The lack of an established supply chain is hampering growth of the inner wear industry. The shortage of high quality raw material for innerwear means brands which focus on quality need to import raw material or entire finished goods, thus increasing the costs and also impeding their ability to price the product attractively in order to drive greater penetration. The inner wear sector has much to contribute to the 'Make in India' initiative, and the latter in turn can be used as a ruse to streamline matters within the industry, writes Suman Nathwani.

It is no secret that the Indianinner wear market is the only market that has more number of brands for men than women. And there are reasons for this.

The Indian inner wear market is one of the most unique markets in the world. In all likelihood, it is the only one where men's inner wear brands are larger in image than women's intimate wear brands. Also, men's inner wear companies spend much more on advertising than women's inner wear brands do. However, it is a fact that the men's brands have been in existence in India for a very long time, whereas lingerie brands have surfaced only in recent years.

There is probably no major Hindi film actor who has not been a ambassador for a men's innerwear brand. In fact,in recent years, this phenomenon has only accelerated. On the other hand,women's innerwear has scarcely been advertised even in print media, and rarely ever on television. It is only recently that a couple of brands have released their TV advertisements.

At a fundamental level, we can say that the reasons behind this lopsided gender bias are more cultural in amale-dominated society. There are hardly any brands that focus only on women;this is because they have historically not been the real consumers, and also because they have limited access to discretionary spending power in their respective households.

Nevertheless, the challenges that women's innerwear market faces in India are not limited to culture; those have a lot to do with market forces as well. While the cultural issues at hand are complex and they would take their own time to resolve, we as marketers should focus on what is in our control. In my opinion, there are three areas that need to be targeted for serious growth of the women's inner wear market - product,communication, and retail.

In case of products,Indian women have been starved of any serious product offerings from most Indian brands. These brands have only focused on fulfilling the basic needs of consumers and have failed to expand the market beyond that. It is only with the arrival of brands like Triumph that Indian women have learned about variety and elementary stuff like sizes. These efforts have not only led to some triggers in the demand, but also shaken incumbent Indian brands in adding some variety to their stagnant offers. Yet, the market is tiny as compared to its potential.

Second, communication is harder toaddress due to the high costs of media and other means of brand-building. Sincecommunication requires educating about functional differences, fashionabilityand USPs of a particular brand, this needs serious spending and that too on asustained basis. So far, not many brands have shown that boldness or courage.Also, I don't think one or two brands can change that equation. It would begreat if there are at least a hundred-odd brands like in the case of men'sinnerwear that start communication campaigns all at the same time and continuethat for years; that is when the market will really explode.

The last challenge revolves aroundthe lack of availability of quality retail space. Even international brandscould not bring in or offer their full range in the Indian market due todistribution and retail constraints. India is probably the only market wherewomen used to and still buy bras in packs of six. The reason is that the wholeexperience of buying innerwear used to be, and continues to be, in largepockets of the country, so bad that most women wish to get over with the buyingprocess quickly.

Also, since most womendon't know what all different products are available and what is thedifferentiation, they rather buy tested and proven ones all the time and keeprepeating the brand, size and style. This is certainly not conducive for thegrowth of this category.

The good news, however, is thatonline retailing offers answers to all the three issues. An online store allowsa brand to explain the product in as much detail as required with no limit oncopy or column space. Also, an online store allows showcasing as much range asa brand would want without worrying about retail rentals and related costs.And, the consumer gets the convenience of shopping any time, thereby avoidingthe prying eyes of sales people at stores. They even have the option of pickingfrom never-seen ranges, and trying out stuff that they didn't even knowexisted. It is a dream situation for the women's innerwear category to havefound solutions to its most challenging issues in online retail. As trendsindicate, buying intimatewear will move considerably online in the years tocome. However, it will require many more players to open online stores andreach out to the women of India to offer them what they truly deserve.

This is essentially an instancewhereby one can both 'Make in India', as well as have a need to make"for" India. Both domestic and export fronts can make the best of thesituation. The scope is phenomenal. Most Indian women in rural areas live andwork without wearing a bra. There should be awareness campaigns explaining toand educating women about the importance of wearing one. Many women in ruralareas also don't wear a bra because they cannot afford one. Indian lingeriecompanies should make low-cost bras targeting rural markets too to increase thesale of innerwear and expanding the intimate industry in both urban and ruralsectors. This will definitely add up to the expansion of the intimate industryin India.

Besides, companies like Victoria'sSecret, Calvin Klein and Jockey have manufacturing units in India. Thousands ofIndian labourers work for these companies, which have high sale rates abroadthan in India, and most of the products manufactured here are exported,marketed and sold abroad.

Since India has a largeworkforce in the lingerie sector, why can't Indian investors invest in thisindustry thereby pushing it into a position where foreigners would buy theirlingerie products manufactured by an Indian company? This is where theinnerwear industry needs to go in for an exports push, and ensure that it doesnot let the 'Make in India' opportunity pass by.

There are other factors tobe taken into account as well. For instance, the premier National Institute ofFashion Technology (NIFT) has only a 3-6 month crash course on lingerie.Fashion colleges should come up with a separate course for lingerie, andfashion students should be given placements in this industry. Many students arelured by international companies and have migrated to other countries forbetter job prospects.

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