Teens notice some really amazing bodily transformations in their lives making them feel that moment of modifying themselves to a mature girl or shaping the woman they would be in future; and that is the day a teen slips into her very first bra. Lace n Lingerie digs deep to find out how brands, retailers and distributors are winning in this category.
THE OFFERINGS
Udit Todi, President, Strategy, Lux Innerwear, says, “Today’s teens yearn for innerwear, which keeps them relaxed and comfortable all day long. Lyra has come up with different styles of bras and panties. Lyra has a wide portfolio of lingerie to offer to the teens. The bras, which we offer to teens comprise of Non-Padded Bra, T-shirt Moulded Bra and Encircled Moulded Bra. These bras come in versatile colours and designs. Besides, Lyra lingerie also includes assorted panties, which includes hipster and bikini briefs.” The price range for teen’s category bras is between INR 205 and INR 285.
Groversons Paris Beauty is one of the first brands in the country to enter in the teens category, claims Siddharth Grover, Director, Groversons Group. “We have been delivering the best quality at affordable cost not only in this category but in almost all other innerwear categories. We make comfortable cotton bras for teenagers that give them confidence in their developing stage and can also be worn as a sports bra, which even makes the purchase decision easy for the customers,” he says.
“Like every girl in her teenage needs special care, we have beginners bra for them, designed specially to keep the breast supported during their growing age. We have three different styles in this category with different designs keeping in mind the fit and comfort factor. These trainer bras come in different colours and are designed with full coverage for maximum support and no spillage from top and sides,” he adds.
Groversons Paris Beauty Trainer bra named as Dolly & Sherry is one of the best sellers in this category. They are designed with wide and spaghetti styled straps, moulded fabric cups and no hook eye for easy slip in and slip outs. The product is wire-free with light cotton fabric keeping in mind the comfort of customers,” he claims. The price range is between INR 150 and INR 500.
Talking about the offerings, Ketan Gulati, Director, Kalyani Innerwear says, “We offer bra in cotton or soft fabric, which gives comfort as well as confidence to teens at the stage of development. The range is non-restrictive and gives comfort, which may have cups but more like a sports bra.”
Kalyani Innerwear offers products for teens at reasonable prices. The price range is between INR 155 and INR 250. The brand is further divided into three sub-brands i.e., Kalyani Innerwear, which deals in bras, K Lingerie, which deals in bra and panty sets and Kalyani Panties, which deals in panties only. Sanorita is the brand’s best selling product right now.
Besides, Bodycare Creations has always designed the product keeping comfort and quality in mind. Talking about the collection for teens, Sanjay Dawar, Managing Director, Bodycare Creations, says, “We offer many products for teenagers including Bikini Briefs, Seamless Bras, Seamless Padded Bras, Sports Bras. Seamless panties, 100 per cent Cotton Camisoles, and a utility product as well, which is sanitary panties. Then we have sportswear for teenagers and the range includes T-shirts, Capris, lounge pants, trackpants, among other options.”
“In the teens category our padded bra and cotton panties sell really well. Another product, which sells well is the sports bra,” he adds. The price in this category range anywhere between INR 70 and INR 385. “We have always been known for our products with best quality fabric available at most competitive prices,” Dawar adds.
Being a girl is about making beautiful memories and adopting to a lot of changes. A girl experiences some really amazing body transformations in her life making her feel that moment of change, where she transforms into a mature girl or shaping the woman she would be in future and that is the day she slips into her very first bra, the beginners bra, says Jinal D Rathore, Managing Director, Saanvi Clothing Pvt Ltd.
“We at Envie offer the best quality product meant for a first timer with bras, which is called ‘Beginner’s Bra, St#1008‘, which is made from Tencil Modal and has a super-soft hand feel and durability. This product offers comfort and complete coverage during their growing years. We also have Sports Bra, Camisoles, Capris, Shorts, Leggings, and Panties to offer to the teens, which will help them explore different categories of intimate wear,” says Rathore.
“We have many best selling products in our basket out of which our Beginner’s Bra (St#1008), Teenage Bra (St#1001), Sports Bra (St#1016), Camisoles (St# 3010) are the most popular ones,” she adds. The price range of the products is between INR 200 and INR 649.
Sharing the offerings for teens, Riya Vipin Kalra, Co-founder, Candyskin, says, “We have a lot of Padded Non-Wired Bras, Cut-n-sew bras in quirky colours as well as basic colours, perfect for teenagers. We also have anti-bacterial panties that are perfect for teenagers providing full coverage with a mid-rise waist.”
“Our cotton bras and our bright push-up bras do well in bras. And in panties our cotton panties and our bright panties do well,” she adds.
Teenagers are looking for comfy yet quirky bras that provide functions and support as well. The price range of the products is between INR 499 and INR 899.
Says Mohan Krishnan, MD, MyBra, “For teens, we have a wide range of products and the fastest moving brands are Isabella, Mia, Ivy, Madhuri, Maisha.” Maya and Felicity are sold in 12 different colours in cup sizes B & C. Price ranges between INR 300 and INR 500,” he shares. Out of these, Maya, Ivy and Felicity are made in moulded cups with seamless stretch fabrics, which gives an attractive look to the garment. These are well received in South India.
WHAT CUSTOMERS DEMAND
“Today’s teens are quite versatile in nature. They look for products that match their personality and are trendy yet comfortable at the same time. They not only look for more options in a particular product but also look for diverse utilities in a particular product. To match the steps with the teens, Lyra bras have the perfect body shaping ability made with super stretch combed cotton fabric and soft adjustable straps for mark-free skin. As teens are more aware about the current styles and market trends, Lyra has come up with special features like hook and eye closure and seamed bra cups,” Todi says.
“The best-selling products from the teen’s category are Non-Padded Bra, T-shirt Moulded Bra and Encircled Moulded Bra. The bras are crafted in such a way that it’s soft to the body and keeps them comfortable all day long,” he adds.
Talking about the changing buying behaviour, Grover says, “The Indian market has witnessed a considerable change in the buying pattern, as women today are driven by the factor of style complementing comfort. Even teenagers these days have become selective when it comes to purchasing anything for themselves. With the changing scenario and preferences of teenagers, brands have started making colourful and attractive products for the beginners. Brands have started experimenting with colours, fabric and style, giving the product a more fresh and sporty look.”
“Most of the teens are looking for comfortable snug fit camisoles, seamless padded bras, which go well under both Western wear and ethnic wear, Seamless Panties, Low waist Bikini Briefs, and of course Sports Bras for their daily fitness routine,” Dawar adds.
Sharing the trends in teens category, Rathore says, “Trends for teens have made them set goals for themselves across all fashion categories. We see there is a huge demand for high fashion products with comfort and hence we offer best style category suitable for teens during their transformation period. Our parents use to choose our daily wears but these days teens are much more aware of the trends and are very much in line with the wall-to-wall fashion coverage.”
Sonari has a wide range of bras for today’s teenagers like Sports bra, Padded bra, Comfort bra, Fashion bras, etc. “The teenagers prefer sports bra and padded bra from our collection,” says Dipesh Kubadia, Director, Shalibhadra Creations. Sonari falls under the affordable bra category ranging from INR 500- 800.
“Teens these days like wearing neon colours and crisscross bras. Also, transparent straps are usually preferred by teens,” he adds. The brand stands out from the competition because of its material quality, affordability factor and product fit, he believes.
Bannari Amman Spinning Mills Limited has beginners’ bra and cycling shorts for teens. Talking about the trends the company is witnessing in the teens’ category, the spokesperson says, “Fashionable, yet comfortable value for money preposition is the latest trend.” “We are a mid-segment mass premium brand that offers comfort and value for money,” he adds. The price range is from INR 249 to INR 449.
In the youth category, the company is going aggressively with organic cotton products and Supima American cotton product range in the leggings segment.
BRAND SALIENCE
“First time buyer will be loyal to a brand only when she is satisfied by the products look, feel and of course price. When we offer the best quality product with affordable price, it is bound to make the first time buyer a loyal customer towards a brand. Brand Salience is nothing but holding onto your customers by offering them the best fit, one-in-a-kind designs, super good handfeel and the oomph, which makes them feel like buying only ENVIE when they enter a lingerie store. Quality and fit of our products will surely impact the decision of a customer during their buying process,” says Rathore.
“The Lyra Lingerie collection presents a complete set of intimate wear in the market. Lyra develops all products with perfection using the finest grade of fabrics and materials to grant a sense of comfort and satisfaction to our customers. We craft our inners with super combed cotton, cotton elastane stretch, microfiber, mesh, and pima cotton, which makes these products innovative in its own way. Other attractive features of Lyra lingerie is that they come in eye-luring colours, which makes them the most preferred innerwear among teens,” says Todi.
WHAT DISTRIBUTORS SAY
Lalit Khurana, a distributor from Jaipur who sells teens lingerie, says “The best selling brand in this category is Floret. The price range of the products is INR 169-599.” Talking about what is in demand, he says, “Push-up bras and bright colours are in demand.”
T Vishvam, Owner, Keynote Distributors, (who is the distributor of Jockey) says, “Many customers check the website before coming to buy products. We also have sales girls to educate and help them.” He keeps products in the range of Rs 200- 300.
Yet another distributor is Azeef Khan who is the owner of Maxfit Enterprises, says, “We sell brands including Bodycare, Kalyani, Trylo etc. Bodycare is the best selling brand in this category.” He further says that light colours are in demand by customers.
Ajay Agarwal, Owner, Inside Story, Siliguri, says, “Light padded bras are in high demand by teens.” Talking about the colours preferences, he says, “Skin, white and black colours are in demand by school goers and college girls demand colourful bras.” He sells brands such as Amante, Jockey, Bodycare, and has his own private label V4, which is also doing pretty well.
ROAD AHEAD
All these retailers and brands have great plans for future. Sharing the plans further, Todi says, “We try to come up with as much innovations as possible. We are looking to launch our latest range of sports bra, secret shapers, beginners’ cami bra, and teenager’s bra.”
Sharing the expansion plans, he says, “We will keep experimenting with more designs and colours giving the product a different look and feel every season. Products with side pockets for pad insertion have been introduced in the market keeping in mind the demand by the end consumers. It is a growing category with a different set of target audience with which we will always strive to increase our market share in this category.” “We will launch a collection of sportswear for teens soon,” says Gulati.
Talking about the future plans, Dawar says, “We keep adding products to the category with our newest designs. These categories are the trend of the season and we would like to assure our customers that we will keep delighting you with the trendiest designs at the most affordable prices.”
Sharing the future roadmap Rathore says, “We have huge plans in the teens category and will be launching many products suitable for this category very soon. A range of collection is being worked intensively by our design team. We would want every teenage girl to look for Envie when they choose to go lingerie shopping.”
Kalra adds, “We are majorliy expanding it to variety of products in our cotton category as well as expanding into sportswear and athleisure.”
Talking about future plans, Kishore Kubadia, Director, Shalibhadra Creations, says, “Sonari plans to expand itself in the future by opening standalone stores across India starting with growing cities like Pune, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Surat, etc.”
Clearly, with all the positive sentiments and great plans for the future the category is here to stay and grow for a long time.
Also, brands are coming out with lines and collections for teenagers but there is no brand in India that caters only to this segment such as Sabina from Thailand, Aerie from USA, etc. Hence, there’s a huge void in this segment that needs to be catered to. Currently, most brands come with a range for teens as it sells due to the demand but if there are Indian brands that would focus only on this segment and manufacture lingerie for them, considering the sizable population of teens in the country, it would positively work well for everyone.
