Apparel Online India Magazine October 1st Issue 2018 | Page 42

DOMESTIC UPDATE

Harnessing Western trends in Indian hues is the key for kidswear retailer Gini & Jony

Balancing Western trends with Indian hues and colours, stakeholders from the kidswear brand Gini & Jony talk about competing with strong international brands, tapping Tier-2 markets and the power of the Indian customer.

The boom of the kidswear segment in ever-dynamic Indian apparel market is a reality no one can deny. Estimated at Rs. 66,904 in 2017 as per studies undertaken by indiaretailing. com, a CAGR growth of 8.1 per cent is being projected for the Indian kidswear apparel industry to reach a whopping figure of Rs. 1,45,445 crore by 2027. This resonates with the fact that India is home to the largest population in the age group of 0 to 14 years totalling to 29 per cent( 337 million) of its total population.

With these numbers, numerous international brands have paved their way into the Indian kidswear market and a sudden conversion to the online commerce sector has been witnessed. To keep up with the fastchanging market dynamics, Indian kidswear brands are revamping their retail game to cater to the
Earlier it took about a year for an international trend to reach India, but now it simply takes days, or maximum weeks. We use Indian colours with Western trends, so our products are a mixture of both.
newly aware customer – the one who has greater disposable income and a strong urge to follow international fashion. They are also exploring the realms of Tier-2 markets for expansion.
One of such brand is Gini & Jony – which prizes itself as being one of the first Indian kidswear brand to have entered the market in 1980. With about 1,300 points of selling spanning 100 cities in India, Gini & Jony has a stronghold on the Indian market.
Their strength is highlighted through the fact that they spotlight quality over price – a feat they achieve by manufacturing all their products in-house via two main manufacturing units. Based out of Himachal Pradesh and Daman, these units are utilised for end-toend processes, right from design to development and production to inhouse
quality checks. Another unit located at Vapi is in the pipeline.
COMPETING WITH INTERNATIONAL BRANDS IN THE CHANGING INDIAN MARKET
In the Indian market where economy changes as fast as the trends do, Gini & Jony has found numerous ways to stay at par with its international counterparts and make way for others to follow suit. They changed their product offering to target the millennial generation of parents and kids in 2010 by simply doing what international brands do to entice the Indian population – bring in the latest trends from across the world and serve it to India.
Shedding light on the entire procedure, Sailesh Lakhani, VP of the Boys Category for the company says,“ Trends used to come
Gini & Jony new collection campaign
Experiments with washes, fused with AOPs
42 Apparel Online India | OCTOBER 1-15, 2018 | www. apparelresources. com