Textiles are always struggling for getting value for their fabrics as well as garments. Value addition can be created only by doing marketing and thereafter going up to branding stage. Branding has many stages to follow for the existing brands as well as creating your own new brand or co-opting other brands. Textiles brands have done this successfully in global marketsbut, when it comes to India, it has yetnot taken right shape and speed.
The fabric which is beingprocessed by Indian entrepreneurs is always of good quality only because they get export quality raw material.If we want to market our fabric,the fabric quality needs to be consistently of good quality produced by using good technology which will not have any deviations in any aspects.
When we think of good marketing avenues, we need to have very good supply chain management along with logistic network and cost effective solutions for conversion of raw material into finished products at much lower operating costs.
For better marketing initiative we should have a very good after sale support to service the fabric in case there are any defects in the fabric. We need to have the inspection done at each and every stage of production facility as well as at the customers placeso that we can get a good feedback and the customer would always stay happy. So that we can improve our systems and existing production parameters in order to meet customer demands. We need to pay visits to the customer facilities to understand whether the fabric which is been supplied by us is of good quality, whether it is performing as per the requirements, whether the sewing operations is happening properly, whether there is any problem during cutting operations or not, etc. such things needs to be studied so that we can establish our fabric brand.
One thing is to be kept in mind when we are thinking of doing very good marketing or establishing ourselves in the business for a brand we need to be cost competitive as well as system oriented along with complete professional approach in production, maintenance, quality, after sales service as well as complete marketing process.
The close linkage of the textile industry to agriculture (for raw materials such as cotton) and the ancient culture and traditions of the country in terms of textiles make the Indian textiles sector unique in comparison to the industries of other countries. The Indian textile industry has the capacity to produce a wide variety of products suitable to different market segments, both within India and across the world.
Though Indian textile industry has strong position in world’s map with export earnings worth US$ 41.4 billion in 2014-15, a growth of 5.4 per cent, when it comes to branded goods, India has very limited presence. Apart from few Indian successful brands like Van Hussein, Allen Solly, Peter England (Aditya Birla Group- Madura Garments), Flying Machine, Spykar, Wills Lifestyle (ITC), Park Avenue (Raymond Ltd.), there are hardly any. This clearly indicates the lack of branding and marketing skills of Indian organization. India has large size Integrated facilities which are supplying premium fabric to most of international brands like Nike, Puma, Arrow, GAP, Wrangler, Levis, M&S, H&M, A&F, American Eagle & many more. But when it comes to creating their own brand, they are failing miserably.
Setbacks for Indian Brands:
Huge Investment – Most of the textile industry players are with herald mentality are not willing to spend much on branding.Though, they are established player from textile industry manufacturing premium apparel, they fail to understand that without advertising you will not reach to the customer’s top of the mind. Promotion is the ultimate way to reach to the customer. Many successful international brands took more than 50 years to create their brand identity, so brand building is a long term investment.
Product Cycle – Indian brands must understand fashion trends are changing rapidly. Product cycle is shortening. Consumer wants to see something new each time they visit the stores. Indian brands needs to respond to these changing fashion cycles.
Lack of branding strategy–Indian brands lack in branding strategy. They need to exercise clear segmentation, target audience & positioning to create brand image in the mind of the customer.
No presence in global market – Indian brands have negligible presence in global markets. We are taking very less efforts to explore global markets. To explore global markets, we should study global fashion trends first. We should advertise exclusively in global magazines to create brand awareness & participate in global fashion events.
Opportunities:
Rising disposable income- India’s growing population has rising income levels today. They have high spending capacity. Their standard of living has improved. They have become brand conscious and prefer to wear branded apparel. This is surely good opportunity for Indian players to come up with their own brands.
Growing working woman population-With the changing time, number of working women has increased & this has given them more freedom to spend. They live luxurious life than never before. They prefer to wear branded clothes.
Right Demographics – India’s more than 65% population is young with average age of 25 years- the most vibrant population for any market. The young population is more exposed to westernization & adopting the fashion trends faster.
Increasing Retail– Most of Tier-1 cities accustomed to “Mall Culture” & now it is catching up Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities as well. Retail culture has major share in growth of the branded products industry. Indian apparel industry has good opportunity.
E-Commerce – E-commerce is another booming segment in India. Apparel is the major category shopped online by the consumers. The apparel E-Commerce market is 30% of total online market. It’s a great opportunity for those who want to launch their apparel brand as total investment drastically comes down. E-Commerce made it possible to virtually present apparels in the customer’s mind. Many of the start-ups are exploring this opportunity.
Strategy for Indian Brands:
India is growing economy today. With rising young population & growing disposable income, the demand for branded apparel is set to grow in near future. The Indian manufacturers like Raymond, Arvind, Aditya Birla, Bombay Dyeing are now focusing more on branding than the manufacturing.
Digital media has changed the face of India. It is very easy to reach your customer with minimum capital investment. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. are the major channels used by brands to create awareness. With the digital marketing, brandshave many more ways of communicating directly and interactively with their target consumers or customers. It is interactive as well as measurable.
As maximum profits are earned in entire textile value chain by brands, we should focus more on manufacturing branded apparels rather than just private labeling for other international brands. Some of Indian manufacturers are manufacturing premium fabrics since long & supplying to global brands. They have all capabilities to launch their own premium brand by adoptingfocused strategy. Since they already have manufacturing expertise, they should now focus on branding. Exhaustive promotion and advertising will definitely help them to create brand awareness. Brands for fabric as well as apparels can be built with the help of right marketing platforms like fashion shows, newspapers, fashion magazines, TV commercials and digital media.They should understand that brand building takes lot of time& efforts however, with the right strategy, Indian players can be successful to build a brand and reap profits.
