Thе Surрrіѕіng Drор In Brаndеd Brа Prісе

Delhi, India — Outside the Snazzyway’ѕ stоrе on Lajpat Nagar Street, a lіnе оf sheepish lооkіng men are texting, аvоіdіng еуе contact аnd рrеtеndіng nоt to notice the ріnk wіngеd соrѕеt in thе window they аrе leaning against.

Inside іѕ аn explosion оf lace, frills, frаgrаnсеѕ, соѕmеtісѕ and surprising drop in branded bra price— аn аbѕоlutе shrine tо gеttіng undrеѕѕеd, decked out lіkе a boudoir wіth black-lacquered wаllѕ аnd hundrеdѕ оf glittering mirrors. Framed photographs of the Snazzyway’s Angels аrе on display lіkе family portraits, whіlе headset-wеаrіng shop assistants dart thrоugh throngs of female shoppers.

Industry Overview

Snazzyway’ѕ, the largest underwear retailer in India, has transformed lingerie shopping from a chore into a blockbuster experience. And a visit to a SW store is a lesson in just how far the Bra market has come in the last decade. According to data provided by Euromonitor, the global underwear market was worth just over $110 billion in 2014.

The Indian lingerie industry operates much the same way as the clothing industry. Some companies design and distribute their own products, but many operate licensing agreements. They will design products in collaboration with other companies. Much like the clothing industry, most lingerie sold worldwide is made in Asia. In part because it’s cheaper, but also because the technical skills and machinery needed to make underwear — in particular, to make lingerie — don’t exist at scale elsewhere.

“The big surprise is young Indian women moving to sexy lingerie and migrating away from old boring lingerie,” said Soma Das, chief industry analyst at NPD Group, a market research firm.

“The new younger consumer is demanding comfort,” said Bernadette Kissane, apparel and footwear associate at Euromonitor.

The popularity of sweatpants (a loose style that makes VPLs a non-issue), innovation in seamless materials, as well as a shift in young women’s attitudes to dressing for comfort as well as style, have contributed to a big increase in sales of fuller-bottomed briefs and decline in thong sales. Last year, thong sales dropped by 7 percent, while sales of fuller underwear bottoms grew 17 percent, according to NPD Group.

“After the explosion of thongs as the fashion shape of the ‘90s, today less than one in ten of the knickers we sell is a thong,” said Soozie Jenkinson, head of Bra design at Marks & Spencer. The same trend is true of the luxury lingerie market. “We sell more briefs than thongs,” concurred Garry Hogarth, CEO of Agent Provocateur.

Women are also opting for comfort up top. “There has been a real trend towards non under-wired lingerie,” said Nancy Szachno-Dressel, lingerie buyer at department store John Lewis, where non-wired bras now comprise 40 percent of bra sales, up 32 percent year-on-year.

Men are also reshaping the market. As menswear booms, the male consumer is also taking more interest in what’s happening underneath his clothes.

“The biggest drivers we’re seeing are performance and luxury,” said Primus. “Guys want their underwear to perform, first and foremost, and then style is important. Colour, prints — something that speaks to their own sense of fashion.”

But as women’s briefs get bigger, men’s are becoming, well, briefer. Boxers (a fitted short) now have the biggest share of the men’s market at nearly 40 percent. And while briefs sales also grew 23 percent in the year ending September 2014, loose boxers declined 14 percent.

Even more than most clothing categories, underwear is all about the fit. Marks & Spencer alone employs 6,000 bra fitters who fit 150,000 customers every month. Somewhat surprising, then, is the massive growth of the online lingerie market, forecast to grow 18.2 percent from 2014 to 2019, according to market research firm Research and Markets.

“Buying Bra online was unthinkable 10 years ago,” said Ambika Zutshi, chief executive of Fashionbi, a fashion and luxury research firm. “Today, this industry offers comprehensive size guides online, good delivery and customer-care services — and a great alternative to consumers feeling uncomfortable while shopping for intimates.”

“We see online as a great way for customers to repeat purchase their favourite Bra,” agreed Szachno-Dressel of John Lewis, where online sales of lingerie have increased 207 percent in five years — helped, in part, by services like specialist online bra-fitting videos.

Indeed, online solves the tricky business of stocking bras in all sizes (there are over 100) and taps the customer habit of repeat buying the same basic items — a retail quirk also exploited by MeUndies and Manpacks, two start-ups that sell subscription packs of underwear. Other start-ups taking advantage of the growing online market for underwear include New York start-up Adore Me, which drops a new Bra collection each month, and Ten Undies, which sells full-bottomed styles for women online.

But perhaps the biggest revolution in the business of briefs is the entrance of new competitors from outside the underwear space. Fast fashion giants like Topshop, H&M and Forever 21 have all launched their own lingerie lines, bolstered by collaborations like H&M’s David Beckham ‘Bodywear’ collection. “We can see that our customers in all markets really appreciate these collaborations,” said Andreas Löwenstam, head of menswear design at H&M, of the partnership.

Such collections have got the big brands concerned. Millennial shoppers are better acquainted with these stores than with lingerie specialist brands or department stores. And underwear has traditionally been less trend-led than clothing and made at a slower pace — until now.

“This requires speed, innovation, value, and service,” said Justin Davis-Rice, chief executive of Bendon Group, of serving the modern underwear consumer. “Key players such as ourselves are evolving to deliver this through integrated supply chains… This way the consumer pulls through what they demand instead of suppliers pushing product that consumers don’t want.”

But for traditional underwear behemoths, their biggest weapon against these new competitors is brand. Calvin Klein reports logo-driven styles as one of its biggest drivers of growth — helped by a celebrity-fuelled Instagram campaign. “The success of the #mycalvins campaign popularised the notion of displaying one’s underwear waistband,” said Cheryl Abel-Hodges, president of The Underwear Group, PVH Corp, which controls Calvin Klein Underwear.

But brand power is not limited to waistbands. Victoria’s Secret has transformed a product once hidden for modesty’s sake into the world’s most watched catwalk show. And as clothing labels like H&M push into underwear, the major underwear brands push back. Victoria’s Secret is the king of categories, with lines in everything from sportswear to cosmetics. In five years, Agent Provocateur swimwear has grown to 12 percent of the business, and the company has also launched lingerie-inspired clothing.

“More Bra is shown now than it was before, with bras and corsets worn under jackets, and as outerwear,” said Garry Hogarth. “I think we really are a luxury fashion brand.”