A weekend, leisure or a holiday wear, the t-shirt was primarily limited to leisure occasions. But not anymore, today a t-shirt is worn to parties, clubs and weddings as well. It has transformed itself to a much more smart stature. Rakesh Oswal, Proprietor, Amstead Clothing Company shares his point of view on t-shirt’s consumption in India with Images Business of Fashion.
Printed polo t-shirts, knitted t-shirts, jacquard t-shirts, small collars in t-shirts are the latest trends that are doing the round in t-shirts fashion according to Rakesh Oswal, the founder-owner of Amstead Clothing Company that manufactures Amstead t-shirts. He believes that the Indian t-shirt market is not just huge but growing fast as well. Every year the market is witnessing around 50-100 percent growth. The brand Amstead clocked a very respectable turnover of Rs. 20 crore in FY 2014-15.
“Since the past 2-3 years, the t-shirts segment in the casual wear category is doing good business. Today wearing too formal apparel is considered outdated. Likewise, the mid-ages males are widely shifting towards casual wear and adopting smart casual wear at work. They have started wearing t-shirts in offices and also at business meetings. While the younger lot already are totally on casual wear,” he said.
Oswal is further also of the opinion that the increased growth in denim has been a major factor that has propelled the t-shirts consumption. The preference to match a t-shirt with denim [read jeans] gave rise to t-shirts consumption and the demand for variety in it. Unlike new themes in apparel, t-shirts work on colour schemes and design patterns.
Amstead Clothing Company is into both manufacturing and exporting t-shirts. The company launched their mens t-shirt brand Amstead in 2004. The brand offers the complete range of t-shirts from polo collar t-shirts to sweat shirts to hoodies. Their t-shirts also span a wide range of fabrics like cotton, sinker, pique, etc and with lycra to boost. They cater to a wide customer base between the ages of 20 to 45 years. “Amstead is a mid-level widely acceptable fashion brand, hence it appeals to both the young as well as the middle-aged male,” shares Oswal.
About his lastest collections Oswal shares that “since the consumers taste is changing frequently, in the upcoming winter collection, we are bringing out a new collection in almost 20 different colours, whereas this was earlier limited to some five safe earthy colours in winters. Although earthy colours are also doing good business but nowadays the trend is moving towards bright colours so in coming season we are coming with new trendy colours along with the old earthy ones. So, the consumers no longer have this mindset that since it is winter he will only get melange or grey colour t-shirts,” he concluded.
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