Denim retailer Spykar spins a new brand story, looks to regain past glory

From being a feisty and visible denim brand in the 1990s, Spykar has found itself slipping out of public reckoning over the past decade. It lost its footing as digital marketplaces and modern retail ushered in a new era of apparel labels. Now, under a new management, non-resident Indian Apurv Bagri’s Metmin Investment acquired the brand in 2014, it is looking to regain its past glory. The brand is extending its métier to athleisure, a Rs 70 billion market that is estimated to be growing at 13-14 per cent a year and pushing up its advertising and marketing budget.  

However, it has to contend with two big challenges. First, the segment is packed with powerful multinational brands with huge local recall and second, athleisure has served as a magnet for celebrity labels in recent years. 

Athleisure is described as neither gym wear, nor sportswear, but casual wear that one can go out and exercise in. Its popularity among the young has led to everyone—from M S Dhoni and Virat Kohli to Hrithik Roshan, Anushka Sharma, Sonam Kapoor and Tiger Shroff to name a few—to launch their own label. The sector also has star multinational brands such as Adidas, Reebok, Nike and Puma and Indian brands such as Aditya Birla Fashion as well as a clutch of small labels.

The 26-year-old Spykar knows it has a fight on its hands, but says that it will be playing to its strengths by launching a denim-inspired athleisure line. Sanjay Vakharia, who was recently promoted as chief executive officer (CEO) of Spykar Lifestyle, says the company is carving out its own version of athleisure range. “We are getting into athleisure and we will make sure that it starts contributing to the business in a major way,” he said. 

Spykar is using denim to design its athleisure line and Vakharia says, “It’s for the generation who leads an active and dynamic lifestyle.” He agrees that there are many brands that have beaten Spykar to the athleisure game, but does not accept this as a disadvantage on its part. 

“We were wanting athleisure to become a staple in the young consumers’ wardrobe. This is happening now and, hence, it is an opportune time to launch (the range),” explained Vakharia. Some experts believe that Spykar may well be able to leverage its late entry if it is able to harness the goodwill the brand once had among the young. 

“This is the right time for Spykar to foray into athleisure. It is always advisable to first focus on building your brand in a particular segment and then shift the focus to consumers which is what Spykar is doing,” said Prashant Agarwal, joint managing director of Wazir Advisors, a retail consulting firm. According to Agarwal, Spykar will continue to be recognised as a denim brand. However, with its product portfolio widening, Spykar is ensuring customer retention, repeat walk-ins and increased footfalls. 

“Athleisure may not pick up as fast but a widened portfolio will ensure customers not only buy denim, but come back for other products,” Agarwal added.

Understanding the customer is crucial for Spykar to stay relevant and appeal to those who may not have encountered the brand in its heyday. Spykar said that it has been adding “interesting categories” to its product portfolio. Vakharia said that his goal is to ensure that no consumer walks out of the store for want of his choice of denims. The company wants to increase its share of non-apparel products too, from four per cent to eight per cent by 2018-19. “We would have backpacks, sunglasses, watches, boxers and many such products,” says Vakharia.

This is not the first time that Spykar has sought to expand its non-apparel portfolio. It has often stated its desire of being a complete brand for the young, instead of just a denim label. However its efforts have not yielded significant results in the past and the brand has had to walk back its ambitious plans.

Spykar has also been running the ‘Young and Restless’ marketing campaign across media and is expanding its retail footprint to back its strategy of widening its product portfolio. As a result, from 350 cities for shop-in-shops (SIS) and multi-branded outlets (MBOs) and 140 cities for standalone stores, Spykar is looking to expand its reach to 500 and 200 cities, respectively.