For 26-year-old Siddhant Shah, a New Delhi-based product supervisor, although, sneakers aren’t nearly consolation— they’re “a mark of individuality”. Final yr, he spent ₹36,000 on a pair of a chunky Ambush x Nike sneakers—his most dear pair. Between him and his companion, they personal about 40 pairs of sneakers proper from a “few pairs” of Nike’s Air Jordan, the long-lasting shoe that finds its origins in American basketball (and prices between ₹10,000 and ₹16,000) to a extra vibrant pair from the Asics-Sean Wotherspoon assortment at ₹8,500.
Shah represents a transition in shopper behaviour that’s driving up gross sales of informal footwear. Most retailers and sportswear manufacturers Mint spoke to reported a robust development in sneaker gross sales over the previous yr. Many are doubling down on the class given the broad shopper curiosity within the product.
Throughout on-line trend retailer Myntra’s lately concluded flagship sale, sports activities footwear remained one of many prime trending classes. Jubi Samuel, senior director, class administration, Myntra, defined that, more and more, buyers on its platform are choosing chunky types and multi-colour footwear for workplace and exercise functions in addition to informal outings. Manufacturers akin to Puma, Nike, Adidas, HRX, Skechers, USPA, are among the many top-selling sneaker manufacturers on Myntra. Between July 2020 and now, Myntra reported a 120% development in demand for informal footwear together with sneakers; demand was particularly robust within the mass premium and premium segments.
“Issues are opening up, individuals are stepping out extra regularly, making ready to return to the workplace, or collaborating in social gatherings. However after two years of rebuilding their health regime, there’s a perceptible shift within the life-style of buyers. And so, the demand for sneakers has additional accelerated this yr,” mentioned Samuel.
Globally, sneakers are seen as a trend accent (and never simply athlete-wear). That pattern has travelled to India, confirms Abhishek Ganguly, managing director at sportswear retailer Puma (India and Southeast Asia). “There’s a clear casualization (of buying selections) and I feel that is an irreversible change,” he mentioned. Shoppers aren’t content material with proudly owning a single, all-purpose pair of trainers, mentioned Ganguly, however are selecting a spread of merchandise. “The share of sneakers as a share of footwear owned by shoppers is rising,” he mentioned. And so, throughout each model, value level and retail channel, they’re promoting extra, he mentioned. Puma attracts 55% of its gross sales from footwear in India; the class grew the quickest for the retailer in 2021. Even mass-market manufacturers like Bata are jogging up the ‘sneaker’ monitor.
Chilling is stylish
The rising demand for sneakers ties into the broader pattern of “casualization” of trend—the demand for informal, fuss-free snug attire and footwear—that refuses to abate regardless of the return to places of work and a social life.
Merely put, two years of pandemic residing have killed all urge for food for struggling for the sake of favor. The shift to joggers, tank tops and white sneakers—trend developments loosely termed as streetwear or athleisure, in addition to a normal pattern of dressing down—is now outliving the final two years, drawing shoppers to imagine that consolation is certainly cool. Retailers have caught on and are quick constructing and stock of such types. Pallavi Barman, enterprise head, at HRX, the health model backed by Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan and Exceed Leisure, mentioned that publish the pandemic, the loungewear look is a lifestyle for lots of Gen Z and even millennial shoppers—broadly these aged between 18 and 40.
Because of this, a number of formal clothes corporations have made the foray into loungewear, informal t-shirts, joggers, and so on. In its FY21 annual report, India’s prime branded attire retailer Aditya Birla Trend and Retail Ltd (ABFRL), which sells formal put on below manufacturers akin to Peter England, Eternally 21 and Van Heusen, pointed to the pattern of lively put on and athleisure turning into extra mainstream. The corporate has additionally actively tapped into the informal clothes pattern.
In December final yr, ABFRL acquired distribution rights for sportswear model Reebok in India and in Southeast Asia, marking its foray into the fast-growing sports activities and active-wear section. In 2016, it launched athleisure below its Van Heusen model.
In 2021, administration consulting agency Boston Consulting Group had predicted that the buyer wardrobe will proceed to maneuver in direction of extra informal put on with a larger deal with athleisure.
BCG attributed this to a big youth inhabitants, together with a normal propensity in direction of more healthy life and engagement with actions associated to health. The expansion on this class will proceed lengthy after the influence of the pandemic recedes and therefore it’s a everlasting shift, the consulting agency mentioned. Classes like athleisure are anticipated to develop 20-25% over the subsequent 4-5 years, it added.
“We imagine that informal (attire and footwear) as a section will develop a lot quicker than general attire and considerably quicker than formal. Informal is predicted to develop about one-and-a-half instances that of formal within the coming years,” mentioned Namit Puri, managing companion and director, BCG India. By 2025, males’s and girls’s casual-wear market in India is predicted to the touch $15 billion up from $7.7 billion in 2020, say business estimates.
Even inside footwear, the informal section has seen as accelerated development. Puri reckons that whereas the general footwear section was rising at about 11% pre-pandemic, informal footwear was rising north of 15%. Put up-pandemic that quantity has simply “exploded”, a pattern Puri expects will proceed. “When you take a look at the events on which informal footwear is worn, these far outnumber formal occasions,” he mentioned.
That doesn’t imply goodbye to six-inch heels. Puri mentioned the demand for formal footwear gained’t precisely dwindle—it’s going to simply develop slower than informal footwear.
From luxe to mass-market
Globally, too, sneaker tradition has shed its plebeian cred, with a number of the world’s largest celebrities and luxurious items manufacturers making them a core a part of their look and collections. A 2018 report by Reuters pointed to a rising curiosity by luxurious good sellers akin to Gucci, Prada and Balenciaga in launching dear sneakers.
This has led to some high-profile collaborations between luxurious labels and sportswear manufacturers.
Final month, Adidas and Gucci “dropped” items from their collaboration —a tackle “sartorial streetwear” with a “spectrum of sport-inspired items” akin to jackets, baggage and sneakers.
On 7 June, Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh posted appears to be like that includes baggage, sneakers and jackets from the newest assortment on his Instagram deal with, drawing hundreds of likes and feedback.
Nearer residence, celebrities akin to Virat Kohli, Diljit Dosanjh, and Ananya Pandey routinely sport chunky sneakers and free suits. These social media developments have clearly trickled down.
Consolation is turning into way more outstanding along with model and when celebrities do it, that simply fuels the entire pattern, mentioned Devarajan Iyer, vice chairman, advertising and marketing, at retail chain Life-style Worldwide.
Iyer explains that whereas the informal footwear class was rising even earlier than covid, the quantum of development has jumped considerably publish the pandemic whereas demand for formal footwear petered out.
India’s general footwear market fell considerably within the aftermath of the pandemic—from an estimated ₹79,900 crore in 2019 to ₹53,300 crore in 2020, in line with estimates by Euromonitor. In the meantime, demand for sports activities footwear fell 28% in the identical interval; earlier than rising 10% between 2020 and 2021.
“Throughout the pandemic, shoppers shopped for lots of athleisure and informal put on for residence exercises, and so on. Then they realized it was very, very snug. They’re now stepping exterior to bars and occasional retailers sporting such appears to be like. Shoppers are lapping it up; corporations like us are creating extra choices,” mentioned Iyer. Life-style is doubling down on its assortment of sneakers.
Amazon mentioned millennials and Gen Zs, who make up nearly all of the shopper base for these classes, are largely influenced by newest developments, social media preferences and are broadly uncovered to trend content material throughout platforms every day. “Each athleisure put on and luxury footwear like sneakers have discovered a particular place in shopper’s wardrobes,” mentioned Saurabh Srivastava, director and head, Amazon Trend India.
The retailer sells sneakers and informal footwear beginning at ₹199 and operating as much as ₹20,000. “Now we have a number of fashionable manufacturers like Adidas, Puma and Campus, in addition to high-end manufacturers like Hoka, Brooks and Saucony for health lovers,” he mentioned.
Mass-market manufacturers are capitalizing on the pattern too.
Bata, the nation’s largest footwear retailer, has discovered success in focussing on what the corporate’s chief government officer calls “casualization” of the footwear market. “The longer-term pattern that we see is one thing that I name casualization and sneakerization. And that’s been a giant thrust space for us,” mentioned Gunjan Shah, MD and CEO, Bata India in an earlier interview with Mint.
For Bata, this implies including a wider assortment of such types. “We’ve revamped quite a lot of our informal portfolio. We additionally launched one thing referred to as sneaker studio, we now have launched some merchandise together with it; we now have virtually 300 sneaker types throughout 9 manufacturers, catering to numerous utilization, from life-style, informal, outside to strolling, operating, and so on, and throughout value factors,” he added.
Informal footwear is now virtually 50% of Bata’s gross sales; one of many largest segments inside that’s sneakers, about 20% of the informal footwear section.
Discover your sole-mate
High retailers apart, a sub-culture has been rising in parallel amongst sneakerheads within the nation. Within the thick of this pattern are 20-something entrepreneurs fuelling the demand for unique and prized sneakers. These embody multi-brand retail shops akin to Mainstreet Market and Superkicks. The previous is a resale retailer that sells unique kicks from Yeezy, Jordans, Adidas and Nike, other than high-end clothes.
Sangeet Paryani, founding father of Superkicks, a multi-brand retailer that sells sneakers and attire, mentioned the chain has reported a gentle demand for trainers since 2018, when its first retailer opened. “Nevertheless, there was a sudden shift that was noticed from 2020 onwards, primarily from the time when the lockdown hit us,” mentioned Paryani.
The demand for sneakers like Air Jordan’s, Nike Air Pressure, Adidas Originals, which retail anyplace between ₹7,000 and upwards of ₹20,000, is spiralling.
He attributed this shift to rising consciousness amongst its audience by way of social media. “That is the place folks found what was occurring within the footwear area on a worldwide scale. They’d sufficient free time being confined to their properties to discover numerous types and silhouettes, thus resulting in a rise in demand,” he mentioned.
Most retailers Mint spoke to mentioned the pattern is right here to remain. Puma’s Ganguly is betting on larger penetration of the class, pushed by development in on-line commerce. HRX’s Barman mentioned the model is hoping to attract half its gross sales from footwear over the subsequent few years, up from the present 40%.
Shah—who additionally sometimes re-sells sneakers he purchases from manufacturers—reckons the pattern is unlikely to die down anytime quickly. The sneaker neighborhood has solely thrived post-covid with an increasing number of lovers rising from smaller cities, he mentioned.
Obtain The Mint Information App to get Each day Market Updates.
Extra
Much less
Supply: Live Mint