Japanese inner wear brand Wacoal to invest ₹100 crore

Lingerie firm plans to expand its retail network in India

Wacoal Corp., a Japanese company which is into premium lingerie products with global retail sales of $4 billion, has announced investment plans of ₹100 crore to expand its retail network in India in three years.

Wacoal’s subsidiary, Wacoal India, which has been operating in India for four years, plans to grow its exclusive store strength from 12 to 70 by 2021 and add 80 more shop-in-shop stores, totalling 150 stores pan-India.

Focus on 30 top cities

Besides setting up more stores in existing markets such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, the company plans to aggressively focus on 30 top cities India to drive growth.

Wacoal also intends to advance sales in India through the existing partnership with e-commerce platforms, Myntra, Jabong, Tata Cliq and their own website.

“We have seen an exponential growth in the Indian market since our entry in 2015. With this expansion, we aim to explore its full potential, and further solidify our position as a leading entity in the country’s luxury lingerie market,” Tomoyasu Ito, representative director, president and corporate officer, Wacoal Corp., said in an interview.

“India is one of the fastest-growing retail markets in the world with 1.3 billion people. Now, it is the right opportunity for us to become the number one brand [in our category] in India. Wacoal’s mission is to contribute to society by helping women express their beauty,” he said.

Currently, the India lingerie market is estimated at ₹14,000 crore, growing at 12-15%. Wacoal is aiming at a revenue of $100 million in 10 years from the $1 million now. “That is how we started in many of the 70 countries where we have presence. And we will make it big in India,” Mr. Ito said.