Arvind enters innerwear segment with Hanes and Wonderbra

Arvind Lifestyle Brands has entered into an agreement to market and sell innerwear brands Hanes and Wonderbra in India, through a licensing agreement with US-based Hanesbrands Inc.

Hanes has been present in India for five years through a fully owned subsidiary of Hanesbrands. Arvind plans to increase the current number of Hanes points of sales in India from 5,000 currently to 15,000 in the next three years.

On the arrangement, Sanjay Lalbhai, chairman and managing director, Arvind Limited, said, “This transaction is a significant milestone as it signals our entry into the highly lucrative market of branded apparel essentials with lingerie and undergarments. This market segment of branded essentials is estimated at over Rs. 18,000 crore and is expected to grow over 18 per cent from thereon year-on-year.”

Gerald Evans, co-chief operating officer, HanesBrands, said, “Our Hanes and Wonderbra brands have great  growth potential in  the lingerie and branded apparel essentials market in India. We are  confident that Arvind Lifestyle Brands Ltd., which has one of the largest portfolios of licensed US brands in India, is the right partner for us to aggressively expand growth in India.”

J Suresh, managing director and chief executive officer, Arvind Lifestyle Brands, said, “In the past we have focused on and built a strong position in the Indian menswear, womenswear and kids wear segments, with one of the strongest portfolios of homegrown and acquired global brands. It was only logical then, that we look at the branded apparels essentials and lingerie market as the next area of growth, given the changing lifestyles of Indian consumers and the subsequent shift in consumption to the organised sector therein. The transaction will give us a new edge to our product portfolio .We plan to grow the Hanes vertical within Arvind to achieve Rs 500 crore revenues over next four years.”

On the TG, Suresh said, "Income-wise, we are targeting households in the middle class and upper middle class bracket. We are looking at households with an income of Rs 50,000. The TG is male in the age group of 18 to 45 years for Hanes and the same age group for women for Wonderbra.”

"We have a distinct product superiority because of Hanes. Internationally, Hanes is positioned on comfort as you know comfort is the most important  factor for innerwear for consumers. From the positioning point of view, it is excellent and that is something we want to highlight . Thus, we aspire to get the mind space of the consumers and I believe it is easier with a brand like Hanes because of its heritage and technological superiority,” he explained.

On the marketing plans, Suresh said, “One for thing is for sure that we will market these brands aggressively. We need to understand the market and the needs and then we will decide on the marketing scheme. In India , Hanes had not advertised the brand well and communicated the brand proposition strongly, but we will we will invest very heavily in advertising for these brands.”