Deal Jeans empowers women fashion to bring out the most defining aspect of her personality. The brand journey began some 23 years ago with designer denims and today it offers around 23 exclusive product categories in around 2500 artistic styles crafted every year. Incepted in 2000, the brand is delighted to deliver excellent fits and vivacious styles to its customers for the value of its merchandise.

“The world of fashion is an incredibly competitive place and we are proud of empowering this achievement by being one of the leading fashion apparel brands with an exclusive positioning in the high fashion space. The brand expansions are taking place towards international market. Export being the foremost in our business plan helps us to establish our footprints globally. Having plenty of room for progression, Fashion is certainly an industry where it’s necessary to start at the bottom and work your way to the top”, says Apeksha Patel, CEO, Deal Jeans.

To be in this space, the brand takes initiative in forecasting the future trends and bringing in the best fast-fashion products for its target audience. In this frontline story, we spoke to Apeksha who believes that Deal Jeans is one dynamic fashion brand that continues to produce strong and sellable collections.

Define your customer and their aspirational value towards your brand?

Deal Jeans, is a women targeted brand in the age group of 18 to 35 years. We also cater to girls from the age group of 6 to 16 years, who are mainly fashion seekers with a lot of style, attitude and flair.

With change in time and growing affluence of international brands in India, the new generation of shoppers has become more vulnerable towards fast fashion. They now prefer brands that offer value for money and provide the latest trends in global fashion. The rising disposable incomes and aspirations to follow global fashion with the well-travelled consumers have fueled the growth of this segment. For Deal Jeans, this is driving our fashion-conscious consumers to make impulse yet selective choices for styling their everyday life.

Define your focus area on innovation?

Deal Jeans has developed its business2busineess virtual store for international markets. This innovation has been one of our key strengths that enable access to our complete collection, where make choice can be made by our business customers as per their market demand. Overall, it helps clients to save time and resources with an efficient supply chain delivering right product at the right time.

Are you a company which is taking care of our planet with sustainable clothing?

Deal takes an initiative to reduce carbon footprint by opting for eco-friendly paper bags which can be recycled. This has been one of the initiatives in contributing towards preserving the beauty of nature. Also, Deal is exploring other eco-friendly initiatives which could further contribute towards sustainability.

How has your brand embraced technology?

We use real-time data technology towards our inventory management. Deal Jeans also has its digital presence for brand promotion integrated with artificial intelligence (AI). We are also equipped with the use of internet technology that facilitates our global sales in a better and faster manner. Deal also uses technology, its customer relation management (CRM) and its research for brand building.

Share details about your product portfolio and its bestsellers?

Deal Jeans had introduced designer denims for Indian market two decades ago; we always saw demand in this category every growing year. From interesting finishes and unconventional to modern cuts, size-inclusive labels, our denim category offers exceptional products offering global trends in the fast fashion space.

The latest in denims is the wide-leg trend. It’s not only getting wider, rather getting interesting too. Our wide-leg denims with unfinished hem are super on-trend right now. Mixed wash styles and denim maxi skirts are making the standout styles for this season. The average selling price of our denim starts from Rs 1799/- and goes upto Rs 2499/-.

Get us to know something more about your spring summer’23 collection?

There's a lot of variety and creativity showcased in the SS’23 collection. Dramatically, pooling wide-legs and formfitting boot-cut flares hailing from 70’s, 80’s and 90’s has made a comeback with unfinished hems and redone patchwork, adding that perfect amount of edge to the casual pair.

The low-rise from the early aughts is going to give a more easygoing, covered up look. Stripes of every kind are reimagined in vibrant colourways, placing an emphasis on the phrase – ‘the bolder the better’. Placement prints and flat florals will add to the essence of spring summer to your wardrobe. From mismatched prints to kitschy patterns, classic black and white stripes to electric neons and cobalt blues; coloured zebra stripes to simplified social statement graphics, our SS’23 collection brings both colour and print combinations. From cargo styles and two-toned washes to super baggy silhouettes, denim jeans are ready to move from being a staple piece to a statement piece this SS’23 season.

Do you follow a theme with your collection?

Our collection is inspired by ‘Runway to Retail’. Out forte lies in extensive research on trends showcased at international runways like Milan, New York, Paris and the adaptation in designing takes place keeping comfort and consumer mindset in consideration as we launch our latest collection.

What kind of product innovation has taken place in your line for the season ahead in terms of style and cuts? What’s your colour palette for the season?

One reason to get excited about Deal SS’23 collection is its versatile styling options which are incorporated into more wardrobe elements than just pants. From buttoning a pair of jeans to wearing a denim maxi skirt or a classic Canadian tux, giving full denim fits are the new uniform pieces for 2023 at Deal Jeans. We’re solving the confusion of buying dark or light wash denim by launching a style that brings you both in a pair of two-toned denims. Boot-cut, tapered cut and wide-legs are going to bring a bold statement this season.

What are the key fabric trends for the season in terms of types of fabrics (Cotton, Blends, Linen or others), types of prints, design and colours?

Fashion obsession with denim is unwavering and we’re going a top notch by working hard to scout out the perfect fit, length and wash for quality over quantity. For Spring Summer 2023 season, inspiration continues to come from both the natural and the virtual worlds, as print and pattern trends continue to expand on the underlying theme of highlighting environmental issues. Tapping on the dopamine trend, the collection is well thought in bright colours, tie-dyes and ombres adding a rainbow effect vibe to the wardrobe.

Key elements

What is the present state of fashion market? What are the key challenges that a brand is  still facing?

The scope of the Indian fashion market is vast and diverse, with opportunities for both domestic and international players. The Indian fashion market also has a significant impact on the country's economy, creating employment opportunities and contributing to the growth of related industries such as textiles, retail, and marketing. Overall, the Indian fashion market presents a significant opportunity for growth and is expected to continue its upward trajectory in the coming years.

Though this industry is among the most promising in the country, it faces its own set of issue and challenges. Today fashion trends change with a blink of an eye and to adapt to the changes in fashion has been a concern for brands. The Indian denim industry still lacks behind in its ability to provide innovation. We have limited vertically-integrated units and expansion should happen in this domain. Our human skills have really not grown the way they should have because of the lack of global integration. The cost of production is not very competitive that alarms the domestic players to focus on their efficiency to reduce costs.

What’s your take on Social media integration for your brand? How well has your brand scored? Tell us about the strength of your followers and what are channels you are present?

The customers today have exposure to fashion trends across the globe with ease. We are collaborating with influencers as a market exercise to reach out to our potential customers who follow them before making their purchasing decision. The number of apps in our social media rotation has quadrupled. The way our consumers make a choice has dramatically altered: they stand in stores, using their smartphones to ask for what they see on our Instagram and Facebook business pages.

Our store launch strategy majorly involves communicating through social media and influencer marketing. This has helped in capitalization with standalone stores. Just to give you an example of a city like Imphal that had walk-ins of customers who made it by checking influencers promoting Deal outfits. We don’t just sell what we design, we talk about trends and how we will bring this in our collection.

Tell us how do you retain loyal customers? What are the key promotions that you run?

Just as fashionistas want their pieces to pop out and grab the attention of passers-by, we strive to get in front of as many eyes as possible. In the digital age, this means getting into the newsfeeds of our potential customers and competitors alike. Once a purchase is made, our product speaks for our brand and that’s how we have built our loyal customer base. Our promotion strategy is majorly planned during festive season with offers that are enticing for customers. Above the line (ATL) and below the line (BTL) activities play a crucial role in communicating season’s launches, store launch, season’s sale and other brand communication.

Retail mapping

Tell us about your key markets? Mention their names and define their retail spread?

The foremost and the most viable channel of distribution for us is the multi brand outlet (MBO). With Deal products gaining immense response in tier II and III cities, more such cities are explored to channelize further penetration. Today, Deal takes pride in having its presence in 2000 plus MBO outlets across the country. Also, we have our exclusive brand outlets (EBO) presence thorough both franchisee and company models across PAN India and internationally. With a very competitive franchising policy designed in a win-win manner for franchisee and brand, our EBO policy ensures a level playing field for all sales channels.

How important are regional markets for your brand? Do you plan something differently in accordance with its taste?

The acceptance of fast fashion in India has grown tremendously over the years. While metros have been the key driver of growth in the initial phase for us in the country; the largest growth is now expected to come from a deeper penetration of denim market in India.

After having our presence in tier II & III cities, we are now aware about the potential customer base in these cities. The consumers here have the purchasing power and aspirations to buy what’s in trend, making us expand in these cities and create success stories.

We at Deal Jeans believe in giving our selective target market a piece of what they truly desire. Fashion trend sensibility followed and comfort clubbed together is what we strive to offer. Hitting on the right note with its specific market demands and offering them the same product they like, has always been our launch strategy for every season.

Tell us about your online retail channel?            

We currently do not have our presence in the online space. The online marketplace in the past few years is selling at heavy discounts that make it difficult for a brand and its regular retail channels to compete against them. Because of this challenging situation, we had to withdraw our brand presence from online market channels.

What are your future retail expansion plans?

We at Deal Jeans consider ourselves as one of the leading fashion apparel brands with an exclusive positioning in the high fashion space. After an exceptional response from international market in the past years, we are exploring further expansion during the FY 23-24. In India, the brand is further expanding its foot prints in tier III & IV cities as we foresee immense potential which could be capitalized considering the consumer acceptance towards brand’s offering in these cities.