BABY STEPS LEAD TO GIANT LEAPS

With kids becoming more brand-conscious and parents ready to shell out more, the segment catering to apparel for children is serious business. From following the fashion trends set by celebrities and Bollywood’s young brigade, parents in no time move on to recreating those looks for their kids. In fact, the kids’ wear industry is booming: it was estimated at Rs 66,904 crore in 2017, accounting for 20% of the total apparel market of the country and is expected to reach Rs 1,45,445 crore by 2027.

The spiralling kids’ wear market has driven many global brands to explore this lucrative market in India. One of the latest to explore this segment is Italian luxury kids’ wear brand Monnalisa which is set to enter India later this year with its first outlet in Delhi. “We plan to open our first Monnalisa store in Delhi by September this year. An investment of Euro 4 million will go in setting up stores, inventory and marketing of the brand,” informs Chitresh Lather, CEO, PDM University, which is the master franchisee for Monnalisa in India. The company has products for infants right up to teenagers for both boys and girls with an average ticket size of Rs 8,000-10,000.

Big Brands, Small Call

The segment is also attracting leading brands in the fashion industry to stop and take notice. Biba, for instance, has launched standalone kids’ wear stores under Biba Kids and has about five stores. “We will increase this to about 15-20 stores in the next three years,” reveals Siddharth Bindra, Managing Director, Biba. The brand is not the only one venturing into kids’ wear. American youth fashion brand Aeropostale, run by Arvind Fashions in India, is making a plunge into the segment too. “We have plans to launch kids’ wear next year for Aeropostale,” says Sumit Dhingra, COO, Heritage Brands Division, Arvind Fashions. The company, which forayed into India in November 2015, currently has about 33 exclusive stores and 120 shop-in-shop (SIS) stores.

Meanwhile, baby products’ retailer FirstCry is investing in physical stores to fuel its next phase of growth. The company has 300+ offline retail stores and its offline retail model is run exclusively through franchised stores. It is evident then that the opportunities are huge and the category offers ample room to absorb new players. The winning strategy, though, is still to be defined and as experts put, it would have to be charted out by the retailers themselves.

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