ABFRL, Lifestyle, W ‘Fashion brands’ on store expansion spree in FY22,

As per a new report by brokerage firm Anand Rathi, rise in clothing sales, especially innerwear has encouraged brands to add more retail stores across the country. Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail plans to add more 300-400 Lifestyle stores in the current financial year, extending the access of retail stores to more consumers in the country. By the end of FY21, Lifestyle had 2,379 stores in India. While the retail outlet added 383 new stores during the year, it also shut down 247 unavailable stores.

Pantaloons is planning to set up 60 more retail stores. As of now, Pantaloons is catering the clothing demand of people from 346 stores. Similarly, TCNS Clothing will also be adding 60 additional stores along with VMart expected to bring in 40 more retail stores in FY22.

More people shopped for new apparels, innerwear and footwear in 2021 than last year. During the last quarter of FY21, apparel stores witnessed almost 100 per cent recovery. Retailers saw near normal consumer behavior during January- March this year; fresh merchandise was also launched by the brands during the three-month period.

Not just apparel retailers but recovery was also seen for footwear brands. Footwear companies like Relaxo and Khadim witnessed a shift of consumers to opt for value-for-money footwear. The demand among people to buy new footwear also returned to normal during the January-March period, but this was also disrupted by the Covid-19 second wave lockdowns.