Casual Sportswear Business is Here to Stay and Reap Great Returns

Sportswear is becoming a serious industry for investment and an area of interest for new and upcoming entrepreneurs who are looking at the ownership model in small businesses. The e-commerce model is doing complete justice to this business model, which is here in India to stay. We spoke to the Founder CEO Sunil Anchal of Arcley, which specializes in breathable and odor-free sportswear for men and women. 

Why is there an interest in sportswear? Why has sportswear become so fashionable? 

The millennial of India today enjoy healthy disposable incomes. They are enjoying better standards of living, are traveling the globe and are therefore conscious of maintaining good health. This demand strongly indicates the needs for apt fitness and sports equipment and therefore justifies a boom in the sportswear industry.

Today, sportswear is not just about active wear (needed for sports activities only) but is majorly also about sports casual wear (something that you like to be spotted in before or after sports activities).

Indeed the sports casual wear is a new emerging trend and lucrative business investment market, and this is a worldwide phenomenon. The casual sportswear segment has also gained acceptance due to its longevity to withstand fashion trends, not to mention the comfort and lightweight advantage such clothing provides. It is, therefore, no surprise that many corporates and even educational institutions at times, encourage students and employees to come dressed in such casual sportswear for the ‘feel good relaxed’ factor. 

The Arcley brand is focused on being a performance clothing garment. Are there certain dynamics and technologies that go into designing performance clothing?

Yes, sports clothing is technically different from usual clothing. People undertaking a sport’s activity or athletes performing pro-athletic workouts demand certain qualities in clothes that help them perform and feel better. There are scientific reasons to develop sports activewear and compression clothing. It is no surprise that a serious user of these products would want his or her sportswear to deliver value in terms of wearability as well as a performance enhancement, if possible. Various things need to provide both these advantages, including fabric texture, properties, weight and thickness, mechanical processes on fabrics, and stitch patterns that come to play while making sportswear clothing.

What do you have to say about the sportswear industry?

The sports industry is on an upward trend and is supposed to offer significant growth not only in the short run but also in the long run in India. The Indian sports market has been witnessing an upward trend for the last decade with Asia being the largest market contributor worldwide for athletic sportswear sales. Indian consumption of sportswear is witnessing a long-term sales trend. India is set to go one notch up from being the sixth to become the fifth largest economy by 2020 and is poised to be the third largest consumer market by 2030 (just behind USA and China) from a market size of $1.5 trillion at present to $6 trillion in 2030. Undoubtedly, the sports consumption will also go see a healthy upward movement. Sports privatization and commercialization will inspire rural and urban India to contribute to this sector and to adopt sporty and fitness oriented lifestyle, helping the sports industry to grow.