With a reverse brain drain in India to Tier 2/3 towns, Sales of inner wear including women’s lingerie has grown 5 times for some brands, with offline stores virtually not even breaking even during the crucial Q3 FY 20-21. Due to continued WFH and a huge change in working patterns, many households moved away from metro cities to their native in Tier 2/3 towns. On the back of the convenience that is E-Commerce, consumers are ordering inner wear at the click of a button.
From selling 1 piece of brassier in May ’20, Clovia now sells 4 pieces per second in May ’21. According to Red Seer Consulting, the inner wear market in India is around USD 6-7 bn, which is around 10% of the Apparel market and is expected to reach USD 11212 bn by 2025.
Shekhar Tewari, CEO, Enamor says being a premium brand, most of their business came from Metro cities. However, not the demand has been pushed to Tier 2/3 towns as people have moved to their native and home towns to be with their extended families.
The digital channels contribute 90% of the business for Ziname, which also has off-line stores at Malls and High Streets. Sales has grown 50% over last year with demand soaring from smaller towns and hitherto unserved pincodes.
The trend seems to be clear – that loungewear, inner wear, comfortable inners and athleisure are selling a whole lot than many other categories such as street fashion, formals, chinos among others.
