Fashion is no longer restricted to women! Men today are active contributors, moving beyond deciding their favorite tie colours to now actually cultivating loyalties to designers and lifestyle brands. Menswear today generates approximately 80 per cent of the branded sales market in the country. However there is a complete lack of one all encompassing showcase that targets only men and after a decade of successful India Fashion Weeks, FDCI is ready to explore this growing potential of Men’s Fashion in India in partnership with Van Heusen, India’s leading lifestyle brand.
The first ‘Van Heusen India Mens Week’ marks a milestone to give menswear designers a structured impetus and the much needed platform. With the ‘Van Heusen India Mens Week’ India becomes the fourth country in the world to host a separate Mens Week to tap and channelise the growing potential of Fashion for Men in India.
The week promises to be a world class event showcasing the very best of Indian talent. To be held in Delhi at The Grand (Vasant Kunj), from September 11 – 13, this fashion extravaganza will hold 15 shows and have designer displays. Designers will be invited to cover the widest range of men’s fashion – menswear and accessories, under one roof, affording buyers and consumers the widest possible selection of fashion for men.
The ‘Van Heusen India Mens Week’ also provides a platform to promising talent to receive recognition through the ‘VH Emerging Designer of the Year 2009’. The winner will be felicitated and given a chance to showcase his designs at the fashion week.
So watch out for very stylish Men at the first ever ‘Van Heusen India Mens Week’.
The core audience comprises professionals and corporate executives - men who are successful, focused, articulate, well-traveled, and confident and have a sense of style about them. But they are not just men caught up in being more successful ? they also have varied interests and passions and like to experiment.
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Most importantly, the Van Heusen consumers are those who believe strongly in leaving a mark where ever they go. They want to stand out as individuals even amongst a group of like-minded successful people.
Van Heusen helps its consumers `stand out in the world of sameness?. The brand understands that its consumers do not want to blend in, nor do they want to stick out, but want to stand out. And it does so, by offering merchandise that is fashionable and innovative within the contemporary corporate world.
Van Heusen has always stood for class, sophistication and elegance. As a brand, it had always exuded style and confidence. In this background, the truly discriminating values of the brand for the foreseeable future are fashionable, trendy, exciting, innovative and contemporary ? values that are constantly being sought by the Indian consumer today.
Van Heusen is not just the No-1 Premium lifestyle brand in the country; it is the No-1 dress shirt brand in the world. With retail sales of more than Rs. 375 crores in FY10, Van Heusen is the only brand to have a large footprint encompassing Men, Women & Youth. The brand has set a rapid pace of growth over the last 5 years with an average growth rate of 30%. Both Van Heusen Woman and VDot (its premium clubwear brand) have clocked high growth rates even in difficult times. The brand has embarked on an ambitious retail expansion program. It currently has 65 exclusive brand stores and plans to add another 25 this year. The brand plans to have 150 stores under its belt by FY12. Add to this, its reach in all large department stores and over 500 hundred multi brand outlets, Van Heusen is committed to retain its No. 1 status in the lifestyle space.
Van Heusen is the world?s No.1 Dress Shirt brand. It?s no different in India, except that it is also the country?s No. 1 premium lifestyle brand for men, women and youth. With a rich heritage of 128 years, the brand entered India in 1990. It has had the unique distinction of establishing not only the brand, but also the ready-to-wear category. The brand epitomises ?fashion for the corporate?, and its design driver is the combination of fashion and elegance.
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Since its launch in 1990, Van Heusen has consistently tracked and understood the Indian male. In the last two decades the clothing preferences of Indian men have undergone many stages of evolution. At each turning point Van Heusen has stood witness to these changes ? and has been ahead of the curve when it has come to forecasting emerging trends and making it accessible to the Indian consumer.
Van Heusen has always prided itself on making international fashion in the work space accessible to the Indian consumer. For close to 20 years now, the brand has articulated its understanding of international fashion not only through its products and services, but also through its communication. Being the title sponsor of the India Mens Week is a logical step for the brand to provide a platform for Indian designers to connect with a large cross-section of Indian consumers.
