PAIO: MAKER OF CONSCIOUS FOOTWEAR WITH STRONG DESIGN ELEMENTS

A completely made in India brand, using locally sourced materials, PAIO's ethos is based on the idea that fashion need not come at the cost of a precious life. Shweta Nimkar founded the cruelty-free and vegan footwear brand in 2015 with one simple agenda - to create conscious footwear with strong design elements inspired by everything around us, while making sure each product is comfortable.

JUTTIS THAT SPEAK CHARM

Shirin Mann Sangha claims to be an accidental entrepreneur. As a child she admired her mother wearing juttis and always loved the craft. But the idea of making struck her when she could not find the right juttis for her own wedding. She founded Needledust in 2014. Over the years, it has gained a prominent position in the jutti market, captivating customers both in India and internationally.

GOOD INDIAN: A SUSTAINABLE D2C BRAND IN TOWN

The environmental and social cost of the fashion industry has compelled brands to rethink fast fashion and stress on the need for more sustainable business models and practices. The latest brand to have joined the club is Good Indian.

A FOOT FORWARD: The Landscape and Future of the Indian Sportswear Market

Today, sportswear has transcended its athletic origins to become a fashion statement embraced by people from all walks of life. Several factors have stimulated this growth. The emergence of health and wellness trends, an increase in sporting events, rise of sports celebrities, higher disposable incomes, and a shift in lifestyle patterns towards fitness activities are some of the driving forces.

Attitude and aura of Italian heritage and workmanship

Fila says it has been able to balance the product manufacturing locally versus import in its portfolio. The apparel manufacturing contribution is 80% India and 20% import. The brand is operated under Metro Brands since it was bought over from Batra Group. FILA will be present across all Metro and Mochi stores, Abdon Lepcha, the brand’s Creative Director informs Images Business of Fashion. Excerpts

'We will add at least 10 more stores this year'

HRX (Hrithik Roshan Extreme) was strictly an online brand until last year. It offers a range of products including t-shirts, track pants, jackets, tights, as well as sports accessories such as footwear, and backpacks for men and women. Its store collections are inspired by the Bollywood actor's everyday choices for workouts. The brand, jointly owned by Hrithik Roshan and Exceed Entertainment, was launched first on Myntra.com in November 2013 with an athleisure line for men. Recently, the active lifestyle apparel brand has secured an official fan merchandise partnership with four teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has unveiled physical stores. The brand's journey signifies the success story of a home-grown sportswear. In an email interview with Images Business of Fashion, Afsar Zaidi, Co-founder of the brand said, In the course of the journey we evolved, made mistakes, corrected the course, outshone competition, ma strong community, garnered enough love and finally once all the chief milestones- in terms of business, product and consumers were covered, we decided to go omni. Excerpts

DESIGNED IN MELBOURNE MADE AT THE BEST FACTORIES

Melbourne-based fashion brand Forever New has recently announced that it has deployed end-to-end post purchase technology stack of Unicommerce to strengthen its omnichannel operations. In an exclusive interaction with Images Business of Fashion, Dhruv Bogra, Country Head, Forever New said, We have made omnichannel capabilities a top priority in order to provide excellent customer delight. Our organisation has been concentrating on this sector for some years and has a longstanding relationship with our technology partners.” Excerpts

SPORTSWEAR MARKET WHERE FASHION MEETS FUNCTION

With increasing awareness about the importance of physical activity, more people are taking up sports and fitness activities. As a result, India’s sportswear market has registered significant growth over the years.

DIGITAL CUSTOMISED TAILORING SOLUTION

Two brothers, Dhruv Toshniwal and Udit Toshniwal, who hailed from a family with an experience of 45 years in the textile industry, founded The Pant Project to cater customised fashion. The idea to launch the brand online was a result of the pandemic as physical retail stores were closing down. We saw this as an opportunity to leverage the power of the internet to digitize the traditional tailoring experience and offer never-seenbefore levels of service, the brothers shared.

Classicuir: Designed in Paris, made in India

Founded by Priyanka Sethi, Classicuir caters leather products that combine 'timeless old style with modern design and they are designed in France and made in India'. The brand says its target audience is working class women and housewives in the age bracket of 28-55, women who love travelling and with household incomes of at least ₹30,000.

How D2C Brands Maximize Sales with Data-Driven Insights

This D2C business model has also provided brands with an enormous amount of data that they can use to improve their sales and marketing efforts. One of the key advantages is that it allows brands to have complete control over the customer journey, from product development to marketing and sales.

TIMEX: Staying true to its core belief

Helped by higher demand that now needs fresh capacity-enhancing investments, India has outpaced Europe as Timex Group’s second-largest market by revenue. The US-based watchmaker, which has a manufacturing at Baddi, on the border of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, plans to increase its capacity for both domestic and overseas sales, harnessing the unit’s potential as a sourcing hub. The company, which is the official timekeeper for Gujarat Titans, produces watches under its own brand Timex and also other premium fashion brands including Versace, Guess, GC, Nautica and Salvatore Ferragamo, among others. Recently, it announced the acquisition of Mumbai-headquartered premium watch retail brand, Just Watches, for an undisclosed sum. As part of this deal, Timex India will be taking over all the physical stores of Just watches along with their e-commerce platform-justwatches.com. To find out more, Images Business of Fashion interacted with Deepak Chhabra, Managing Director Timex Group India. Edited excerpts of the interview.

Curating FASHION that speaks

Shoppers Stop, India's leading fashion and beauty destination, 'curates fashion that speaks to the hearts of its customers. It takes great pride in its large presence in the retail sector, with 102 (including airport doors) stores spread across 50 cities in India. In an exclusive interaction with Images Business of Fashion, Venu Nair, MD and CEO, Shoppers Stop said, \"With increasing usage of social media, the fashion aspiration of tier 1 and tier 2 towns is on a high. Customers want to be updated with latest fashion and beauty trends and are ready to invest.\" Excerpts

Bata India Q4 net profit up 4.2% at ₹65.62 cr

Shoemaker Bata India reported a 4.22 percent rise in consolidated net profit to ₹65.62 crore for the fourth quarter ended March, 2023.

SoleSearch raises ₹6 cr on debut

SoleSearch, an Indian street culture brand with an e-commerce platform for limited edition sneakers, and streetwear, accessories, collectibles just raised ₹6 crores in their first funding round.

Abhishek Ganguly quits Puma, launches Agilitas Sports

After quitting Puma, Abhishek Ganguly along with Atul Bajaj and Amit Prabhu have announced their entrepreneurial venture Agilitas Sports.

Korean brand Laneige ropes in Athiya Shetty as India face

Laneige, skincare the Korean brand, has announced Bollywood actress Athiya Shetty as its first-ever brand face in India.

Trent net profit jumps 40% to ₹105 crore in Q4

Tata Group's retail arm Trent has declared a 40.4 percent on-year jump in standalone net profit in the fourth quarter ending March, 2023 at ₹105.13 crore, on robust sales along with margin expansion.

Nykaa appoints new CFO and CTO

Online fashion and beauty platform Nykaa has appointed P. Ganesh as chief financial officer (CFO) and Rajesh Uppalapati as chief technology officer (CTO).

Vogue Eyewear launches campaign featuring Taapsee Pannu

To mark its 50th anniversary this year, Vogue Eyewear has unveiled a new campaign featuring the India brand face - Taapsee Pannu.

Allen Solly opens new store in Bengaluru

Allen Solly, casual workwear brand from Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd., has opened its largest flagship store in Bengaluru at HSR Layout.

Bengaluru gets another Zara store

Zara has launched a new store at Forum Mall in Bengaluru. The store spreads across more than 23,000 sq. ft. and is sprawled across two floors housing all sections.

Shoppers Stop bring's first Home Stop store to Dehradun

Shoppers Stop has opened its first Home Stop format store in Dehradun. Located at Centrio Mall, the store, it says, aims to provide end-to-end home decor solutions under one roof.

Chennai-based Sundari Silks enters Mumbai

Chennai-based saree brand Sundari Silks has opened its new flagship store at Vile Parle, Mumbai.

Bunny Corset introduces summer collection

Bunny Corset, a name in exquisite corsets, has introduced its summer collection.

Personal Touch Skincare launches Elysium

Personal Touch Skincare launched Elysium, an eye cream that has been formulated with cutting edge technology, top-of-the-line ingredients and unparalleled results to address all your eye concerns'.

Azorte unveils 'Summer on my mind' collection

Azorte, Reliance Retail's large format fashion store, launched its SS23 collection, Summer on my mind. Telugu actor Sreeleela launched the collection at Azorte, Sahara City Mall, Hyderabad.

Kazo introduces Spring Summer collection

Kazo, a women's fashion brand has recently launched its spring summer clothing collection. The brand claims that the printed wrap mini skirt is a standout item in the new collection, featuring a herringbone print and tie-up design.

Boom-Time For Vegan Fashion

The vegan leather market worldwide will expand to nearly $90 billion by 2025, while the overall vegan fashion market will reach $837 billion by 2030. The numbers speak of the groundswell of interest in vegan fashion. Since the most on-trend vegan leathers and fabrics are plant-based, the increase in patronage of these items is also good news for India's farmers.

Primal Gray: An attention to clean and linear silhouettes

Claimed to be built on transparent production, transparent fibre and fabrics, transparent composition and circular productive practices, Primal Gray positions itself as a conscious fashion brand.