Created in 1992, Spykar is a leading youth fashion denim brand of India. With a penchant for design innovation, new product launches and creating fashion for young India, Spykar is known for its superlative product quality and great fits. Since 2014, Spykar is a part of the Bagri family promoted Metdist Group, a diversified portfolio of companies based in the EU. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, the company’s Co-founder and CEO Sanjay Vakharia discusses the popularity of denim, the Indian market, and sustainability at Spykar.
What makes denim so popular even after 150 years of existence?
Rebellion is inherent to youth, and irrespective of the decade, the youth has always found some issues which they rebel against. No other garment personifies the rebel inside you. The youth have and will stay true to its colours and will always try and swim against the tide, and till that keeps happening, denim will always be the second skin of the youth.
So, till there are rebellions, and till the youth leads it, denim will prevail as the uniform of the rebel.
What is the penetration of denimwear, especially jeans, in the tier II and tier III towns in India today?
Denim wear has penetrated over all the tiers. The COVID-19 pandemic has hastened the acceptance of casual wear, and in fact denim is the flag bearer of casual wear.
Today, a small-town chap aspires to get what he does not have, and hence, the product (denim) has penetrated the most and continues to penetrate.
A lot of consumer fashion preferences have shifted post-pandemic. Do you see a shift in styles and fits among Gen Z and millennials?
Yes! products have expanded. Bottom wear has a new product which really helps bring in the freshness—athleisure. The youth have taken well to the new category. The business is growing but not at the expense of denims.
How big is the Indian market for denims and what is the share of Spykar in it?
The Indian market is big enough and there is no need to worry about the market share for the next decade or so.
How has Spykar as a brand evolved since its inception? What has changed and what has not?
Spykar is relevant since it always evolved with its consumers. It evolved with the changing face of retail and digitalisation. Many things have changed except the principles of business.
What’s not changed is the ‘customer centricity’, and that’s the mantra.
Sustainability has become a major aspect for young consumers when it comes to fashion. How are you working towards weaving sustainability into the brand?
Every action, process and thought has sustainability at its core. We believe that we need to embrace actions on account of sustainability which are possible to be consistently practiced. Even if we move the needle a little but permanently, it’s fine. But it needs to be permanent. And at Spykar we’ve been doing just that.
Serious implementable actions towards sustainability have been undertaken in our denim manufacturing, whether it is chemicals which are hazardous, or water consumption, which is very high. We have permanently moved to eco-friendly chemicals along with a huge amount of process change and automation which brings down water consumption to nearly 1/20th of what used to be a decade back.
What new innovations are being taken head-on at Spykar in denimwear?
Every day is another day of innovation. Too many things are happening simultaneously.
What is the next big thing at Spykar? What is your digital and physical retail strategy or the coming years?
Omni-channel is big at Spykar, and so is the thrust on accessories and womenswear. These are enough to keep our adrenaline rushing for some time.
Published on: 14/10/2022
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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