Apparel Online India Magazine February 1st Issue 2019 | Page 43

DOMESTIC UPDATE
and making them tapered at the
waist. After a couple of years, they
started selling jeans with Lycra
and went against the conventional
rough and tough denim fabric to
suit the needs of the travelling and
active consumers. When athleisure
fashion spread in the market like
wildfire with sudden influx of
joggers, Mufti started creating
denim joggers to provide durability
to this popular product category.
“The brand has its roots in India
while the design aspirations and
sensibility are very international.
Our ability to interpret and execute
the international trends to suit
the Indian consumers gives us an
edge over international brands.
The consumer groups are getting
younger and we use our resources
to create transitional fashion for
these young consumers,” said
Vipul Mathur, Chief Operating
Officer for Mufti, in conversation
with Apparel Online.
CREATING BEST
RELATIONS WITH
VENDORS FOR HAPPY
CONSUMERS
Mufti works on an effective
product development system that
takes into account all levels of
the supply chain. With quality as
the highest priority, this system
aims at understanding the need
of the manufacturers to deliver
products that are at par with
what the consumers demand. This
cycle starts by incentivising the
vendors by implementing a tight
payment system that ensures
on-the-spot payment to the
vendors. “We believe that if we
are ensuring the monetary cycle
of our vendors, they will stay loyal
to us, keep our orders on priority
while providing top-notch quality,”
added Vipul.
The second stage involves a
stringent quality inspection
system that follows 100 per cent
inspection of the products at
two levels, once they are received
at the warehouse, and secondly
at the time of dispatch. This is a
more efficient system in comparison
to sample inspection, which is
the most common form in the
industry. Stringent Fabric Package
Test parameters such as dyeing,
shrinkage, colour fastness tests are
followed even on finished products
to provide the best post-buying
experience to the consumer.
The final stage ensures that every
Mufti-labelled product being
delivered to the end-consumer
is of the best quality. Shedding
light on the process, Vipul added,
“We even buy the products that
are defective, so they are not sold
elsewhere. We sell these products
after a gap of two seasons after
making sure that all the labels
are cut. This is another process
which ensures that the quality is
sustained and the brand image
is intact.”
E-COMMERCE IS AN
OPPORTUNITY RATHER
THAN A CHALLENGE
The consumer psyche is changing
everyday on the lines of geographic
“The brand has
its roots in India
while the design
aspirations and
sensibility are very
international. Our
ability to interpret
and execute the
international
trends to suit the
Indian consumer
gives us an edge
over international
brands.”
– Vipul Mathur,
Chief Operating
Officer for Mufti
as well as the age diversities.
A 40-year-old consumer is now
open to pulling off a collegiate
bomber jacket effortlessly and the
credit for this phenomena goes to
consumer awareness at the global
level coupled with the access that
social media provides. According
to the market trend that Vipul
observes in the Indian Retail Space,
brands that are 20-30 year old are
reinventing their entire identity
because the mental age has also
started to shift.
Tapping the segment of aware
consumers is the key, which leads
Mufti to uphold its e-commerce
segment as an opportunity to
consolidate its retail presence
in India. “Our agenda is to reach
maximum pin-codes through
e-commerce. We are investing
significantly in the content that can
go online to create brand visibility.
Our biggest performers are Tata
Cliq and Flipkart. Tata Cliq is
perceived to be a channel that is
supply-driven rather than discount-
driven, and it matches our brand’s
philosophy that assures more
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