More demand in jeanswear segment helping brands like Mufti grow

A pair of jeans is never out out of fashion and this is why the market for denim brands is looking good.

Same is the case is with denim brand Mufti that recently launched its 300^th store and aims to launch 25 more stores by March 2020.

Talking to Moneycontrol, Kamal Khushlani, MD and Founder of MUFTI, said, “The menswear market in India is growing. Jeanswear market has grown by around 14 percent. The market is good and for Mufti we targeted a 12 percent growth this year and for first half of the year we achieved 11 percent growth.”

Industry experts say slowdown blues has not impacted the denim category and its sales are growing 10-15 percent, unlike other categories that are seeing a decline, according to an Economic Times report.

Mufti that offers casual wear strongest in the shirt and denim categories saw Rs 395 crore worth of sales last year.

“We will close at about Rs 440 crore- Rs 450 crore worth of sales by March 2020 and we are looking to double in the next five years,” said Khushlani.

It is this demand that is leading to strong expansion plans even in tier II and III cities for Mufti.

“We are looking at tier I, II and III cities. Smaller towns are becoming more conducive to single brand retail and there is more demand for branded clothing in these places. We recently opened in smaller towns like Junagadh, Firozpur, Chandepur, Belgaum, Hyderabad and few more (stores) in Delhi. We have seen an encouraging response in smaller towns. We opened a flagship in Panchkula as well as in Muhali.,” he said.

The brand has close to 1,600 total point of sales across metros, tier II and tier III cities.

The company has also forayed into footwear market as it sees an increase in demand for casual lifestyle shoes. “There is a lot of demand for athleisure or for sports inspired fashionable shoes. Consumption pattern for footwear has changed. Back in the day people had one or two pair of shoes. But now men have seven to 10 pairs of shoes,” he said.

The 20-year old home-grown denim and casual wear brand competes with the likes of Levi’s that are seeing a healthy growth in the jeans segment thanks to the young consumers who prefer denims over other style of clothing.