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INTRODUCTION-The lingerie market in India is still in its infant stage and, until in recent times, theaccessibility of high quality intimate apparel was limited to irregular or grey imports soldunder the counter. Because of the limited products and lack of enough specialized andorganized retail atmosphere, the fashion realization and quality awareness of the Indianconsumer for intimate apparel is yet to be realized.India is also one of the most scattered retail markets in the world. The products, so far,have been mainly marketed as a commodity and are price and margin oriented. Till todayhuge quantities of bras are sold to end users by male salespersons in mom-and-pop shops.Majorities of the stores do not even provide a trial room.As a consequence, large consumer base are not sure of the functional features of a bra oreven their own sizes. When Gokaldas Intimatewear began developing Enamor, their first aimwas good fit. Across India Enamor surveyed and measured 4,000 women. They noticed that80 per cent of Indian women wore a uncomfortable fitting underwear. In India, bras weremade only in B and C cup sizes, though Enamor's research found that most Indian womenrequired A or D cup sizes.In India Triumph, Lovable Lingerie, Enamor, VIP, Juliet, Amul etc are major players inlingerie market. Today 70 per cent of the lingerie market of India is unorganised. But thatcan be replaced with the increase in the number of malls and quality-conscious consumers.For example, Lovable's growth of 20 per cent last year was sustained by new retail space.The joint market contribution of the leading five retailers in India totals less than two percent. Though, Lingerie sales have increased by 12 per cent in the past five years because of a new awareness of intimatewear. Women's innerwear industry in India is worth Rs. 2,000crore and is growing at an average rate of 12 per cent.Turkey and Bangladesh have already observed the potential and are aggressively promotingits innerwear industry. Many Asian countries are defeating India in the US, the world'sbiggest clothing importer. According to the US office of Textiles and Apparel, in 2002 thecountry imported 198,094,426 dozen pieces of cotton underwear. India's contribution in thiswas a paltry 2.36 per cent. In bras using manmade material, the US imported 37,676,800dozen pieces. While China constituted 32 per cent of these, Indonesia had 10.5 per cent.Even Bangladesh had 1 per cent. However, India exported a meager 0.65 per cent. Though,there is a great potential to be taped if approached in an organized manner with a properset up.Womenswear : the most profitable segmentThe Rs.28,375-crore womenswear apparel segment covers 32.1 percent share of the Indianapparel market in value terms. In volume terms, market share of womenswear is onepercent greater than that of menswear but in value terms its share is five percent less thanthat of menswear due to branded segment in womenswear was practically non-existent till afew years back. At present, it is the most profitable segment for investment. During 2005,volumes increased by 5.5 percent while value appreciation was as high as 15 percent.
 
Women's trousers and skirts category observed a highest growth during 2005, volumesgrowing nine percent and value appreciating more than 23 percent over 2004 levels.Western wear like suits and blazers and Lingerie are the two other categories whereprogress was excellent, volume and value growth being 10 and 21 percent respectively inthe Western wear and 6.8 and 18.1 percent in lingerie.In early days the Indian women mostly trusted foreign products or directed their friendlycorner tailors to stitch form-fitting bodice, which were worn under dresses. But now thescenario is different. The first trendy movement for both men and women was seen whenAssociated Apparels Pvt Ltd, producers of Liberty shirts, introduced the world famousMaiden Form bras, Jockey men's underwear and Jantzen swimwear in 1962 in India.It was a lanky period for Liberty shirts with complexity in imports and the export marketinitiation, so the late Bhawandas Wadhwani approached the lingerie business with technicalknowhow from the USA. The brands got an achievement of optimum level with their stylesand quality. But due to the government's restrictions for foreign brands, Wadhwanidiscontinued the overseas tie-up and changed the names to Libertina for lingerie and Libertyfor men's underwear in the late 70s. From 80s to 90s the company focused onundergarments. Even today Libertina and Liberty are still one of the major players in thelingerie market.With the great triumph of Libertina and Liberty, other Indian companies also shifted into thelingerie markets. In the 70s Peter Pan from Dawn Mills entered in the market with lingeriestyles of the West. The brand was popular amongst the Indian women, but two decadeslater it vanished from the market.In 1971, VIP entered the men's underwear market with a big-bang and became the mosttalked about brand due to its advertisement featuring model Dalip Tahil. Since then VIP is aleading player in the men's and women's underwear market. VIP launched Petals, a Lycramoulded cup bra with motifs, which was accepted well at that time, but was laterdiscontinued. But introducing Loveable in 1996 was a huge success as they brought in aforeign brand, but it was made in India. Lovable was followed by Feelings, VIP's domesticproducts and Daisy Dee another foreign brand. The very ultra Vanity Fair was introduced in2004 and lastly a Korean Brand Try for men and women in 2004. VIP's fashionable newmen's innerwear called Frenchie X was targeted to meet the challenges thrown by theforeign brands.Another leading brand in the lingerie market is Rupa & Co established in 1985. Its variety of men's, women's and children's underwear put together makes it India's biggest innerwearmanufacturer and seller. Besides these two brands there are other labels produced by them.Amul, Lux Cozi, Dollar are some of the brands catering to a particular segment of the men'sunderwear market, while the lingerie segment has its own local offerings like Neva,Bodycare, Softy, Lady Care, Little Lacy, Red Rose, Sonari, Feather Line and many more.In the 90s Jockey re-entered the Indian market followed by Calida and Liberti Blu. Then thevery high fashion Gossard existed for a limited time. In the 21st century, Enamor, anotherforeign brand entered the Indian market through Gokaldas Exports and the very chic Frenchbrand Aubade started its only outlet in Mumbai. La Senza is the next foreign brand that isset to enter the market while Hanes has already set with a very unconventional adcampaign targeted to comfort for the Indian male.
 
One of the leading foreign players in the Indian lingerie market is Triumph. They have apresence in 150 countries around the world and a turnover of US $2 billion with aproduction of over 200 million units annually, producing 6000 new fashion styles per yeardesigned by 200 designers in 11 countries. Triumph started its operation in India in sixmetros, and is now spread in 45 cities. As far as lingerie is concerned, India is still in itsinitial stage. India has to wait to become a matured market as compared to the other Asianmarkets like Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Vietnam. In the last three years therehas been a great growth in the business but the retailing of lingerie and distributionchannels are limited. Triumph markets through retailers, MBOs, and two franchisees inMumbai and Kolkata, and further more they are going to increase in the near future. From300 outlets in India they target to cross 1,000 outlets in three-five years. With all rawmaterials imported from Europe, Triumph is produced in Chennai and has gained a 50 percent raise in sales since it came into the country. Though, Triumph is the only internationallymanaged brand, it also aims to satisfy Indian buyers and has the capability to sourceintelligent fabrics not offered in India. Triumph was the first to introduce moisturising fabricswith Aloe Vera and the one-piece bra which is produced by one piece of fabric. The sizes andstyles are very particular to Indian consumers. Triumph which begun production in India in1998 has been exporting to the USA before it came into the local market. With 80 per centexports and 20 per cent local sales in India, Triumph adds new products and concepts for 5-10 styles each year.Lately, well-known international lingerie brands - Aubade - from the fashion capital of France has entered in Indian market.While the international lingerie outlook is as exciting and bright as the outerwear one,India's growth in the former segment can be called just about negligible. Body and beachfashion shows are showcased twice a year around the world showing the latest trends ininnerwear fashion. New underwear fabrics with 'anti' treatment like anti-stress, anti-smog,anti-static, anti-allergic, anti- bacterial, anti-moisture and anti-odour pamper the body. TopEuropean products like Bruno Banani, Excellent, Schneider, Louis Feraud, Calvin Klein,Gianfranco Ferre, DKNY, La Perla, Gossard, and Schiesser are some of the brands that settheir inspiration to the ultimate test. Thanks to the new outerwear performance made bydesigners around the world and India, lingerie is seemed with renewed fascination in Indiatoo.It may be shocking that there are 1000 Indian brands in the market but only 200 arenationally active. The others cater to markets in the vicinity of their production. Many of these brands have so far continued the advent of MNC labels for the last decade and shouldcontinue to do so.The Indian lingerie Industry is growing because of the increasing domestic demand coupledwith huge export potential. It will soon receive an upfront position. From a cottage industryit can be transformed into a growing trade. Indian brands have experienced that they haveto be more quality conscious and work harder in branding, promotion, packaging andinnovation. Only the mindset to make world class lingerie is lacking. Smaller countries likeSri Lanka, Turkey and Bangladesh are major producers in this segment. Indian companieshave recognized the significance of innerwear for men and women and the competition is just boiling as new and more players arrive to offer Indians that much required fashionablelift.
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