Women’s apparel market to overtake men’s wear by 2025: Report

The women’s apparel market is set to overtake men’s wear by 2025 in the country, according to a report by Avendus Capital.

The report, titled ‘Women’s Apparel Landscape in India,’ offers an overview of the market, including an understanding of women’s shopping behaviour, significant shift towards branded apparel and the various distribution channels available in the market.

Women’s apparel, which accounted for ₹1 lakh crore of the ₹2.6-lakh-crore apparel market in 2015, is growing at 11 per cent CAGR, while the branded segment is clocking a 20 per cent growth, the report said.

The women’s branded apparel market is expected to grow at around 20 per cent, raising its share of the total market to over 40 per cent.

The report attributed the growth to factors such as the entry of branded players including foreign labels, increase in number of working women and spending power, ease of retail trade, and the shift to ready-to-wear and aspiration-based shopping.

“Impulsive buying, online and digital shopping, availability of a plethora of niche brands and the influence of social media are also changing the women’s apparel landscape,” Abha Agarwal, Director, Investment Banking, Avendus Capital, said in a statement.

“I believe ease of payment, the growing concept of visual merchandising, and seamless shopping and delivery experience will make the women’s apparel market more attractive going forward,” she added.

Other findings showed that 70 per cent of the women’s apparel market is concentrated in top 10 cities. As these cities become saturated, growth will shift to tier I and II cities which will see higher discretionary spending, the report noted.

There is also a noticeable shift from traditional sarees to ethnic wear and western wear, which is growing at 11 per cent and 17 per cent respectively, the report noted.

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