre. The process of identification of the right retail partners for MBOs and availability of the right locations for EBOs has begun. The plan should see fruition soon. The target looks like the festive season of 2018.
What can be called as a major achievement by your company in the year 2016-17?
The most recent partnership in the space of technology and wearable is with Xiaomi India under which HRX and Mi have come together to launch a fitness tracker. Mi Band-HRX Edition boasts over 23 days of usage on a single charge, thanks to the low-energy Bluetooth 4.0 chipset, and a power efficient OLED display. It can monitor your steps, calories burnt, and sleep patterns, as well as display notifications including incoming calls or text messages. (RR)
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