Apparel Online India Magazine October 1st Issue 2018 | Page 19

LEAD STORY
on delicate fabrics, such as chiffon,
rayon crepe and georgette which is
actually a tough task. It hires highly
skilled workforce for the same. Mariko
has also developed its own blocks for
kalamkari printing which, it says, is
its USP in the export market.
New directions include
focus on domestic retail…
A trend that comes out strongly from
talking to players in the region is the
increased interest in domestic market.
Earlier the players of NCR were
focused only on exports, and domestic
market was a total no-no. But now
with the global business getting
not only very competitive in price,
but also demanding on other issues
like compliances and shorter lead
time, many of the smaller factories
are opting to manufacture for small
brands and retailers with 20-50 stores.
“Why should I spend so much time and
money on convincing the buyer about
my capabilities when I can get local
business that is better paying and
less of a headache? Also, now that we
do not get duty drawback in exports
and other benefits too have dwindled,
there is no real advantage of working
in the international market,” reasoned
a small exporter from Gurgaon with a
turnover of less than Rs. 10 crore, on
promise of anonymity.
For bigger exporters, the local market
presents an opportunity to keep
factory running in lean period. “We
have got 2 units; 630 machines in one
unit and about 350 in other. These
machines run 100% from October till
March and rest of the year, they run
at 50% capacity. And that is the area
we are trying to address. So, in the
lean phase, we are doing business
with domestic brands – Gini & Jony,
Cover Story, Arvind Brands, Future
Group, Being Human, to mention
some. However, payment remains the
biggest challenge in domestic. We, as
exporters, are not used to handling
such payment issues,” says Karan
Jain, Director, Pooja International.
Nothing new for exports…,
but athleisure from export
houses have caught
attention in domestic
market
From a product category perspective,
the region has nothing new to offer
to the international market, but
some knitwear exporters from
the region are experimenting with
athleisurewear though only for the
domestic market. A few cases in
point are Paragon Apparels and
Knitcraft Apparels, both of which
have introduced local brands for the
segment. While Aurro Sportswear
from the house of Knitcraft is being
sold through online platforms,
Alcis products from Paragon are
available in over 700 outlets across
the country including all leading
large format stores such as Lifestyle,
Shoppers Stop, Central, Globus,
Sports Station, etc. and on online
retail websites and 5 exclusive brand
stores at New Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi,
Jaipur and Guwahati.
The USP of both Paragon Apparels
and Knitcraft Apparels is that
they have international quality
but Indian price. “The idea behind
setting up Alcis Sports was to create
a home-grown affordable Indian
athleisure brand which is at par
with international brands in terms
of quality and also in sync with
Indian sensibilities,” says Roshan
Baid, Managing Director, Alcis
Sports. The company has secured
an investment from Singapore-based
venture capital firm RB Investments,
which has a strong portfolio of start-
ups in India, including The Beer Cafe,
Swiggy, Bluestone.com, Fab hotels,
Faasos and PropTiger to name a few.
The company has also appointed
celebrated Indian cricketer Shikhar
Dhawan as its brand ambassador
for the company along with popular
television personalities Lauren
Gottlieb and Karan Tacker.
Sanchit Khurana, Founder, Pace
Athletica, and the owner of the Aurro
brand, feels that it is not just about
price, and states, “Not just cost, but
also marketing of products in India to
penetrate the market holds the same
level of challenge.” He further opines
that the overseas activewear brands in
India are getting benefits despite
having high prices because they
are not seeing any competition
from the domestic brands. He also
mentions that the manufacturers are
determined to reduce their cost of
operations to become cost-competitive
in the Indian market. They are
reducing the margin of products to
make a stable place for their products.
Apart from this, they are investing in
technology to increase productivity
and reduce human intervention.
ESSENTIALS
A trend that comes
out strongly from
talking to players
in the region is the
increased interest
in domestic market.
Earlier the players of
NCR were focused
only on exports, and
domestic market
was a total no-no.
But now with the
global business
getting not only very
competitive in price,
but also demanding
on other issues like
compliances and
shorter lead time,
many of the smaller
factories are opting
to manufacture for
small brands and
retailers with 20-50
stores.
Each hub within the
region has something
to offer…
Historically, the NCR region
was developed as a garment
manufacturing hub due to the need
to shift factories out of the main city,
for various reasons spanning high
cost of manufacturing to pollution
concerns. Initially, Gurgaon was the
preferred destination, with most of
the big companies like Orient Craft,
Richa Global, Jyoti Apparels, and
Modelama moving in that direction.
Labour availability was good due to a
strong immigrant worker culture and
slowly the cluster developed strong
linkages in service and products
that made the hub a workable
manufacturing destination. However
situation is changing and even the
addition of Manesar region has not
helped. “Udyog Vihar is becoming
very unviable and difficult to work
in now, more so as other industries
have also come up very strongly
in and around the area,