The Ethnic wear Market in India

The ethnic wear market of India stood at us$ 13,100 million in 2013 out of which the contribution of men’s ethnic wear is only 3 percent, contribution of kid’s ethnic wear is 9 percent and that of women’s ethnic wear is 88 Percent. The ethnic wear market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8 percent to reach $ 19,600 million in 2018.

The apparel market of India was valued at US$ 41 billion in 2013, and is projected to grow at 9 percent CAGR for the next decade. In this huge market, the menswear category contributes 42 percent, women’s wear 38 percent and kids wear 20 percent. The ethnic wear market of India stood at US$ 13,100 million in 2013, out of which the contribution of men’s ethnic wear has been a mere three percent; the contribution of kids ethnic wear has been nine percent; and that of women’s ethnic wear a whopping 88 percent.

This market as a whole is expected to grow at a CAGR of eight percent to reach US$ 19,600 million by 2018. In this segment, the market has largely been driven by women’s ethnic wear as it comprises 74 percent of the overall women’s apparel market with a market size of US$ 11,500 million. It is a large part of women’s wardrobe and will continue to grow at a promising rate of eight percent.

The ethnic wear market space is largely populated by unorganized players. Each region of the country has strong players but at the same time very few brands have presence across India. Almost a decade ago this was a completely unorganized category with no brand presence. It was a space mostly driven by local retailers and tailors. The maximum design innovation used to come from local ‘colony tailors’ only, who offered very limited options in terms of design variation. Even fabric design innovation had become stunted due to lack of competition and complacency in the market. 

However, the entry of brands infused a new life into ethnic wear and we see a lot of activity happening in this segment. It will not be far fetched to say that ethnic wear is the new in-thing in the fashion space.