Wedding collection sales surge in FY24, bucking overall trend

MUMBAI: Leading designer brands from Tarun Tahiliani and Abu Jani, Sandeep Khosla to Sabyasachi and Rahul Mishra recorded a surge in sales of wedding and occasion wear in 2023-24, ranging between high double-digits and triple digits, bucking the overall trend of lacklustre demand as a sharpening focus on premiumisation added sheen to their labels.

"Luxury is always recession-proof if you do it right," fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee told ET. "The good thing about being a good luxury brand is you almost create a monopoly. So, when everybody fails, you're the last man standing which probably reflects in the financials."

Joint Ventures

Mukherjee's firm, Sabyasachi, saw a 42% year-on-year increase in revenue to Rs 487 crore in 2023-24.

Most of the nine designer labels that either have joint ventures (JVs) with or have been acquired by Reliance Retail and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail reported sales growth for the financial year, according to their annual reports. Industry executives pointed out that the JVs are mostly for ready-to-wear clothing and operate in the bridge to luxury segment, while the designers separately run their core haute couture companies that create custom-made garments in the luxury segment.

The wedding and occasion wear market has been traditionally serviced by local shops delivering made-to-order outfits, but over the past decade, brands such as Manyavar, Mohanlal, Tasva and Ethnix by Raymond have brought consistency in the celebration wear segment in terms of delivery and execution, albeit at lower price points than designer labels.

Unlike mass brands, which saw flat sales growth in 2023-24, designer labels remained relatively insulated from the tepid demand environment. Indivinity Clothing with Tarun Tahiliani doubled sales to Rs 100 crore during the financial year, while sales of Reliance Abu Sandeep Private Limited surged 155% to Rs 131 crore. Aditya Birla's Finesse International, which runs Shantanu & Nikhil brand, saw sales growth of 14% to Rs 85 crore while House of Masaba saw a 39% increase in revenue to Rs 70 crore. Couturier Anamika Khanna's JV with Reliance Retail posted sales of Rs 17 crore in its first full year of operations for the fashion brand AK-OK.

Mukherjee said Indians, historically, do not pay for intangibles and only focus on tangibles even within the luxury brands segment. "That's why we are a commodity market. But when you build intangibles, you have to build it the right way. Which is one of the reasons we are profitable," he said. "We don't go on sale, or give discounts. The brand never panders to anybody; it's always democratic. For us, integrity matters in every spectre of business," he said, pointing to some of the elements that add to the allure of the luxury brand.

Rahul Mishra, the first Indian designer to showcase at the Paris Haute Couture Week, has a JV with Reliance Retail which posted sales of Rs 29 crore for the eight months ended March. The sales exclude his couture company that was started more than a decade ago.