Why this colour-very di?

It’s Deepti Kshirsagar, the founder of WOW Design, a brand design consultancy, who draws our attention to the stereotype trap that brands fall into. In the apparel category, consumers grew up with the thumb rule that ‘pink-is-for-girls’ and ‘blue-is-for-boys.’

Kshirsagar delves into many more examples across categories in the accompanying piece on the same page. Speaking about the apparel industry, she says, “If we spot a boy wearing a pink shirt, it’s quite obvious that he would invite remarks that might even mean ridiculing him at times.”

But if apparel industry executives are to be believed, at least some men — around 30,000 of them — did not mind risking ridicule last year.

Executives at value fashion brand Max Fashion India, part of the Landmark Group that owns the Lifestyle Retail, point out that Max sold about 30,000 shirts for men, in pink, in the last financial year and that trend and demand continues. And that’s just one brand that we are talking about.

“More and more customers are opening up to a gender-neutral palette. In the 21st century, gender equality has progressed considerably and so the stereotype is slowly breaking,” points out Sandeep Khapra, head, men’s wear design, at Max Fashion India. Or in the area of kidswear, Max has often included colours like coral for boys.

“Coral is a strong colour for us in boys and is a regular feature in our collections. This summer our range was themed Indigo Blues and had two collections of white and blue for girls in the 2-8 and 8-14 age range. Both were received very well by our customers,” says Kamakshi Kaul, head, women and kidswear design, at Max Fashion India.

Khapra points out another trend that’s breaking the gender stereotypes. The last few seasons have seen a very strong trend of monochromes — the blacks, whites and greys.

As colours have taken a back seat, the main differentiator has been neutralised and the offerings on the men’s and women’s floors in department stores are no longer drastically different from each other in terms of colour. “The products in the palette have been equally successful both for men and women,” he says.

Anjana Reddy, CEO, Universal Sportsbiz that has brands like Wrogn and Imara, says that her company’s brands are consciously targeting customers who break the stereotypes.

“As both our brands target the urban youth, we have consciously experimented with 10 per cent of the entire range by introducing shades for the non-stereotypes,” she says.

However, stereotyping is not going to fade out of our apparel lines in a hurry. Customers might be comfortable breaking the mould in their respective wardrobes, but would prefer to stick to the knitting when it comes to their children. Kaul says “I will not call it an obsession, but customers, specifically in kidswear, have certain biases towards stereotypical colours to a certain degree.”

She points out that girls (about four-years upwards) show a natural preference towards pink and boys in that same age lean towards blue. That could be blamed on the ecosystem that the children dwell in. “This may also be because most gender-specific toys come in these stereotypical colours and shape the child's preferences. The princess stories in pink gowns also reinforce these choices,” says Kaul. (See: How stereotyping took birth, on page 2)

However, brands like Max are trying to break this stereotype. For instance executives claim that their collection for girls in yellow and blue always gets an overwhelming response.

Similarly, the beach theme range for boys offers pinks in the tees. Kaul says, “The parents themselves get a breath of freshness with these different colour blocks.”

Reddy says that the youth at large are more than willing to experiment with their preferences and try out shades that might not be a part of their personality.

“We have often witnessed customers seeking out products that are vibrant and pop. The barrier has been the use of neon in our range of garments,” she says.

Overall, the feeling is that the barrier of stereotypes is breaking down block by block. “Parents have definitely steered away from the typical gender-coded colours. They are moving to neutral colours such as muted beiges, grey and even yellows. White and black remain a safe choice, but tangerine and teal are gaining equal popularity,” says Manoj Mahla, Director, India Kids Fashion Week. Take the hue.