We'll launch 10 product categories in 2018
Tego delivers premium gear for the modern everyday athlete. The brand uses a unique blend of performance materials, emerging technologies and purpose-driven design elements to develop a range of activewear for today's consumer. Founders Krishna Chandak and Ashish Naik who started the company in 2015 talk about the textile technologies being employed at Tego, their retail strategy and future plans.
How many collections are made in a year? How many styles are there in each collection?
Krishna Chandak: We will be expanding our product range considerably in 2018-19. We will typically have two seasons with a very tight collection of our core product range of high quality staples (tops , bottoms, accessories) in addition to two or three new categories every season. Our focus at this point is to maintain the material integrity of our range.
Why did you think of getting into activewear? What is the USP of Tego?
Krishna Chandak: Tego was born out of the need for gear we could not find. So we set out to filter out the hype and create products that would make a difference to our workouts. We spent nearly two years in factories and research labs in India and across the globe to identify textile technologies and emerging materials that fit our deep product story. For example, a towel that doesn't just wipe away sweat faster, but also reduces the threat of germs at gyms. Or a performance cotton t-shirt that dries twice as fast for real comfort with reduced clinging. Each concept is executed with a clear purpose and function: to motivate everyday athletes likes us to be their sweatiest best.
How many different products do you offer?
Ashish Naik: We currently have five product categories and plan to launch an additional 10 this year. Total stock keeping unit (SKU) count will be 200. Our product categories now are the following:
Tego fit Towel: Engineered with a proven anti-microbial formulation that is certified and tested to reduce the risk of cross contamination and germs through shared surfaces
Tego SweatCharged Tshirt: Performance T-shirts with an activated print that reveals a message only when you sweat
Tego Stance Reversible Mat: A truly reversible mat, with a fused construction for durability, and a functional GuideAlign design to keep one's posture in check; made from PVC for a sticky grip, which is removed of the six most harmful phthalates
Tego Drill Socks: Ultra light cushioned performance socks using technical yarns, high stitch count for durability and contoured fit
Tego VAPArise: Performance cotton apparel that mimic the wicking of synthetics; the fabric is engineered using a unique blend of yarns to optimise absorbency and dries twice as fast as regular cotton
We are looking at portfolio expansion by using licensed innovations to roll out high-quality staples through new categories.
Is the parent company into exports? What is the amount exported every year?
Ashish Naik: Our principal business remains Tego. We have executed some export orders for Tego in GCC countries, Malaysia and Israel. We also sell on Amazon USA.
Do you have your own manufacturing units or do you outsource it all? If you outsource it, what are the top five traits that you look for in a vendor?
Ashish Naik: We are asset light and outsource our manufacturing. However, we do work on licensing various unique technologies for the region. These are some of the things we look for in our manufacturing partners:
1. Quality control focus and relationships with independent and third party testing labs
2. Product lines they have developed
3. Machines
4. Their sourcing partners and ability to execute on new concepts
5. Compliances
What was the turnaround year for the brand?
Krishna Chandak: Fiscal 2017-18 ended well despite the obvious rough start due to policy changes that impacted almost all businesses. We are excited about 2018-19, which will see new product categories.
Where do you source raw materials and accessories from?
Ashish Naik: There is a new wave of emerging materials and textile technologies with concepts getting commercialised faster than ever before. At Tego, we use our deep-rooted global networks and access to leading research labs and manufacturing facilities to identify these trends and make them our own.
Which apparel or accessory category has been faring the best for your brand?
Ashish Naik: All our products are unique and have done well for us. Our SweatCharged has done phenomenally well.
Our accessories (towels/mats/socks) have top ranking on Amazon India, with 'Amazon Choice' badge.
How big is your retail presence - both brick-and-mortar and online?
Krishna Chandak: We began our journey in 2016 through multi-brand sports door at Planet Sports (Future) and SportXS, when we only had the Tegofit Sports towel and the Tego SweatCharged T-shirt. This gave us a presence in about 40 premium mall locations across India. In 2017, we added distributors for south, north (ex Delhi), east and north-east regions. This has given us placement in 80 top sport doors across India. We also have presence in multi-brand retail chains like Total Sports in Mumbai, Champs Sports in Goa and Champions Sports in Pune.
We have undertaken institutional sales like 20,000 towels for Tata Mumbai marathon Procam and tennis towels for Tata Maharashtra Open organised by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association.
We are currently working on a huge opportunity with a major FMCG brand to use our SweatCharged T-shirt for their year-long fitness-based campaign. Their campaign slogan will emerge through sweat on the T-shirt fabric.
Who designs the products? What is the design strategy at Tego? What is the strength of your designing team?
Krishna Chandak: Our design strategy is in tune with the requirements of the modern everyday athlete. We understand that life is about more than just sport; people have busy lives and as much as they strive to be the best they can be, they have other focus too. Therefore, most of our products have multi-functional elements. For example, our performance cotton apparel is designed to look great on the street as well as at the gym; our training socks are the perfect blend of modern sock technology and flair in design. Even our exercise mats are designed to help you improve a new workout pose.
We work with several hard and soft products and industrial designers across the globe. Our principal apparel designer is Sean Pankhurst, based in the United Kingdom. He is an experienced sports and lifestyle designer with a demonstrated history of working with some of the biggest brands in the design industry. Sean previously led Nike's global football team sports design strategy and managed seasonal design direction for their generic football business. He also managed Canterbury's 'off-field' design team across all categories.
What has the sale been like on your website? Which are your best selling products and which price-points sell the best?
Krishna Chandak: Our focus in 2018 is to build our direct-to-consumer channel www.tego.fit. Sale on our website is building up. We are seeing 30 per cent conversion on our website and are working aggressively to build our content engine to create a more engaging customer experience.
How have you fared on online marketplaces? Any plans to go omni-channel?
Krishna Chandak: Our products have best seller rankings on Amazon India. We listed on Myntra in March 2018. We also sell to very targeted fitness communities like the GOQii platform.
Omni-channel is an end goal for any brand today. We are working out an experience centre model and discussing with mall owners to evaluate.
What are the advertising, marketing and promotion plans?
Krishna Chandak: Digital marketing, public relations and below the line (BTL) activities and in-store activations will be the primary activities over the next 12 months. We are also working on building an evolved brand identity on social channels, collaborating with like-minded brands and influencers to emphasize on our positioning as a premium activewear brand.
What is your strategy to counter competition from international brands in this category? What challenges do you face as a young brand?
Krishna Chandak: Every major consumer market has seen independent challenger brands come up as they are not trying to offer everything to everyone. We have taken a 'first-in-kind' approach for the Indian marketplace, and our product development has focused on scalable niche - addressing user pain points for our target group of 'everyday athletes' that has given us a hook in retail and established our brand authenticity. Our pan-India retail footprint and over 200 positive reviews on Amazon across products (with deliveries to over 150 cities and towns) will give you an idea on our strong product-market fit.
A major part of our success will depend on our ability to grow fast and constantly keep innovating.
How have the last two fiscals been and what are your expectations for the next two?
Ashish Naik: We don't disclose numbers. However, to give you some perspective, we have approximately 30,000 customers across all channels with an average selling price of Rs 1,000.
What are your future plans? Do you plan to get into wearable tech?
Krishna Chandak: We are building a premium activewear brand for everyday athletes. We are always thinking about pain points the everyday athlete faces while keeping an eye on new technologies, manufacturing processes, and designs to develop new products. Wearable tech is on our radar. (HO)
