Lifestyle stores sniff good fortune with new-age aromatic clothes

If the girl next to you at a party exudes fragrances, it could well be from the fabric of her clothes. Apparel biggies in a bid to, entice customers into buying from their outlets are launching fragrance-filled apparel, this season.

Leading the pack is Wills Lifestyle, the apparel label from cigarette behemoth ITC. The company is currently dispatching rose aroma, ladies tops and shirts to its outlets.

While the company was not forthcoming with pricing points, discreet enquiries at their exclusive outlets reveals the range's pricing to be between Rs 725 and Rs 1,200, effectively ruling out any noteworthy premium for the product.

While the concept of fragrance products is not new, the technology adopted is. A few years ago, several firms like Weekender and Dockers pilot tested aroma-washed products.

However then, these firms did little by way of promotion as they considered this a seasonal novelty. Now firms are adopting Woolmark's Sensory Perception Technology (SPT) that was brought into India in July by Bangalore-based Resil Chemicals.

While the earlier encapsulation embedded finish was a fragrance coating that lasted a few washes, this technology is expected to help the aroma last for over 15 to 20 washes. The reason, aromas are emitted from the fabric only when touched.

Resil's joint managing director M S Vijayan said, "Our SPT work with four apparel biggies is in an advanced stage. We expect these apparel firms to launch their fragrance-based products anytime between one to five months."

While he refused to identify the brands they were working with, he said, fragrance-finished fabrics were preferred by women's wear manufacturers.

While Wills LifeStyle is one such player, others in this segment include Allen Solly, Weekender, BE from Raymond and Scullers from Indus League. However, Allen Solly and Weekender denied introducing any fragrance-filled offerings immediately.

Indus League on the other hand said, they will limit themselves to their men's wear label Indigo Nation. The company, though is not launching fragrances in the strict sense, it is focussing on Deo Free, an anti-microbial finish ""- another SPT application "" this season.

Terming this a technology for the future, Vijayan expects the SPT technology to rake in retail sales of Rs 40 to 50 crore within the next two seasons. Besides clothing, Resil is now trying to incorporate the technology into home furnishing.