As per industry standards prevalent in the West, you should replace your undergarments after every 6 months. From hygiene perspective this seems like a value proposition. However, does this hold true for a country like India? In a developing country like ours, buying clothes and lingerie seems like a luxury to a large proportion of the population. Given such a scenario, planning to buy lingerie every 6 months can seem like a far-fetched dream. But in that case are we compromising on health factors? Or the entire expiry date or longevity of lingerie concept is more a gimmick in order to drive sales? Let’s hear it from the audience.
Madhura Chakravarty
Advertising professional
Madhura Chakravarty is currently the Associate Creative Director of Monkey Wrench Communications – a communication design studio in Kolkata. After a stint with Ogilvy & Mather, she decided to push the boundaries of copy writing by aligning strategic business solutions with creative goals. She has worked on a host of brands like Vodafone, Greenply, ITC, Linc Pens, Chai Break, Polar & more. Madhura is currently in her seventh year of advertising and feels content can be powerful not only on billboards but on a visiting card too.
Sudip Dey
Independent Brand Consultant
Sudip loves the challenges that come with working within a fast-paced working environment and his expertise areas are branding and packaging design. Presently based in Kolkata and working independently, he wishes to build reputations for brands through his design and aesthetic sensibilities.
Culturally we are different as compared to other nations, specially the west. Apart from the cultural difference, India is versatile and diverse in many ways. Every nook and corner of the country is different and every alley has an identity of its own.
This diversity gives way to diverse choices too. Choices in terms of food habits, choices in terms of garments and lingerie of course features in this list. This diversity also reflects on the earning capacity of each individual. This in turn alters the purchasing power. To be precise, as Indians we have always shopped once a year during festivals. However, with economic conditions improving, now people shop at least twice during the year.
However, the requirement for lingerie is still limited to needs. Even though many people who gym want to frequently buy undergarments suited for their activities, most others will only buy if they observe a wear and tear on their existing piece or spot a colour fade.
So, overall the hard rule of changing lingerie every 6 months does not quite apply to Indians and India in majority.
Prakash Chandra Gupta
Owner, Pratibha Store
Located in Vidhyadhar Nagar, Jaipur, Pratibha Store stops you from going to any Katla, Gali, Rasta, or Bazar now. Pratibha Store at Vidyadhar Nagar is an exclusive shop for undergarments/innerwear of 29 leading brands for men, women and children. Brands like Jockey, Bodycare, Enamor, Groverson Paris Beauty, Lovable, Dixcy Scot, Kalyani, Sona, Trylo, Souminie, Valentine, Honey Dew, Daisy Dee, Rupa, Dora, Siver Stork, Macroman, Duke, VIP, Macho are available. Pajama, T shirts, gown, towel, hanky and socks are also available. Thermal inner wear available all 365 days’
Women and men in India are more conscious about their pocket and that’s why they are keen on shopping for budget pieces in undergarments mostly. Every brand, design, and piece of lingerie carries a manufacturing date.
However, as per common industry norms any lingerie that is 5 years old is considered a reject piece. Even though there is no common principle or date when it comes to expiry of a lingerie, but it is always good to sell things within a year of their manufacture. Consumers need to become more conscious of the product they are buying and retailers need to rotate their stock more consciously, so that at no point do they end up selling old stock. Then again, few items are classic and they sell round the year and consumers buying such pieces only shop once a year.
The frequency of lingerie purchase is also not constant, but subjective to demographic and area. So, to address this revolving buying needs retailers need to understand the market better and therefore stock designs as per sizes and keep the ones in more demand over the ones in less demand to save lingerie from getting old in stock.
Triguna Patel
Owner, Patel Lingerie
A reputed lingerie outlet in Bapunagar, Ahmedabad, Patel Lingerie is a one place stop for all lingerie, sleepwear, and latest collection of undergarments. We stock as per trends and put our collection on seasonal discounts from time to time. This allows us to move the stock faster.
Even though the idea of expiry is less associated with lingerie, but we always try to sell stocks faster so that there is less of old stock. This helps us catapult not only hygiene issues, but also allows us to be in trend. We do not have clients complaining about old stock, nor do we have them saying that we are selling outdated fashion. Consumers have become very conscious today and they have clear cut choices when it comes to what they want to buy. That’s why, expiry or not, selling trendy collection is a must.
