Major shirt brands such as Van Heusen and Alan Solly have joined the environment game.
Apparel makers have been going green with a vengeance for some time. The latest to join the list are major shirt brands.
Though a tiny portion of their overall turnover at present, ‘green’ shirts are slowly making their presence felt, as a growing number of consumers are using them as a fashion statement. More importantly, major brands see this as the in-thing which adds tremendous intangible value.
Van Heusen expects a 50 per cent growth in sales of ‘Eco’ shirts, which are made from 100 per cent organic cotton. Ajay Ramachandran, COO, Van Heusen India, says Eco shirts contributed Rs 6 crore to the total turnover of Rs 650 crore last year. It is expected to rise to Rs 10 crore by March 2012. The company is also including T-shirts this time. These shirts are Rs 100-200 costlier than normal shirts.” The price range of Eco shirts is Rs 1599-Rs 1799 and for Eco t-shirts Rs 799-Rs 999. Van Heusen is the first formal brand to encourage such a line and would be promoting the concept through in-store visual merchandising.
“Every care is taken to ensure that no chemical or fertiliser is used so as to protect soil cycles. The fabric is hand sewn and gets no further surface treatment. It is only washed with water to give the required finish”, says Ramachandran.
Though the company is promoting this segment as a CSR initiative and donates one per cent of money earned on each shirt to ‘Trees for Free.org’ for planting and nurturing trees in public places, the margin on each shirt makes it a sound business proposition too.
More From This Section
Ramachandran says the company may come out with men’s trousers and women eco-friendly garments too in future.
Another apparel brand, Allen Solly, is working on developing naturally coloured cotton. It’s an internationally accepted technology where seeds are manipulated to grow coloured cotton. The product is still in the initial stages of development and would be out by autumn this year. It would yield cotton in two colours — green and brown.
Jayant, head of designer, Allen Solly says, “We will introduce new designs every season. The concept is in such a nascent stage that it might not affect turnover or business at large but its value has to be realized in terms of effectiveness to ecology in the longer run. As we increase the options in designs, ramp up marketing initiatives, do more of in-store merchandising and educate customers, the category might develop and become a major growth driver in future.”
Allen Solly launched an eco-friendly line in Spring 2010 with 40 SKUs and added 40 more in autumn. The plan this year is to produce 100 SKUs. While shirt would cost Rs 1499-1699, T-shirts would vary from Rs 699-Rs 899. Jayant says Allen Solly is also working on trousers, though it’s still in developmental stage. Besides cotton, the company also has other types of organic yarn like ‘Sorona’ (made from sugarcane fibres) and ‘Cocona’ (made from coconut fibres).”
Khadi is also joining in. In a first of its kind initiative, Sarvodaya Ashram, Etah, has come out with a branded line of khadi clothes- ‘Ekmatra’ promoting eco-friendly values.
The first store was opened on April 16 in New Delhi and the Trust plans to open 25 more stores in the next three years across major metros. Partho P. Kar, trustee, Ekmatra says the category can grow 30 per cent by next year. The promotion will be mainly through personal invitations, consumer engagement, social networking sites and digital media.”
Future Group’s retail chain, Pantaloons has also started an eco-friendly line - ‘Mother Nature’, which company executives say is showing a slow but steady growth.
There are certain areas in India that are earmarked for harvesting organic cotton. This is untreated cotton, grown by natural harvesting methods. Unlike other fabrics which get wrinkle-free and softening treatment to give them richer look, these fabrics are not treated at all. Even accessories like buttons, barcodes, trims, price tags etc are made from eco-friendly resources.