Premium branded garment makers can expect to see a revival in consumer spending and uptick in sales this festival season. Says menswear brand Indian Terrain’s CEO Charath Narasimhan, “We’re going to see stability coming in. Consumer-driven businesses are going to pick up in the next six months and will continue for the next two-three years. We are bullish that the coming festival season will see the return of consumers in bigger numbers in discretionary spending categories. Clothing and categories where there is disposable spend is going to see a significant uptick starting August onwards.”
Raw material prices, he says, are fairly stable with cotton seeing a good crop. “Supply is not a constraint for good brands with good product lines and we are well-poised to leverage the consumer sentiments post the elections. We are all waiting to see what is going to happen in the Budget. I am fairly optimistic that there will be a lot of push towards driving consumption and infrastructure, which will have a cascading effect,” elaborates Narasimhan.
Indian Terrain, he says, had a very good last year with an almost 50 per cent growth last year. Revenues jumped from Rs 157 crore to Rs 232 crore in FY 2014 while net profit more than doubled to around Rs 10 crore from Rs 4 crore the previous year. “The outlook is looking good and strong this year as well. The first three months have been fairly decent and this trend will continue; we will outgrow the market this year as well,” says Narasimhan.
Indian Terrain’s CEO does not expect anything dramatic to happen this year in the menswear category. Khakis will continue to be a strong push in terms of menswear with the trend more towards smart casual dressing. “We are seeing denim making a comeback in the menswear wardrobe, so we are going to ramp up rapidly on this front. But menswear is going to see a stable set of products; the flash of colour for menswear which one saw last year, that’s kind of died down.”