Orders for IPL apparel merchandise dwindle

Mumbai, Tirupur, Ludhiana knitwear manufacturers’ orders down 25 per cent

While the Indian Premier League (IPL) is over a month away, the cricketing event is witnessing a diminishing popularity as far as its apparel merchandise is concerned. According to Mumbai, Tirupur and Ludhiana knitwear manufacturers, the orders for IPL apparel merchandise has dwindled from last year by at least 20-25 per cent.

For instance, Mumbai-based SVG Fashion which has received orders to the tune of five million pieces of knitted apparel from brands like Adidas, Nike and Reebok, has witnessed a dip in orders. The IPL merchandise based on different teams of cricketing franchise usually includes knitted jerseys, caps, wrist bands and other accessories along with branding of sponsors.

"The craze over IPL seems to be dwindling coupled with a dull retail market. This may have led to apparel orders meant for the IPL season have declined by 20-25 per cent at least. The trend of decline had anyway begun since couple of years," said Satyanarayan Agarwal, founder of SVG Fashion.

Further, the Future Group which used to outsource manufacturing of its own range of IPL apparel merchandise to garmenters every year has discontinued the same this year, said a group spokesperson. The group used to retail IPL merchandise at its Big Bazaar and Pantaloon outlets till recently. What's more, according to Ludhiana-based garmenters the orders should have come by now but have seen exceptional delay this year.

"With each passing season, planning of sponsored apparel orders has taken a hit with last minute IPL sponsorship changes taking place frequently. Such frequent last minute additions in sponsorships forces garmenters to make several changes in the apparel orders which delays the supply as well," said Varun Mittal, director of Kudu Knit Process Pvt. Ltd. which supplies IPL merchandise to brands like Adidas, Reebok and Nike, among others.

Meanwhile, according to another Ludhiana-based knitwear manufacturer, orders have not only declined but have also delayed this year.

"Orders have declined by over 30 per cent as well as delayed by almost a month. There is a certain amount of uncertainty with regards to teams and sponsors that may have led to the delay. Moreover, retail demand is also expected to be low this year," said Ajit Lakra, president of Ludhiana Knitters' Association (LKA).