FEATURE
THE TREND PARTLY OWES ITS
POPULARITY TO CELEBRITY
ATHLEISURE BRANDS.
RISE IN INDIAN ATHLEISURE
While the majority of growth in athleisure has
taken place globally, India has been a late but
spritely entrant. This has been possible due to
the overwhelming fame of athleisure clothing
among many celebrities. The trend partly owes its
popularity to celebrity athleisure brands such as
HRX by Hritik Roshan and Just F by Jacqueline
Fernandez. Other celebrity-backed entrants in
this space include Shahid Kapoor’s brand Skult,
which is an extension of the Aditya Birla Group,
and Prowl by Tiger Shroff. Fashion designers
such as Dhruv Kapoor, Ruchika Sachdeva, Anand
Bhushan, and Monisha Jaising, among many
others, have also been incorporating athleisure in
their product lines.
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I APPAREL I
December 2019
This deep and enduring investment in the
Indian market is not unwarranted as research
from Deloitte India shows that the athleisure
market in India is growing. The market is
expected to flourish at a growth rate of nearly 20
per cent to reach over R54,000 crore by 2020.
And while India only has a two per cent-share of
the global market, it has shown rapid expansion
and is poised for immense success. This belief
is backed by some essentially shifting factors
in the Indian demographic. The breakup of the
consumer demographic in India is highly biased
towards young people with disposable income
or access to credit. The rise of the millennial and
Gen-Z consumer segments is further adding
to this trend since they are more globally aware
and do not conform to traditional expectations
of attire.
This is leading to a highly consumerist outlook
that is further fostered by celebrity endorsements.
As a result, the trend towards branded apparel,
especially the kind that offers casual and fun
values like athleisure, is on the rise. Even the
cultural fabric of the nation is becoming more
flexible as more and more young people are
adopting the ‘start-up’ culture, where formalwear
in the workplace is becoming a thing of the past.
With all these converging trends, the growth rate
of major global brands such as Puma has been
on a spectacular high in India over the last couple
of years.
There are (yet) no clear indications that
athleisure, as a market segment, has reached its
full maturity; but given its highly versatile product
features, broad appeal across both basic and
premium markets, affordability, and alignment with
modern consumers’ value, there is no stopping
athleisure brands. As technology evolves, it is not
unlikely that athleisure will continue to take on
global fashion with more and more vigour.