Indian intimate or innerwear industry has witnessed sweeping changes in the last few decades. One of the key changes is the proliferation of domestic and international brands in the country. This change can be attributed to the rising consumer income, fashion consciousness and awareness about wearing the right innerwear as per body type, need and usage.
Indian intimate wear market has covered a long distance from its initial days where the purpose of intimate apparel was totally different from what it is today. From a traditional market with poor production and marketing infrastructure few decades ago, today a lot of experiment is happening in terms of product design, style, colours and fabrics. For years, several domestic innerwear brands have been catering to the need of Indian consumers. The opportunities in domestic innerwear market have lured many international brands to enter Indian market in the last one decade.
If we compare ourselves to the west, then there is a long way to go. Major concern areas would be lack of ambience, knowledgeable sales staff and trial rooms, unavailability of products specific to the needs of Indian body types, less availability of high quality products considering it is majorly restricted only to organised stores and limited availability of specialised categories like shapewear, sports or maternity wear.
India lacks professional fashion and design schools that impart training specifically in intimate wear. This inhibits the product innovation initiatives of the brands. Therefore, it becomes important that these schools take up this subject seriously and consider specialised modules on pattern making, grading and construction for intimate wear.
