Women’s bottomwear brand Go Colors is testing women’s topwear and menswear as it is looking to diversify beyond its core category and create new growth engines, even as it remains focused on strengthening its leadership in bottomwear.
The company began piloting the two categories in August last year across 15 larger existing stores in 11 cities, including Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Surat and Pune, and plans to extend the pilot to another 10 stores this year.
“We have built a strong position in women’s bottom wear, and our immediate priority is to consolidate and strengthen that leadership. At the same time, we are looking at how the brand can grow beyond a single-category association through newer opportunities such as women’s top wear and menswear,” Gautam Saraogi, founder and CEO, Go Colors, told FE.
The cautious rollout comes as the company looks to build on a business that has already reached scale. Go Colors reported operational revenue of Rs 838 crore and Ebitda of Rs 237 crore in FY26, while adding 43,283 sq ft of net retail space to take its total retail area to 434,000 sq ft.
However, same-store sales growth was only 0.6% in Q1 FY27, underscoring the need to find additional avenues for growth beyond expanding its existing bottomwear franchise. For now, the company is evaluating consumer response to the new categories, refining assortments and determining the right store model before deciding on a wider rollout.
Women’s topwear is being seen as a natural extension of the existing proposition, while menswear offers access to an entirely new customer segment. The larger ambition is to move the brand from being identified primarily with women’s bottomwear to a broader, comfort-led everyday essentials brand.
Its 751 exclusive brand outlets across 195 cities remain the mainstay, contributing more than 70% of revenue, while large-format retail contributes over 20%. Digital currently accounts for about 3.5% of the business, with the company aiming to take this closer to 10% over the longer term.
Go Colors is also expanding larger-format stores in Tier-II and Tier-III cities while deepening its presence in established markets. But the company is not limiting expansion to smaller cities, seeing opportunities wherever organised retail and branded apparel consumption are growing.
Alongside the category expansion, it is widening its product range to reflect changing preferences, including greater demand for wider silhouettes, formal pants and denims. The immediate task, however, is to establish whether these newer categories can generate sufficient consumer traction before committing capital and retail space to scaling them.