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Dear readers,
A very warm welcome to our favourite issue of the year – The Big Denims Special. Before anything else, I wish to thank all the participants from the industry, the expert contributors, and the entire IMAGES BoF team for bringing out this momentous issue. It was an absolute delight to work with and share the work of the highly committed and deeply thoughtful people that were associated with this month’s issue.
Denim is evergreen. It is THE most timeless and global piece of apparel known to mankind. It’s been more than a century that this blue hued fabric has dominated the sartorial desires of people around the globe, irrespective of ethnicity, gender or age. There’s a pair of jeans for everyone out there. My vote is that the word denim should very well be included in dictionaries as the antonym of ephemeral without further ado.
It’s but only natural that the denim industry is growing by the day in India as well. As leading management consulting fi rm Technopak outlines in the lead research of the issue, the denim apparel market spanned a size of INR 23,076 crores in 2017, and is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.7 percent to reach INR 41,947 crores by 2022 and INR 76,258 crores by 2027. Although, it is the men’s segment that still dominates the sector with a ~84 percent share, a profusion of aspects have culminated to bolster the growth curve of the women’s segment, which industry sentinels hold will exhibit a staggering growth rate of 13.1 percent during the period 2017-27. A special feature in the issue traces the growth drivers, popular cultures, consumption behavior, key trends and the prospects of both these booming denim sectors.
Sustainability is a crucial issue in the denim industry; and in the wake of increasing environmental awareness among consumers, an increasing number of denim brands are committing themselves to both the people and the planet. We look at the positive contributions of brands like Kuyichi, Monkee Genes, G-Star Raw, Patagonia as well as do an exclusive interview with Archroma which highlights their strategic vision and eff orts towards catalyzing more sustainable denim manufacturing.
In addition, the issue is laden with numerous features on the current trends, the impact of the rising popularity of athleisure on the denim industry, the impact of leggings on women’s jeans, denim for kids, prospects for premium denims in India, denim campaigns and collections, the take of India’s top designers on denims, and its application in Indian ethnic wear. The fashion business and innovation section also looks at fashion fi nancing, VM Innovation, start-ups, and features the laucj of American Eagle Outfi tters in India, as well as of India’s fi rst fair-trade denim brand – Aizome.
I hope you like the issue. Happy reading!!
