Work-from-home, coupled with an increased focus on fitness during the pandemic, has given new wings to the athleisure apparel segment, which is projected to maintain momentum even post-pandemic. Brands in this space are expanding with experiential stores in 2022, to make inroads into tier-II and tier-III cities.
It’s no longer surprising to find almost every apparel or sportswear brand currently having an athleisure/activewear line, with established brands such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok and Puma leading the fray. During the pandemic years, a number of new brands and direct-to-consumer startups too, had taken the online route to notch up sales.
According to Ankur Bisen, senior partner and head (consumer, food, and retail), Technopak Advisors, the segment witnessed around 15% growth during the pandemic and would continue to grow at a similar rate this year. Analysts peg the Indian athleisure market at over `54,000 crore.
‘Stretching’ beyond metros
Brands such as Jockey and Enamor, which started off as innerwear specialists, have seen athleisure become their fastest-growing segment, and are now looking to expand outside metros, moving into tier-II and tier-III cities.
Karthik Yathindra, chief marketing officer, Jockey India – Page Industries, shares that Jockey Athleisure and Jockey Move currently are mainstays in the overall portfolio, across all sales channels. The athleisure range currently contributes to about 25% of the company’s revenue. “We are present in about one-fifth of the geography of India, and our target is to amplify our presence five times over in our key markets,” he says.
In the case of Enamor, the category contributed 8% of overall sales until the pandemic, but it has since grown to over 25%.
Furthermore, both ASICS India and Jockey have expanded their respective offline retail footprint with a special focus on tier-II/ III cities. While ASICS has 738 Multiple Brand Outlets (MBOs) and shop-in-shop points currently, Jockey plans to grow from more than 60,000 outlets at present to over 1,00,000 outlets this fiscal.
Rajat Khurana, managing director, ASICS India and South Asia, says the sportswear brand leverages the omnichannel approach, operating a franchise business model while also being present on online marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, Ajio, Myntra and Tata CLiQ. It has also opened a dedicated experience zone for some of its products.
Leading brands such as Puma and Nike are also upping the ante on experiential stores. Puma launched its largest digitally-enabled experiential store in October last year, in Delhi-NCR. The brand has a similar store in Bengaluru, where shoppers get access to Puma products on an interactive screen that allows for virtually scanning products, placing an order directly from the warehouse, and having it delivered home.
Enamor, too, began the concept of experiential retail three years ago with metro cities and is now expanding it to tier-II cities, shares Shekhar Tewari, chief category and operations officer, Modenik Lifestyle (the parent company of Enamor).
Pushing limits
Analysts say that while experiential centres showcase the complete brand identity and help engage with customers better, these are not necessarily sales-driving outlets.
Furthermore, despite the trend of athleisure seeping into the larger psyche of apparel purchasing behaviour, Bisen of Technopak says the challenge is to maintain price competitiveness in the face of inflation. Spandex, nylon and acrylic, the most essential fabrics for athleisure wear, rely on petrochemical materials and plastic derivatives, and with oil prices shooting up, the price of athleisure products would, in turn, be affected. The current average ticket size for athleisure is 900-1,599.
While the segment may continue to grow in the coming years, Harminder Sahni, founder and MD, Wazir Advisors, cautions that with fierce competition in the space and low entry barriers, it will be tough for any single brand to dominate the market.
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