Ajay Ramachandran explains the science behind your shirt

From a humble launch in 1999, as people were gradually shifting from tailor made to readymade clothes, Van Heusen as a brand evolved. Over the years, it has worked its way to reach to its current stature, including a line of womens clothing. The womenswear segment contributed 50crore to this year's turnover, says Ajay Ramachandran, brand head, Van Heusen. He also shares the latest summer trends with DNA.

Van Heusen was originally a men’s brand, what made you venture into women’s market?
When we launched in 1999 it was only shirts in basic colours. At that time, people were gradually shifting from tailor made to readymade, and the brand began to evolve. Soon, we began to face competition from international brands; they come with unisex appeal and encouraged couples and families to shop at the store together. In the women’s segment, at least till then, a sari and salwar kurta was what women wore to work. But in the past five-six years, it began to change and women started wearing western formals more than they’d wear Indian clothes. We thought if we could provide fashion formals solutions to men then why not for women? So we eventually branched out to women’s formals.

Men or women, which of the clothing lines sell more?
This year, of our `650 crore turnover, `50 crore has been generated from women’s segment and `150 crore from menswear; the rest can be attributed to regular clothes. While in future the women’s category will definitely generate more revenue, the figures are proof that menswear is doing much better right now.
 
Can you give us an insight into the trends for summer?
Several interesting ranges are coming up this summer; mostly, slim fit formal fashion for younger men who have just started working is big right now. The whole style makes you look younger, fashionable and you don’t have to wear fuddy-duddy clothes to work. As for the colours for spring-summer, cobalt blue comes on top of the mind. We’ve also launched an eco-friendly range, which is made of organic cotton and safe for the environment, because we believe that’s the next big thing.
 
What is Van Heusen sport all about?
We were broadly looking at what a 30-year-old does over the weekend; where does he go and what kind of clothes does he like to wear. So the sport line caters to those guys from the corporate circle who have an active weekend outing. The interpretation is European, eclectic fashion and sporty, which includes soft cotton trousers and summer jackets. The consumer price point will be similar to the others.
 
Apart from cobalt blue, are there any colours you think will do really well for both men and women?
We don’t see too many colours ruling this season. However, bright yellow, nautical and purple and shades of blue will be more visible. For women’s wear, apart from cobalt, peach and purple too will be common.
 
How do you decide on the collections for a particular season?
We have a very scientific method to the whole thing. We work on a particular collection about nine to 10 months before the season. There is a trend presentation, where designers travel all around the world and India, study international trends, and collect data from stores. All this culminates into the head designer’s trend presentation. We used to use a touch-and-feel policy while deciding on a collection but it doesn’t work anymore and we have to base our designs more on research.