International Yoga Day
The likes of Proyog, Bhusattva have lined up yoga
wear range to woo new-age enthusiasts
As the country prepares to celebrate the first
ever International Yoga Day with mass demonstrations in several cities and
towns this Sunday, a handful of Indian yoga wear marketers are using the
occasion to push their chic collections.
Brands like Proyog, Bhusattva, Moral Fibre,
Forever Yoga, Do U Speak Green & Urban Yoga have all lined up a range of
organic breathable yoga wear that promises comfort and fashion to new-age
enthusiasts of the ancient spiritual discipline that involves meditation,
breath control and physical postures.
“Yoga needs `not too tight, not too loose'
garments,“ said Mr. Malika Baruah, Co-founder and product head of Proyog.
The brand, owned by Bengaluru-based startup Ika
Yoga Wear, will launch its yoga wear collection in the country on June 21, the
International Yoga Day.
On the same day, three-month-old startup Forever
Yoga will display its range at UB City in Bengaluru and at Powai Yogafest in
Mumbai.
Mumbai-based Fusion Clothing has already readied
a yoga wear collection under its flagship brand Do U Speak Green, which boasts
of being made out of fibres of bamboo and organic cotton to appeal to customers
of sustainable fashion.
Shalini Sheth Amin, who has founded Moral Fibre
in Ahmedabad, said her firm has just delivered a consignment of organic khadi
yoga wear to a boutique at the IGI Airport in New Delhi.
She is also targeting thou sands of people who
are expected to practice yoga at Gujarat Vidyapith as part of the yoga day
celebrations on Sunday. Jainam Kumarpal, owner of another Ahmedabad-based
organic brand, Bhusattva, has designed “comfortable and breezy“ yoga pants and
tops using fibres of bamboo, banana, milk and soyabean protein.
Apparel makers such as Mumbai-based Ashapura
Intimates Fashion, which owns Valentine brand, and Noida-based intimate wear
brand Clovia, too, have come out with yoga wear collections, to cash in on the
growing popularity of yoga in India and elsewhere.
Globally , an estimated 20 crore people practice
the 5,000-year-old art form. About half of them are believed to be Indians.
Amit Chand, co-founder, Forever Yoga, said
international yoga wear options don't fit most Indian users.
“More than 80% of Indians who practice yoga are
women who dress up in either salwar-kameez or / oversized tees to hide their
flab. Active wear range offered by international brands do not help,“ he said.
Baruah of Proyog feels it's unethical to wear
synthetic fabrics while practicing yoga as one should ideally be wearing
garments that make one experience freedom during yoga.
Experts agree India-specific yoga clothes brands
have a big opportunity.
“Yoga wear needs an anthropometric study to
design clothes as per Indian requirement. If the brands are able to crack that
and market themselves beyond the International Yoga Day , they could create a
new space in the total $7600 crore Indian apparel market,“ said Prashant
Agarwal, co-founder and joint MD,consultancy firm Wazir Advisors.
The Indian yoga wear market could loosely be 10%
of the active wear and 5% of the ethnic wear market, he said.
Apart from introducing comfort fits and fabrics
that are sustainable, Indian yoga wear brands are offering “performance“
fabrics for yoga.
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