French designer Yves Saint Laurent, one of the greatest in fashion history, was once asked what he hoped

in his clothes. To that he said, I have often said that I wish I had invented blue eans! the "ost spectacular, the "ost practical, the "ost rela#ed and nonchalant. They have e#pression, "odesty, se# appeal, si"plicity$all I hope for in "y clothes.% &o"ing fro" such a big na"e in fashion industry, this carries a"ple weight when looked in the conte#t why deni" eans are increasingly beco"ing part of casual wears not only in infor"al environ"ent but also in corporate. Today, one can spot even a chief e#ecutive officer sporting eans on a Friday, which in "any corporations are known as casual wear day. This growing acceptance of deni" wears, which has been essentially for youth begs an i""ediate as to how big and lucrative is this industry' (ere is a low)down on the deni" wear industry! *ccording to various esti"ates, the deni" "arket in India is pegged at +S, -.. billion in ./--. 0iven the large acceptance of deni" eans, this "arket is e#pected to grow at a co"pounded annual growth rate of -1)-23 in the two years fro" now would reach grow literally by two ti"es. In ter"s of volu"es, the deni" "arket is esti"ated around 4// "illion pair of eans which is pro ected to grow to 11/56// 7illion pairs in the two years fro" now. 8hen one u#taposes these facts with Indian de"ographics, the growth of deni" eans "arkets see"s high. 943 of India:s population is young with an average age of .6. ;eans "anufacturing are s"artly targeting this young Indian population that traverses between -< to 4= years and which will also be the "a ority of the population in the ne#t -/ years. Interestingly, it is not ust about advertising. 7any brands today have a reasonably large portion of >eni" in their offering to the consu"er. The market >eni" eans are one of few long)sustaining i"ports of western culture in India. (istory points out that deni" wear started as an apparel to be worn by workers at factories. (owever, in India, today, it has beco"e a fashion state"ent a"ong the youth. It is fashionable, co"fortable to wear on "ost occasions. The acceptance of deni" in India has grown tre"endously over the years. 8hile "etros have been the key driver of growth in the initial phase for "ost deni" wear brands in the country, the largest growth is now co"ing fro" deep penetration of deni" in India. Take for instance, ?ewal ?iran &lothing, a co"pany that "anufactures eans under the brand ?iller. The co"pany has a large network of =9 distributors and presence through 4-4 stores of which it owns only -<, while the re"aining .== are franchisees. In "etros,

due to consolidation of business in "alls, the retail space owners negotiate pricing with brand owners providing little "arket share for brand owners. ?ewal ?iran has been focussed on its ter"s of trade, which "eant that it concentrated on tier)II and tier)III cities sharply. This strategy has paid off. Today, broadly, the co"pany is present in tier)II and tier)III cities. *ccording to a study by Technopak *dvisors, "id) pre"iu" seg"ent @deni" eans costing As-1//)As4///B, which co""anded -13 "arket share in deni" "arket would reach -=3 "arket share in ./-9. Thanks to the increasing acceptance of deni" eans and i"proved purchasing power in tier)II and tier)III cities, co"panies which have focus on tier)II and tier)III are likely to benefit highly. India:s present deni" "arket is largely tilted towards "en:s seg"ent which can be taken as about 2/3 of the total "arket. There is a growing wo"en:s eans "arket. The wo"en:s wear "arket is pro ected to grow faster and is e#pected to account for about "ore that .13 of the total "arket by ./-1. Cn the city front, at present, larger cities and the "etros together contribute nearly 193 of the total "arket. Cne of the chief reasons for early growth of deni" eans in "etros was due to its easy availability. There was low presence of these brands in the tier II and tier III cities. In the initial phase of the e#pansion, "ost e#pansion of brands and retailers happened in the "etros in the "ini "etros. (owever, today ) "ost brands understand that the tier . and the tier 4 cities present a large opportunity. Today, with instances of high savings in tier)II and tier)III despite high inflation, there is growing aspirations of people fro" these cities to catch up with people in "etros. These people buy brands. In the coming years Desides growing aspirations a"ong people in tier II and tier III cities, their increasing disposable inco"es, which have led to an increase in buying nu"ber of pairs per person. Earious statistics says that at least in the "etros that the average ownership in ter"s of nu"ber of pairs per person would have increased 4)< ti"es in the past five years. In tier)II and tier)III cities, it can be two or three ti"es. This increase in buying is not ust about eans but about its various positioning in ter"s of styles, fits, washes, and colors. The current "arket siFe of deni" wear in India is largely dependent on "etros and "ini "etros. 7etros and "ini "etros with about 93 of population contribute to about 1/3 of the "arket share in deni" wear. The tier . and tier 4 cities ) which constitute about 23 of the population contribute only a -63 of the "arket share in deni" wear.

(ence, in the co"ing years, a large part of the growth of deni" apparel shall be driven by deeper penetration in the s"aller cities. * big reason for this is the difference in real estate prices between "etros, "ini)"etros and tier)II and tier)III cities. *t present, real estate prices are at astrono"ical level in the larger cities, the tier . and tier 4 cities offer a low cost rental space to the brands and the brands have used these synergies to their advantage to scale up business. *s long as this difference prevails, the penetration of gar"ent)"anufacturing co"panies in tier)II and tier)III cities would continue to increase. The only glitch for these co"panies would be the pricing of their products. *t present, deni" eans of large known brands are in the range of As4/// and above. This is one of the chief reasons for huge acceptance of either non) branded Gso"e unorganiFed players in these cities. Hven though the youth of tier II and tier III cities aspire to wear branded deni" wear but he is still price conscious. In fact "ost brands now realise that the largest potential of growth co"es fro" these cities and because operating costs are lower in these cities, these co"panies have reasonably good profitable ventures. ?eeping this fact in "ind, deni" "anufacturers are also creating price conscious brands which are priced in the range of less than As. -1//. In the co"ing year, analysts believe that better pricing co"bined with a "i# of traditional and "odern retail concepts like e)co""erce can then help brands and retailers scale up their business. 7ore i"portantly, with growing acceptance of e) co""erce, co"panies in deni" wear seg"ent can i"prove their presence in ne#t growth pockets, which are s"aller cities. Ienetration of Internet will play a crucial role in this. Today, it is not an aberration to find consu"ers ordering apparels on web sites such as ;abong, 7yntra and Flipkart not only in "etros but also non)"etros. Desides this, there are a host of foreign clothing web sites that offer that their factory outlets at econo"ical prices on international web sites, pointing to the growth story of deni" eans "arkets in India.