Readymade clothes manufacturer MAS’s supply chain expertise and an intimate understanding of conservative Indian consumers, is helping its lingerie brand to grow at twice the rate of its apparel exporting business, says a senior director of the family controlled firm.

Amalean family controlled MAS Holdings is one of Sri Lanka’s largest exporters with revenue forecast to top 800 million dollars this year, the equivalent to around 11 percent of the islands 2009 exports.

MAS’s Indian lingerie brand Amante’s however is tiny by comparison, with revenue this year forecast at five million dollars, around six percent of group revenue. Amante is now the third largest lingerie brand in India, catering to wealthy and cosmopolitan consumers.

Together with Enamor and Triumph; the Amante brand, launched two years ago, targets the richest 20 to 30 percent of Indian women.

“The brand itself is the most important thing for MAS and we will do what it takes to make sure that the brand gets the kind of support it needs,” says Ajay Amalean who heads, two year old Amante, the only MAS owned product brand.

MAS’s fat stripped production lines, 20 years of material sourcing experience and making readymade clothes to tight deadlines is the edge Amante, a separate unit within MAS Holdings, enjoys in India.

However production was only one half of the challenge.

Closeted industry

Nearly 100 million women make up the ‘value premium’ segment or the richest fifth of consumers targeted by the premium lingerie brands. But understanding this conservative and fickle market has taken a greater part of the Amante brands time so far.

Retailing lingerie was a closeted industry till seven years ago when brands started advertising, lingerie stores opened at suburban shopping malls and mannequins displaying products graced shop windows.

“We realized that India has a specific need, you can’t take something form the catwalk in Paris. India has a version of its own fashion,” points out Amalean.

Indian women shunned bright colored bras under transparent blouses or let thongs ride up over low rise jeans; but it wasn’t possible to pigeon hole the market either.

“India itself is like operating in four different countries,” explains Amalean the reasons for MAS to quickly abandon its strategy offering the same colours and fashions across the country.

In North India, which accounts for 40 percent of Amante sales, fashion is loud and colorful, “as people and personalities they are also loud,” Amalean says.

Mumbai is the market most likely to accept ‘Agent Provocateur’ type fashion; it’s cosmopolitan, classy and understands fashion from an international sense.

The South is just the opposite dominated by black, white and skin color bras and briefs. Sizes are also smaller. Eastern cities like Calcutta are also tight fisted and people look for value.

The firm is careful to not be hung up about Indian cultural stereotypes nor be too flaunty with its designs.

“This is what we called the spice collection,” explains Amalean holding up black and saffron coloured bras and briefs resembling colours in North Indian cuisine.

“We though this might work for India; but it didn’t,” he says. A range with fuchsia and turquoise colours, common in Indian outwear and introduced during Divali holidays also had a lukewarm response. However the Amante brand now has more about uplifting experiences than news about sagging demand.

A recent survey of 30,000 consumers voted its ‘Floral Romance’ collection of lace molded t-shit bras with a two millimeter thick cup as product of the year. Amante’s Indian growth at 40 percent annually is about double the rate of growth of its parent; MAS Holdings.

Amante has benefited form MAS’s experience manufacturing lingerie for top international brands like Victoria’s Secret and Marks and Spencer.

Logistics

Overtime MAS has trained a dexterous group of machine operators to put together as many as 35 different elastic, snaps, lace and wire pieces that makeup a bra.

Its Unichela plant, 20 kilometers outside the capital, specializes in making bras. It’s most skilled machine operators wear a blue cap denoting their ‘jumper’ status or their ability to take the place of an employee on leave.

Flexibility of its workforce has enabled the firm to quickly replenish the shop floor as products are sold.

To achieve high replenishment rates products are manufactured in smaller batches more frequently at MAS’s own factories, from which the Amante unit purchases products at a 10 percent markup.

“We have an 85 percent replenishment rate in India. That’s unheard of,” claims Amalean who is the marketing and branding brains behind the MAS success.

A replenishment rate indicates the frequency of a products availability including design, colour and size. This translates in to a large stock because a single design of a bar is available in as many as 14 sizes and three colours, or 42 different variants.

“Generally the replenishment rate is 50 percent (for other brands), so when a consumer comes she doesn’t get what she really wants. That’s a huge differentiator for us,” he says.

Lean manufacturing

At the Unichela factory machines are wheel mounted and supplied with electricity by cabling that hangs down from the roof to make a changeover of a line to manufacture a different product a couple of hours job.

“’Quick changeover’ is a system where you are developing the new style in a separate external zone. So you go through the learning curve there, you prepare your machines … so when one style is over you just changeover,” explains Shamal Boyagoda a Production Manager at Unichela, MAS owned factory.

‘Quick changeovers’ are possible because three years ago the MAS group did ruthless cost stripping eliminating departments and introducing one seamless production process, reducing transportation and stockholding costs and improving communication.

“In India people work on this whole volume business… they try to balance price and volume. Most of our competition is working on that and they are holding a huge amount of stock,” says Ajay Amlean, one of the founders of MAS together with brothers Mahesh and Sharad.

Beyond tailoring

Its estimated Amante has a 30 share in the 50 million dollar Indian premium lingerie market. It competes with Triumph, an international brand and Indian brand Enamour, which is the market leader.

Amante is expected to breakeven this year. Amalean says they are targeting a 12 percent margin but is currently working with half that.

Products are available at 230 stores in all of India’s main cities. This year they will expand in to tier two cities like Pune, Chandigar and Jaipur.

“We certainly have plans of growing in this region, the middle is also an attractive market,” he says.