Aditya Birla Fashion bets big on women's innerwear mkt

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, which has forayed into the Rs 16,000 crore women's innerwear and athleisure market under the Van Heusen brand, on Monday announced its launch in the Bengaluru market.

“We started with Kolkata, and now we have entered the Bengaluru market. We will be launching it in Delhi, followed by Mumbai and Pune markets. We are planning to take Van Heusen Women’s Innearwear and Athleisure range to Tier-II cities as well. By the end of this fiscal, we will be present in 30 cities,” Puneet Kumar Malik, CEO, Innerwear Business – Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd said.

Two years ago, Aditya Birla made its foray into premium men’s innerwear category. The size of the men’s innerwear market is Rs 9,000 crore, of which the share of organised market is Rs 7,000 core.

“At present, we have about 15 exclusive innerwear stores that sell the men’s range. It is called Van Heusen innerwear and leisure range. Around 13 out of the 15 stores will start selling the women’s range. With regards to men’s innerwear, we are present in almost 9,000 multi brand outlets nationally, and by the end of this financial year, we should be present in 2,000-3,000 of those outlets as we enter the 30 cities that we are targeting,” Malik said, adding that they are planning to have about 400 exclusive innerwear stores in the next 3 to 4 years.

Also, in the next three years, it wants to be present in 30,000 multi brand outlets nationally.

The size of women's innerwear market is Rs 16,000 crore, of which the organised market is just Rs 3,000 crore, and the mid premium/ premium segment is growing very rapidly and makes up for 45% of the market.

“It’s growing at 22%. We are looking at being a significant player in this market with large distribution. We will sell through all channels, and we will also launch our own website soon that will sell the products," said Malik, adding that they have understood consumers' pain points and have come up with innovative products.

"We are starting with Rs 449 for an entry price product and it will go up till Rs 1,499," Malik said.