As the country prepares to celebrate the first ever International Yoga Day with mass demonstrations in several cities and towns this Sunday, a handful of Indian yoga wear marketers are using the occasion to push their chic collections.
Brands such as Proyog, Bhusattva, Moral Fibre, Forever Yoga, Do U Speak Green and Urban Yoga have all lined up a range of organic breathable yoga wear that promises comfort and fashion to new-age enthusiasts of the ancient spiritual discipline that involves meditation, breath control and physical postures.
“Yoga needs ‘not too tight, not too loose’ garments,” said Malika Baruah, co-founder and product head of Proyog. The brand, owned by Bengaluru-based startup Ika Yoga Wear, will launch its yoga wear collection in the country on June 21, the International Yoga Day.
On the same day, three months old startup Forever Yoga will display its range at UB City in Bengaluru and at Powai Yogafest in Mumbai.
Mumbai-based Fusion Clothing has already readied a yoga wear collection under its flagship brand Do U Speak Green, which boasts of being made out of fibres of bamboo and organic cotton to appeal to customers of sustainable fashion.
Shalini Sheth Amin, who has founded Moral Fibre in Ahmedabad, said her firm has just delivered a consignment of organic khadi yoga wear to a boutique at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. She is also targeting thousands of people who are expected to practice yoga at Gujarat Vidyapith as part of the yoga day celebrations on Sunday.
Apparel makers like Mumbai-based Ashapura Intimates Fashion, which owns Valentine brand, and Noida-based intimate wear brand Clovia, too, have come out with yoga wear collections, to cash in on the growing popularity of yoga in India and elsewhere.
Globally, an estimated 200 million people practice the 5,000-year-old art form. About half of them are believed to be Indians. Experts agree India-specific yoga clothes brands have a big opportunities.
