ICONIC BRAND SUSTAINABLE PHYGITAL METAVERSE FASHION INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED NATIONAL
MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA
By IFAB MEDIA - NEWS BUREAU - June 2, 2023 | 56 15 minutes read
KEY POINTS
- Jack & Jones is a European high street fashion brand that has been an iconic brand known for its quality and craftsmanship for over 14 years in India.
Jack & Jones is an international clothing brand that has become a popular choice among Indian consumers in recent years. With its trendy designs, high-quality products and a commitment to sustainability and ethical practices, Jack & Jones has established itself as a leader in the fashion industry. Vineet Gautam, the Country Head of Bestseller for Jack & Jones in India, recently sat down for an exclusive interview to discuss the brand's future plans and best practices.
Vineet Gautam, Country Head, Bestseller India
During the interview, the country head of Jack & Jones spoke about the brand's commitment to expanding its presence in the country, reaching a wider audience, and providing the best of fashion to everyone. He also emphasized the brand's commitment to sustainable and ethical practices, including reducing its environmental impact and supporting ethical supply chains.
Gautam also talked about how Jack & Jones is investing in technology to enhance the shopping experience for its customers. The brand has been developing its website and app to provide a seamless shopping experience, making it easier and more convenient for customers. Jack & Jones is also exploring new technologies like Augmented Reality to further enhance the shopping experience and stay ahead of the game in the ever-evolving world of fashion.
Excerpts for the interview
Jack & Jones has been an iconic brand known for its quality and craftsmanship. What have been the key learning and challenges starting from denims and expanding to the complete men’s casual wear segment?
Jack & Jones is a European high street fashion brand which has had over 14 years of presence in India with a footprint across more than 60 cities in the country. Jack & Jones is known for its on-point trends with a strong offering in the ‘denims’ category. Within a span of few years, it has established an indelible brand recall amongst the fashion-conscious youth. Of course, the journey has had its fair share of celebrations and challenges. One of the most important learning we have had is always remaining on top of customer preferences and developing product offerings accordingly. Also, as a brand and as an organization, adaptability has been our biggest learning converted to our strength because the retail landscape of India has seen a huge shift.
Would you call Jack & Jones an aspirational brand for its consumer? How have your customers evolved over the years?
Jack & Jones has been a key player in Indian fashion retail market for a little over 13 years, and is well known for its quality, exclusivity, and cultural appeal. In the past few years, we have seen a cultural shift in the consumer sentiment with the surge of millennials, Gen Y, and Gen Z who are the prime customers for the brand now. These customers are very fashion savvy and have a very sound understanding of international fashion trends. Their view of the fashion industry has led to an overall shift towards sustainability, ethical and eco-friendly fashion with an emphasis on inclusivity and diversity.
Innovation is the key driver, what have been your investments for future business?
Retail technology concepts like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have been gaining a lot of prominence in recent times and at Jack & Jones, we have been working towards adopting a smooth ‘phygital’ retail model which incorporates various technology concepts. Virtual catalogues, AI enabled Smart Mirrors and convergence of offline and online channels ensures a smooth shopping experience for our consumers. In the post lockdown period, as contactless shopping became more popular, these concepts also helped the consumer to virtually browse through various products, minimize contact and give them an opportunity to choose their preferred mode of shopping.
Circular Fashion and Sustainability are the prime issues for a responsible brand in the market. What are your brand initiatives on this front with some latest examples?
At Jack & Jones, we are accelerating action towards a future wherein the brand is climate positive, fair for all and circular by design. Some of the brand initiatives include:
-Production in fair trade compliant factories
-Encouraging green factories
-Using BCI Cotton
-Making Jeans from Recycled materials
Technology is changing the very face of the Indian Fashion Industry. How has your brand evolved on this term both at the manufacturing and retail level?
Jack & Jones as a brand has been ahead in the industry incorporating the freshest styles and trends via the latest technologies in the production and manufacturing of the collection. There are technological touchpoints across the manufacturing and distribution process such as Clo 3D at the design stage, green factories in the manufacturing process, use of AI technology for cataloguing and using omnichannel for better customer reach, thus, reinventing the way fashion can be created.
Tell us about the key product categories and the bestsellers? What are your average price points?
Denim is at the core of Jack & Jones brand ethos. As the pioneer of street style and denim in India, the brand has been celebrated for establishing innovative styles and fashion that are on par with global trends. Jack & Jones offers the latest denim trends that add a perfect mix of comfort, fashion and individuality to consumer wardrobes. Through its extensive range of options, the brand aspires to lead a denim revolution. The brand has diversified into other product categories as well, such as accessories, shirt, t-shirt, pants, shorts, winter wear, trousers, blazers, suits, accessories, footwear and lounge wear/ inner wear. Jack & Jones products start from INR 799 across various menswear categories like t-shirts, shirts, jeans, outerwear, suits, footwear etc.
We have seen your movement into the innerwear, loungewear, footwear; accessories etc., how have these categories added value to the brand?
We have received great feedback on our newer product categories namely loungewear, innerwear, footwear and more. It has helped in generating an additional revenue stream for the overall business. It has also helped us to have a more comprehensive offering and be a one-stop-shop men’s fashion destination over brands that focus on a single category.
Since innerwear, accessories, footwear are flourishing categories, are you planning distribution and retail differently for these categories for a stronger and exclusive pitch in the market?
All product categories require a different planning and distribution strategy. For example, our innerwear business has a strong focus on distribution as a strategy as it helps us reach the smallest towns of India. Footwear does really well in the partner shop-in-shop and e-commerce space, so we lay a strong focus on these channels.
Jack & Jones has even ventured into kids wear, how has been its response? What are your expansion plans?
We expect Jack & Jones Junior to make a significant contribution to the overall business of Jack & Jones in India in the next 3 years as we see a huge market opportunity here.
What is your future overall product expansion plans? Do you wish to expand in more categories?
We at Jack & Jones, continuously work on bringing the best of international fashion across all menswear categories. We have just launched Jack & Jones Junior which is a category extension of the brand. The idea is to offer a similar set of high on fashion styles and denims to younger age group. We also now offer signature Jack & Jones perfumes as a category.
What’s new with the brand collection for the upcoming season?
Jack & Jones is coming up with a new generation of shopping and customer experiences through augmented reality and digital fashion “Metaverse Collection”, to merge the digital and physical worlds which will create new ways to communicate and be accessible for all.
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Is your latest collection inspired by any theme? Please explain.
The theme taps into the ongoing popularity of the outdoor environment but having a utility and technical approach, embracing the concept of being off-grid. While colours are generally staying in the utility aspect with earth inspired colors, we explore unexpected accents for the technical details, to give them a futuristic vision.
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?
Product innovation is at the core of Jack & Jones. We’re constantly re-inventing when it comes to different trends, styles, fabrics, color palette, etc. We have just launched a range of sustainable denims that are made with responsibly sourced cotton through Better Cotton Initiative and every fiber is made of sustainable materials. The eco-friendly Jack & Jones denim products are washed with recycled water. Have ZERO freshwater usage and offer high quality while not sacrificing on style.
Tell us about your key markets. Mention their names and define their retail spread?
Top performing markets for Jack & Jones are Mumbai, Delhi (NCR), Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Surat and Ludhiana. Country wide Jack & Jones is present in more than 60 cities.
How important are regional markets for your brand? Do you plan something differently in accordance with its taste?
Our product and brand imageries have turned out to be our key drivers in the most dynamic and ultra-competitive Indian retail market. We have increased our footprints over Tier II and Tier III cities to widen our reach. There is a huge untapped potential in these cities, owing to evolving needs of young consumers who are influenced by pop culture and high fashion trends.
How many retail points do you have currently?
We currently have 87 exclusive brand Outlets (EBOs) and present in 540 Shop-in-shops.
How well have you scored online? How has this changed the business for you?
Jack & Jones is retailed on our own e-commerce website jackjones.in and is available across all leading fashion e-commerce marketplaces. We are looking forward to expanding in markets like Delhi, Pune and Kolkata, with a constant focus on all Tier II and Tier III markets.
What are your future retail expansion plans?
We desire to be the largest fashion retailer in the country and continue to pursue new market opportunities in tier II and tier III cities. We have aggressively increased our footprints over tier II and tier III cities to widen our reach. Fashion today is not only an industry, but also a lifestyle and through Jack & Jones, we want to bring this lifestyle to as many cities and as many people as possible.
In conclusion, our exclusive interview with Vineet Gautam was a rare glimpse into the world of Jack & Jones and the dynamic team behind it. Gautam's passion for fashion and commitment to excellence are a true testament to the brand's success and its position as a leader in the fashion industry. We can't wait to see what the future holds for Jack & Jones, and we have no doubt that it will continue to amaze and inspire us.