Beyond suits: Raymond wants more share of your wardrobe

MUMBAI: Raymond’s suits and shirts have for decades been a part of men’s wardrobes—the company now wants a larger share of their closet. The Group’s lifestyle business which was demerged into a separate listed entity last year is expanding into more categories like sleep wear, inner wear, launching region-specific apparel like it recently did with dhotis in the South while betting big on the wedding portfolio which is widening its share of consumer spends—thanks to Indians’ obsession with big fat shaadi.“We go across the board…we sell fabric pieces ranging from Rs 300 a meter to Rs 10 lakh a meter. That is a big opportunity for us,” Gautam Singhania, chairman and managing director at Raymond Group told TOI in an interview.Even though there is a slowdown in discretionary spending and a growing propensity among discerning consumers to allot more share of their budgets towards new experiences, spending on clothing will never go out of fashion, Singhania said. “Whatever you do in life, you need clothes. You can cut travel out, you can’t cut your clothes out. Certain things in life are recession proof,” Singhania said, adding that consumption should pick up soon. The growth opportunity lies in the belly of the market or the middle class and that is the segment Raymond Lifestyle will double down on, Singhania said. The sheer size of the middle class aside, the rising incomes of the segment which is broadening their appetite for branded, premium products is what companies are tapping into. Raymond’s strategy would be to offer consumers premium products at competitive pricing which Singhania describes as “value for money.” Earlier this week, the company unveiled a new premium (occasion wear) collection which includes shirts priced at under Rs 17,000—amount that many middle class households looking to upgrade their wardrobes can afford. “We have a range of Rs 10,000-Rs 50,000 (wedding) suits which is a middle class shaadi product,” said Singhania.Raymond Lifestyle plans to open 250-300 stores in FY26 across metros and non-metros and expand distribution of its Ethnix business (ethnic and Indo-Western portfolio). The 100-year old Raymond Group which has businesses spanning sectors like engineering, real estate and apparel with a broad (overall) exposure to exports said that India is well placed to weather the raging global tariff war.“Economic tariffs will hurt everybody but if the US levies tariffs on India (in the context of the tariffs expected to hit in April), they will levy more on China, and that is where India’s competitive advantage increases,” Singhania said, adding that more European companies are looking at India in a bigger way. For Raymond Group which has less than 30% exposure to US in terms of exports said that it is not looking at revising its export strategy for the market for now.“I think there’s storm right now. Let things settle down,” Singhania added.