Italian fashion brand Benetton has been putting together printed shirts with styles ranging from tropical fronds and abstract to kaleidoscope, animal and camouflage prints in India. The trigger since the last two seasons, its entire collection of printed shirts had stock-outs two months before it had envisaged, and the contribution of such shirts has now jumped to a fourth of all shirts sold by the company.
“Most of the global designers have launched printed patterned shirts, and there isn’t any lag anymore in these styles coming to the Indian retail shelves,” company’s MD, Sanjeev Mohanty said.
It’s the same story for many other brands and department store chains, including Marks & Spencer, Raymond, Allen Solly and Shoppers Stop those have been fast replacing solid, striped or checked shirts from their retail shelves to make way for the prints.
Many feel prints are invading the men’s wardrobe more due to a growing acceptance of smart casuals at work. “Office wear today is characterized more by sporty or casual designs. Wearing printed shirts is taking it to the next level,” Vinay Bhatia, executive vice president of Shoppers Stop said.
“Printed patterns are more subtle now and can be worn across occasions, including office,” Sharad Walia, brand director at Parx said. Earlier, print shirts were mostly top-ends which isn’t the case now, Walia added.