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It's a true fact that it's not where you are born or whom you are born to that determines how your life will be. Its what you do with your life that determines how your life will be. Not long ago, Forbes Magazine publishes a special report on The World's Billionaires. It's a snap shot of who's who of the super rich.
I have the privilege of studying their life stories and observe that many of them started out as either a poor boy from the neighborhood or a high school dropout. In this article, you too will have the privilege to read about them and hopefully get inspired by Their Billionaire Story.
IKEA Founder Ingvar Kamprad made headlines in early 2004 when Swedish business magazine Veckans Affarer reported that he had surpassed Bill Gates as the world's wealthiest person. While IKEA's unconventional ownership structure makes this the matter of some debate, there is no doubt that IKEA is still one of the largest, most successful privately held companies in the world, with over 200 stores in 31 countries, employing over 75,000 people and generating over 12 billion in sales annually.
Kamprad was born in the South of Sweden in 1926 and brought up on a farm called Elmtaryd, near the small village of Agunnaryd. Kamprad began to develop a business as a young boy, selling matches to neighbors from his bicycle. He found that he could buy matches in bulk very cheaply from Stockholm, sell them individually at a low price and still make a good profit. From matches, he expanded to selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds and later ball-point pens and pencils. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him a reward for succeeding in his studies. He used this money to establish what has grown into IKEA.
The name IKEA was formed from Kamprad's initials (I.K.) plus the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, the farm and village where he grew up. He continued to expand his business to a variety of goods, including wallets, watches, jewelry and stockings. When he outgrew his ability to call on his customers individually, he converted to a sort of makeshift mail order operation, hiring the local milk van to make his deliveries.
Kamprad has a reputation for being, well, "cheap". He takes the subway to work, and when he drives, it's an old Volvo. Rumor is that when he stays in a hotel, if he feels the urge to drink one of those expensive sodas from the wet bar, he replaces it later with one picked up from a nearby convenience store. He also encourages IKEA employees always to write on both sides of a paper.
Sheldon Gary Adelson is an American businessman. He is a property developer and public company CEO based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is also a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., which owns and operates the Venetian Casino Resort and the Sands Expo and Convention Center. Adelson vastly increased his net worth upon the initial public offering of Las Vegas Sands in December 2004 by selling just 10% of the shares.
In addition, on May 26, 2006, Adelson's Las Vegas Sands was awarded a hotly contested license to construct a casino resort in Singapore's Marina Bay. The new casino is expected to open in 2009 at a rumored cost of $3.16 billion.
Adelson was born to a poor Jewish family, in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. Son of a Boston cabdriver, he borrowed $200 from his uncle to sell newspapers at age 12. In the years that followed, he worked as a mortgage broker, investment adviser and financial consultant. To this point in his career, Adelson has created and developed to maturity more than 50 different companies, including COMDEX, a tradeshow he developed with his partners for the computer industry. Adelson together with his partners directed COMDEX to become the world's largest trade show with a presence in more than 20 countries.
According to Forbes magazine, Adelson is the 6th richest person and the third richest American in the world, with a net worth estimated at US $26.5 billion in 2007. Forbes estimates he has been earning about $1 million an hour for the past two years.
The son of a railroad worker and a maid, Amancio Ortega received no formal higher education. He began his remarkable career as a teenager in La Coruña, Spain, the traditional center of the Iberian textile industry. When he was 13 years old he worked as a delivery boy for a shirt maker who produced clothing for the rich. He later worked as a draper's and tailor's assistant. In seeing firsthand how costs mounted as garments moved from designers to factories to stores, Ortega learned early on the importance of delivering products directly to customers without using outside distributors. He would later employ such a strategy with great success at Zara, attempting to control all of the steps in textile production in order to cut costs and gain speed and flexibility.
In the early 1960s Ortega became the manager of a local clothing shop, where he noticed that only a few wealthy residents could afford to buy the expensive clothes. Thus he started producing similar items at lower prices, purchasing cheaper fabric in Barcelona and cutting out pieces by hand using cardboard patterns. Ortega then sold his items to local
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Buntal, a District Officer from Punggol, was walking from his house to the office early in the morning. His car was used by his wife who would be playing golf. Buntal thought of his past- how he managed to climb from the position of an office clerk to his present situation. Many years ago, he had a fight with one of his classmates, Chua, in the school, and was sacked by the principal. His greatest enemy was Chua, then a welfare officer in the Singapore Civil Service.
"Good morning Buntal, I have been transferred back to Singapore. Please allocate me a quarter," Chua requested.
The following day Chua came to sweep his quarter, which white ants and rots had taken off the front and the back doors. The windows and the ceilings were in shabby condition. Chua returned to request for a better quarter.
"Get out of my office or I'll throw you out," Buntal whose lips, hands, and legs were trembling, after a heated row yelled.
Buntal jumped up, pulling Chua by the collar and swung Chua out off the office. Because of this incident, Chua lost his job.
The public had begun to notice how Buntal courted the favours of the Governor. Rumours leaked out that one cold rainy afternoon the guard who looked after the golf course happened to have a peep when the clumsy governor was making love to this longhaired young lady in the clubhouse when she squealed and groaned with ecstasy. No wonder the governor was often playing golf during the office hours.
"I must climb higher," Buntal told himself. "That bastard was saying that I became a convert to please the governor. Isn't it an open secret that all the converts were the ones holding the higher positions?"
One night after a party the governor requested to sleep in Buntal's house because of dizziness. The guest room was beautifully decorated, but one thing was missing, a woman. All the women had gone off with the other men. Buntal called a lady who was on a part time callout basis. Unfortunately, this lady's husband just came back from the timber camp and would not be gone until one month later. The ship, Kimanis berthed at 11 pm, and the woman's husband reached home before 12 a.m. He came home for one month holiday with pay, after completing 12 months work in a jungle in Sabah. Sometimes, nature is against us. How does Buntal solve this problem? All the one-night stands on his list are occupied.
The poor bachelor could not go to sleep. He rolled left and right on the bed, his eyes were wide open. At last he walked into Buntal's bedroom and tapped gently on the young lady's face. She woke up. Not a word was spoken. She followed him to his room.
Both of them groaned and mourned with delight. Helen could not care if Buntal would wake up and find her in the room with the governor. Why should she? Had Buntal not spent most of his time with the other girls, even with his own office girls?
The squeaking sound woke Buntal up. He thought Helen was in the toilet. The way the servant girl peeped at the copulating couple behind the flower bush this evening assured him she would not refuse him this time. He hurried into her room and kissed her on the lips.
"Yes I want it badly. But please tell me. The guy from Bangladesh is only 20 years old. Why was he making love to the old hag, Ah Yun, who is 65 years old, with sagging and wrinkled skin full of warts, and has hundreds of wrinkles on her head and neck?"
"You have to ask the guy if you happen to see him tomorrow. My guess is this guy was only a sweeper. He cannot afford to find more attractive girls. Have your ever offered your body to these laborers from Bangladesh? Are they better at sex? "
"One month ago, Ah Yun wanted to sell to me one piece of stone wrapped in black cloth, for1000 U.S. dollars. She said that lust spell was from India and a woman who possesses it just has to rub on the body of the man she want to have sex with and the man would be in love with her forever. She bought the stone from Lin Hu Huat, who was a labourer from the construction site at Tuas. Hu Huat always changed into a white shirt whenever he knocked off from work at Tuas. He told the girls he was a qualified engineer."
" Oh, this Hu Huat is a local. One day I heard him boasting to a group of old women, about ten of them. He said his name was Hu Huat because his black magic was very powerful.. And in Chinese "Hu Huat" means black magic. That was why all the locals called him Hu Huat. He claimed that after casting a spell on an air hostess, that hostess fell in love with a labourer."
"We're Christians. Do you believe all these rubbish? This cocky hag is trying to suck some money out of you. If black magic and occultism can effectuate the desired results, John Kennedy would have died long ago! John is holding the most coveted position on this planet. Millions of politicians are dying for that position. Every day, these politicians pointed their finger at the United States and swore and cursed it. They blamed the US for all the problems on this earth. Even if their son dropped down from top of the coconut tree and died on the spot, they would still blamed US for it. They said if there was no US, the world would be without problems, even the recession during the 1930s was caused by the US."
"Ah Yun entertains about ten men per day. She can't take the men to her flat because the owner of the flat doesn't allow her to do so. Yesterday she took me to see a black magician who ran an office in Chinatown. The office was air-conditioned but was dark and very smelly. You cannot recognize a person from ten feet away. All the visitors were old women."
"You were assistant district officer before. Why didn't you tell the police to arrest them? They must have given you a lot of money?"
"Why do you want to arrest uneducated people who cheat few hundred dollars every week? Those old women deserved to be cheated. They are very evil and greedy.
The most notorious one is Lin Hu Huat. He claimed his black magic can make a young man falls in love with an old woman, aged 60 or more. Many women believe him. But the charm never worked. These hags do not know that the more they go to ask Hu Huat, the more their problems increase. Lin Hu Huat loved to put on a white shirt. He puts on one every day. Hu Huat claimed that one airhostess was charmed by him to fall in love with a drain sweeper. Hu Huat means Black magic in Chinese and this made the stupid old Chinese women believe him even more. The managers, engineers and directors in some companies cheat million of dollars per week. Nobody cares. The auditors and the HR personnel are all the same. They help each other to cheat and share the money. If a commodity is worth $1000.00 in the open market. The companies buy it for over $10000.00 each, and for others like metal containers used for transporting goods on board the ship, these swindlers charge over $300000.00 each. The actual price should not be more than $3000.00. Every employee was asking or telling another employee in the same company that if you want to depend solely on your monthly salary, just how long do you still have to work."
"There was something else I forgot to tell you. One fat woman paid Hu Huat S$5000.00 to cast a spell on the engineer from China. This engineer was earning about S$6000.00 per month. Hu Huat said that engineer would surely marry her and that she would become rich. That spell did not work but this ugly hag continued to hold a piece of dirty cloth in her hand and pretended to wipe the shelves, coffee makers or other dispensers whenever that engineer came in to have his coffee. Once she grabbed that piece of cloth at one end and whipped it on the head of that engineer, as advised by Lin Hu Huat, saying that the perfumed cloth must land on the engineer's head for the spell to be effective. She told the engineer she was only trying to whip at the coffee maker. In fact that is her way of harassing this engineer. Is is a crime for that engineer to refuse her advances? If an eighteen-year- old sweet thing makes advances to him, the result could be expected. But an ugly hag, 65 years old, what does she have to offer? She must be very repulsive? She asked for the money to be returned but Hu Huat said if she wanted the money, she must report the matter to the police. And on another occasion, in a cafeteria, one black Indian named Baskaran, from India took up Hu Huat's left hand to read the lines on it, and told him if he change his name to Lin Thiam Huat, he would surely earn one million US dollars within the next twelve months."
Buntal slept soundly with the girl that night. In the other room his wife was still on the governor. Was this her favourite position? Who are the other lucky guys in her life?
Years passed quickly. Buntal was then the managing director of a manufacturing company at Tuas. He secretly stirred up the people of Singapore trying to instill some patriotism into them so that they would want to fight for independence, hopping that he could be the first president. A secret society was organized with Ahmad Yong, a man of no political principles, as the leader. Since Chua was aware of Buntal and Yong's plot, these two cunning guys tried to put Chua on their side so that Chua would be willing to keep the secret at whatever cost. Chua decided not to collaborate with them because he heard another group of people was also starting to come out with something for the independence of the country. The later group consisted of more qualified people. But the decisive factor was that Buntal and Yong did not have any leadership at all.
Buntal and Yong believed if Chua was not killed, Chua would definitely leak the secret to the British government which would definitely result in great troubles. Yong organized a dinner party on board Sri Gaya one night. Being a friend it was not difficult for Yong to persuade Chua to drink until he was drunk. Chua was getting drowsy by 11 o'clock that night. He went out to sit at the rear of the boat, his back facing the sea. Yong staggered out of the room.
As the wine was rising to the brim, Yong cut Chua with open hand on the throat where the Adam's apple was and thrust him into the sea with the right foot.
Many years passed, not many people even knew Chua was on board the ship that night, except Sara. But what could a widow do? The murderers were the friends of the governor. This Angmo (white man) was also treated like a Deva by almost all the Singaporeans. She would only endanger her own life. She was then three-month pregnant.
The political party Buntal wanted to organize could not materialize, not because fate was against him, but it was his own inferiority complex that caused him to back out. Cowards always imagined a lot of obstacles when they wanted to plan for anything. He was not willing to compete with another group of young graduates whom he knew commanded better respect and trust from the public. How could Buntal win support if his strategy was not compelling and believable? Instead of joining the few young graduates, he went around running down the credibility of those graduates saying that these graduates eat with knife, fork and spoon and that the chop sticks were unknown to them and for that reason the Chinese culture would be finished off if these graduates were elected.
Buntal and Yong therefore moved from one location to another in Singapore telling people that it was better for the country to remain a British colony because the potential political leaders could not even speak Mandarin. According to Buntal and Yong's standard, a person cannot be classified as Chinese if that person cannot read and write in Chinese.
"At that time Singapore was a very unsafe place. A gangster could simply pull out a gun from his pocket and shoot at anybody. No one would dare to report the matter to the police. If the police requested for help to nail down the killer, no one would come forward to assist. Even if the police knew the thugs were hiding in Kumpong Bugis, they wouldn't dare go in to search for the thugs."
When David grew up, Karate was his favourite sport. Every weekend, after collecting dead wood in the forest, he would chop a few pieces of wood bare handed.
Buntal was about to retire from the private sector when David found him at Sembawang. First of all David got himself a job in that company called Global Construction. It was also in that company he met Selini, the beautiful daughter of Buntal, if she was his biological daughter at all, and fell in love with her. Eventually, David was shocked to find out that he was in love with a murderer's daughter.
One night, David, Selini and Buntal went camping at Pulau Ubin. Helen did not go because she wanted the chance to be with the governor. Many of the marriageable young ladies on this island were wondering what was it that glued the governor to Helen. The real reason was the governor did not have any special liking for her except the fact that she was a married woman and should she become pregnant, the pregnancy would not be a problem. In this part of the world, when a child is born, only the father can go and have his or her name registered and a birth certificate issued. Buntal and David went out fishing in a speedboat leaving Selini to amuse herself in the tent.
Buntal turned pale, got very nervous and was unable to speak properly. His immediate reaction was to get rid of the son of the bitch who was then sitting in front of him.
Buntal swung an oar over David's head. David caught the oar and kicked him on the left armpit. Buntal dropped noisily into the water.
"You stupid bastard. If you just begged for mercy, I would have considered forgiving you. But you wanted to get rid of me too. If I die, Selini would be hurt the most."
At midnight David returned to Pulau Ubin to tell Selini that her father was taken by sharks, that though he fought hard to try to beat off the sharks it was impossible for him as there were more than ten of them in the water. If David were to jump in and drag him on to the boat, David would also be bitten to pieces.
"Oh, father!" the lady yelled pitifully and was on her knees. David dragged her up and put his arms round her back, pressing her hard toward him, and promised that he would take care of her forever.
Indeed, David did as promised. Both of them remained married until they passed away naturally during their 80s.
"You were assistant district officer before. Why didn't you tell the police to arrest them? They must have given you a lot of money?"
"Why do you want to arrest uneducated people who cheat few hundred dollars every week? Those old women deserved to be cheated. They are very evil and greedy.
The most notorious one is Lin Hu Huat. He claimed his black magic can make a young man falls in love with an old woman, aged 60 or more. Many women believe him. But the charm never worked. These hags do not know that the more they go to ask Hu Huat, the more their problems increase. Lin Hu Huat loved to put on a white shirt. He puts on one every day. Hu Huat claimed that one airhostess was charmed by him to fall in love with a drain sweeper. Hu Huat means Black magic in Chinese and this made the stupid old Chinese women believe him even more. The managers, engineers and directors in some companies cheat million of dollars per week. Nobody cares. The auditors and the HR personnel are all the same. They help each other to cheat and share the money. If a commodity is worth $1000.00 in the open market.
The existence of lingerie is as old as the existence of women who wear it. In the middle ages things were easygoing as women wore various corset-like alternatives like the cotte, the bliaunt and the surcot, which move on easily over their dresses and hold the breasts firmly. Wearing underwear/corsets has been practiced since the ancient civilization of Egypt and Greece, where women wore corsets to support their breasts. Bras have been worn in all ages to support women's breasts and give them a fashionable look.
18th Century: It is believed that the history of underwear started in the 18th century. The padded silhouette with a flat stomach, slim waist and cone-shaped bust was a style. The corset, a vital part of any woman's clothing at that time, gave the body a typical shape, squeezing the internal organs and making them feel comfortable. Extreme usage of satin, silk and damask decorated with embroidery, ribbons and laces gave the effect of artistry.
19th Century: Women wore corsets, crinolines and bustles. The S-shaped silhouette trend started at that time. Women wore underwear like knickers, corset, camisole and waist slip.
20th Century: Lingerie turned out to be simpler and more practical. Corsets were replaced by a more flexible girdle modern bra. Pastel colours for lingerie came into existence. In 1910 boyish silhouette became a trend. The first brassiere to have a patent, which was accepted largely, was a bra invented by a young New York socialite named Mary Phelps Jacob in 1910. In the 1930s femininity became a fashion trend. A woman was covered by the one-piece garments known as corsets including a curved and bust-emphasizing brassiere and girdle with garters. But one-piece corsets were accepted largely and panties were reduced in size and finally gained the shape of bikini briefs.
21st century-the era of intimacy-intimatewear: In this era the fashion is pushing women to exhibit the underwear as outerwear which is worn for the sensitive pleasure of a partner. Lingerie is considered as the second skin by many women. In the present era, women have more choices than ever in terms of style, design, fabrics etc. Since many centuries fashion in connection to lingerie styles was toggling between the feminine and masculine, painful and practical. In the recent time, lingerie is the most attractive, luxurious and feminine clothing that is worn intimately and respected for its practicality and comfort.
Today, the main concern about marketing the lingerie products is the fight for share between global brands and retailers' local labels worldwide. It is also about consumers' choice and acceptance of brand. With its matchless combination of fashion and function, lingerie is a product category that crosses the fine line between necessity and luxury. Besides these features, it has increased into about a US$30 billion-a-year industry and placed itself for further growth over the next five years.
To know the global lingerie market, it is essential to check out not only the competition between brands, but also the separate bra-wars taking place between brands and local retail labels. The leading player among lingerie brands worldwide is United States-based manufacturer Sara Lee, which has a major market share in its home country as well as the European market. After Sara Lee there exist companies like Warnaco, Fruit of the Loom, VF and Maidenform, in Europe Triumph also possess a major market share. The more comfy La Perla, meanwhile, is atop the high end of the world lingerie market.
In the retail sector, US chain Victoria's Secret, the UK's Knickerbox and northern European retailer Hunkemoller provide to the specialist market, but the huge quantity of lingerie is traded by clothing retailers like Marks & Spencer and hypermarkets like Wal-Mart and Carrefour. Though, the tendency is to be robust on briefs than bras, and repeatedly sell these items in multiple packs. While the leading retailers and brands keep up to propel the market, the nature of uniqueness demands that there is also a push of smaller, more up market labels that offer to a few niche.
Of the total world lingerie market, amounted to US$29.5 billion annually in 2003, bras calculated to 56 per cent of total sales, while briefs and the body wear/daywear/shape wear category add 32 per cent and 12 per cent in that order. Of about 6.4 billion bras and briefs were procured worldwide in 2003. The report shows that the average woman buys two bras and five pairs of briefs per year. Lingerie sales in the developed world are observed to be basic fashion-driven, with the average woman having six bras and eight pairs of briefs in her wardrobe - more than she usually requires.
The buying of these products is normally determined by style factors, like as what styles (g-string, padded bra) look best under certain types of clothing, or what colors appear best. In the past, this picture has not been right for developing countries where lingerie is bought more out of need than desire. Though, population growth, unstable demographics and the appearance of consumers with more disposable income is changing purchasing habits in these regions, and the lingerie market is projected to gain advantage from this opportunity.
According to a research report, the global lingerie market was calculated to be $29.15-billion (U.S.) in 2004 and is projected to increase (at the rate of about 9 per cent) to $31.6-billion in 2012. And the product category that will have the quickest growth is "bodywear, daywear and shapewear."
Despite this noteworthy growth, demand for lingerie in the developed world has been observed to be rising at about five per cent (based on low population growth, ageing demographics and product saturation), while that of the rest of the world is projected to increase by almost 20 per cent.
While this turns out to be a fairly steady 7 per cent raise in world volume to 6.8 billion units, it also amounts to massive growth in developing nations. This will go together by a noteworthy push towards offshore manufacturing in countries like China and India, as continuing enhancement in technology and communications make such alternatives far more cost effective than the domestic alternative. Markets that are expected to develop in the future include the Indian sub-continent, China and Southeast Asia. India and China are projected to increase their international market share by about US$100 million each, while Southeast Asia, already a leading market for lingerie, will increase by US$350 million in value.
Given that price points in these sub-regions are somewhat low; this expected growth shows an opportunity in huge quantity for lingerie companies. Products which shape the body and offer smooth curves are observed as a key growth sector for baby boomer lingerie buyers. New and innovative fabrics like Lycra and microfibers will keep on featuring a lot in this segment.
With downward price emphasis at a retail level compensating any attempts at increasing manufacturers' costs, prices are not anticipated to have any noteworthy impact on lingerie market growth in the developed world till 2010. Though, value growth in the developing world is more complicated to estimate, due to the extensive trading in the gray or black markets and, hence, not at normal retail prices.
Nonetheless, Sara Lee is anticipated to keep on its dominance of the developed world market and formulate sizable inroads into other markets over the next five years - even in the challenge of financial problems faced by competitors such as Warnaco and Maidenform. Along with it the low profile and hence low debt European companies like Triumph and Wolford will keep surviving. It is understandable that high-volume growth for lingerie's leasing players will come from emerging markets, while, in a sector where discrimination is important, beneficial business will also be held by niche marketers. Fortunately for all matter, lingerie is pushed by female consumers' loyalty to brand, fit and comfort, making it as one of the more financially strong segment in the apparel market.
China exported 4.2 billion pieces of women's undergarments in 2004, a 30 percent raise from 2003. In China, Shantou is one of the leading manufacturing hubs for women's undergarments with well-set up and good factory management systems, offering prompt service and efficient supply chain system. This harbor city in Guangdong province exported women's underwear worth $650 million in 2004, accounting to be the third of China's outbound shipments of the product. Shantou possesses more than 1,500 suppliers, about 150 of who export directly. Shantou's associated towns of Gurao, Xiashan, Chendian and Liangying are the leading manufacturing areas. Gurao, the biggest center, has more than 440 undergarment makers. Annual sales reach $260 million, including 564 million brassieres and 180 million pairs of underpants. Shantou is renowned across China as a major producer of knitted underwear. Xiashan and Chendian each produce more than $100 million worth of women's undergarments per year.
Suppliers in Shantou vary from small companies with 50 workers to big manufacturers with 1,500 employees. Though, small and midsize suppliers constitute the major companies. Many suppliers possess vertically integrated production with in-house fabric knitting, dyeing, finishing and printing, and garment sewing, embroidery and packing capability. The city's bra and panty suppliers target on midrange models, but high-end designs are also made by them. Approximately 90 per cent of output is for OEM orders.
Seamless bras and panties are trendy designs which are more preferable now a days. Hanzina Underwear Co. Ltd, a leading supplier of such products, has invested a huge amount in 20 Santoni circular knitting machines from Italy, two warp knitting systems and 350 sewing machines. The company makes 200,000 pieces per month. The use of lace and embroidered fabrics is also well-liked among Shantou suppliers. Chengtai Underwear Knitting Factory makes bra and panty sets with lace trimmings, embroidery or prints.
The midsize company makes undergarments for Wal-Mart and donna l'oren. Hongjie Underwear Industrial Co. is also a leading producer with 1,500 workers and fully integrated production that covers fabric knitting and sewing. The company provides fancy bras and panties in crocheted fabrics, intricate prints and embroidery. The company also produces items like push-up and convertible brassieres.
Many companies are making efforts to decrease their lead and delivery times. Shantou's port, one of the 20 leading harbors in China, transports cargo to many countries and regions. This facilitates suppliers to provide convenient shipping to foreign buyers and supports in continuation in transportation at cheaper rates.
The lingerie market in India is still in its infant stage and, until in recent times, the accessibility of high quality intimate apparel was limited to irregular or grey imports sold under the counter. Because of the limited products and lack of enough specialized and organized retail atmosphere, the fashion realization and quality awareness of the Indian consumer for intimate apparel is yet to be realized.
India is also one of the most scattered retail markets in the world. The products, so far, have been mainly marketed as a commodity and are price and margin oriented. Till today huge quantities of bras are sold to end users by male salespersons in mom-and-pop shops. Majorities of the stores do not even provide a trial room.
As a consequence, large consumer base are not sure of the functional features of a bra or even their own sizes. When Gokaldas Intimatewear began developing Enamor, their first aim was good fit. Across India Enamor surveyed and measured 4,000 women. They noticed that 80 per cent of Indian women wore a uncomfortable fitting underwear. In India, bras were made only in B and C cup sizes, though Enamor's research found that most Indian women required A or D cup sizes.
In India Triumph, Lovable Lingerie, Enamor, VIP, Juliet, Amul etc are major players in lingerie market. Today 70 per cent of the lingerie market of India is unorganised. But that can be replaced with the increase in the number of malls and quality-conscious consumers. For example, Lovable's growth of 20 per cent last year was sustained by new retail space.
The joint market contribution of the leading five retailers in India totals less than two per cent. Though, Lingerie sales have increased by 12 per cent in the past five years because of a new awareness of intimatewear. Women's innerwear industry in India is worth Rs. 2,000 crore and is growing at an average rate of 12 per cent.
Turkey and Bangladesh have already observed the potential and are aggressively promoting its innerwear industry. Many Asian countries are defeating India in the US, the world's biggest clothing importer. According to the US office of Textiles and Apparel, in 2002 the country imported 198,094,426 dozen pieces of cotton underwear. India's contribution in this was a paltry 2.36 per cent. In bras using manmade material, the US imported 37,676,800 dozen pieces. While China constituted 32 per cent of these, Indonesia had 10.5 per cent. Even Bangladesh had 1 per cent. However, India exported a meager 0.65 per cent. Though, there is a great potential to be taped if approached in an organized manner with a proper set up.
Womenswear: the most profitable segment
The Rs.28,375-crore womenswear apparel segment covers 32.1 percent share of the Indian apparel market in value terms. In volume terms, market share of womenswear is one percent greater than that of menswear but in value terms its share is five percent less than that of menswear due to branded segment in womenswear was practically non-existent till a few years back. At present, it is the most profitable segment for investment. During 2005, volumes increased by 5.5 percent while value appreciation was as high as 15 percent.
Women's trousers and skirts category observed a highest growth during 2005, volumes growing nine percent and value appreciating more than 23 percent over 2004 levels. Western wear like suits and blazers and Lingerie are the two other categories where progress was excellent, volume and value growth being 10 and 21 percent respectively in the Western wear and 6.8 and 18.1 percent in lingerie.
In early days the Indian women mostly trusted foreign products or directed their friendly corner tailors to stitch form-fitting bodice, which were worn under dresses. But now the scenario is different. The first trendy movement for both men and women was seen when Associated Apparels Pvt Ltd, producers of Liberty shirts, introduced the world famous Maiden Form bras, Jockey men's underwear and Jantzen swimwear in 1962 in India.
It was a lanky period for Liberty shirts with complexity in imports and the export market initiation, so the late Bhawandas Wadhwani approached the lingerie business with technical knowhow from the USA. The brands got an achievement of optimum level with their styles and quality. But due to the government's restrictions for foreign brands, Wadhwani discontinued the overseas tie-up and changed the names to Libertina for lingerie and Liberty for men's underwear in the late 70s. From 80s to 90s the company focused on undergarments. Even today Libertina and Liberty are still one of the major players in the lingerie market.
With the great triumph of Libertina and Liberty, other Indian companies also shifted into the lingerie markets. In the 70s Peter Pan from Dawn Mills entered in the market with lingerie styles of the West. The brand was popular amongst the Indian women, but two decades later it vanished from the market.
In 1971, VIP entered the men's underwear market with a big-bang and became the most talked about brand due to its advertisement featuring model Dalip Tahil. Since then VIP is a leading player in the men's and women's underwear market. VIP launched Petals, a Lycra moulded cup bra with motifs, which was accepted well at that time, but was later discontinued. But introducing Loveable in 1996 was a huge success as they brought in a foreign brand, but it was made in India. Lovable was followed by Feelings, VIP's domestic products and Daisy Dee another foreign brand. The very ultra Vanity Fair was introduced in 2004 and lastly a Korean Brand Try for men and women in 2004. VIP's fashionable new men's innerwear called Frenchie X was targeted to meet the challenges thrown by the foreign brands.
Another leading brand in the lingerie market is Rupa & Co established in 1985. Its variety of men's, women's and children's underwear put together makes it India's biggest innerwear manufacturer and seller. Besides these two brands there are other labels produced by them. Amul, Lux Cozi, Dollar are some of the brands catering to a particular segment of the men's underwear market, while the lingerie segment has its own local offerings like Neva, Bodycare, Softy, Lady Care, Little Lacy, Red Rose, Sonari, Feather Line and many more.
In the 90s Jockey re-entered the Indian market followed by Calida and Liberti Blu. Then the very high fashion Gossard existed for a limited time. In the 21st century, Enamor, another foreign brand entered the Indian market through Gokaldas Exports and the very chic French brand Aubade started its only outlet in Mumbai. La Senza is the next foreign brand that is set to enter the market while Hanes has already set with a very unconventional ad campaign targeted to comfort for the Indian male.
One of the leading foreign players in the Indian lingerie market is Triumph. They have a presence in 150 countries around the world and a turnover of US $2 billion with a production of over 200 million units annually, producing 6000 new fashion styles per year designed by 200 designers in 11 countries. Triumph started its operation in India in six metros, and is now spread in 45 cities. As far as lingerie is concerned, India is still in its initial stage. India has to wait to become a matured market as compared to the other Asian markets like Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Vietnam. In the last three years there has been a great growth in the business but the retailing of lingerie and distribution channels are limited. Triumph markets through retailers, MBOs, and two franchisees in Mumbai and Kolkata, and further more they are going to increase in the near future. From 300 outlets in India they target to cross 1,000 outlets in three-five years. With all raw materials imported from Europe, Triumph is produced in Chennai and has gained a 50 per cent raise in sales since it came into the country. Though, Triumph is the only internationally managed brand, it also aims to satisfy Indian buyers and has the capability to source intelligent fabrics not offered in India. Triumph was the first to introduce moisturising fabrics with Aloe Vera and the one-piece bra which is produced by one piece of fabric. The sizes and styles are very particular to Indian consumers. Triumph which begun production in India in 1998 has been exporting to the USA before it came into the local market. With 80 per cent exports and 20 per cent local sales in India, Triumph adds new products and concepts for 5-10 styles each year.
Lately, well-known international lingerie brands - Aubade - from the fashion capital of France has entered in Indian market.
While the international lingerie outlook is as exciting and bright as the outerwear one, India's growth in the former segment can be called just about negligible. Body and beach fashion shows are showcased twice a year around the world showing the latest trends in innerwear fashion. New underwear fabrics with 'anti' treatment like anti-stress, anti-smog, anti-static, anti-allergic, anti- bacterial, anti-moisture and anti-odour pamper the body. Top European products like Bruno Banani, Excellent, Schneider, Louis Feraud, Calvin Klein, Gianfranco Ferre, DKNY, La Perla, Gossard, and Schiesser are some of the brands that set their inspiration to the ultimate test. Thanks to the new outerwear performance made by designers around the world and India, lingerie is seemed with renewed fascination in India too.
It may be shocking that there are 1000 Indian brands in the market but only 200 are nationally active. The others cater to markets in the vicinity of their production. Many of these brands have so far continued the advent of MNC labels for the last decade and should continue to do so.
The Indian lingerie Industry is growing because of the increasing domestic demand coupled with huge export potential. It will soon receive an upfront position. From a cottage industry it can be transformed into a growing trade. Indian brands have experienced that they have to be more quality conscious and work harder in branding, promotion, packaging and innovation. Only the mindset to make world class lingerie is lacking. Smaller countries like Sri Lanka, Turkey and Bangladesh are major producers in this segment. Indian companies have recognized the significance of innerwear for men and women and the competition is just boiling as new and more players arrive to offer Indians that much required fashionable lift.

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