Royal Enfield's apparel business has a sizeable following of its own, which has helped the brand establish itself as a lifestyle brand in the last decade. The company says that about 40 per cent of its customers who buy apparel aren't even the brand's motorcycle owners. Puneet Sood, Global Head - Apparel Business CX and New Initiatives at Royal Enfield shared the same with carandbike in a recent interaction. The Chennai-based motorcycle maker entered the apparel business 10 years ago and quickly expanded its presence from apparel to merchandise, riding gear, accessories and more. The more recent years have seen the bike maker collaborate with global players to bring co-branded riding gear and apparel to its community.
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Royal Enfield has a far wider presence with its apparel business as compared to motorcycles, which has made it more accessible to non-owners as much as to owners who resonate with the brand
Speaking to carandbike, Sood explained, "In the shop and shop stores, we've seen about 40 per cent of our buyers do not own a motorcycle. In that sense at least, it is building accessibility for expression. So people who don't own a motorcycle are still able to express their affinity for motorcycling. We measure our sales in terms of the impact we are able to make."
"There is a chunk of consumers who ride a motorcycle and then when they stopped riding a motorcycle for whatever reason, they still wanted to be connected to the motorcycling way of life," he added.
While the company won't share numbers, Sood confirmed that Royal Enfield's apparel business has grown in double-digits annually in the last couple of years. This has also been the time when the brand has been in overdrive with respect to new launches introducing the lifestyle apparel that resonates with newer buyers. Sood also revealed the company actively works with the brand's community comprising owners and riders to further develop its apparel range and riding gear.
"Working in our community has led to tremendous growth in the business. Our growth has been on the double-digit side year-on-year for the last few years. And the growth is enabled by getting the ride product portfolio in. We were the first ones to bring the CE approved riding jackets in India while most of the other brands were focused on bringing CE approved riding armours. We were the first ones to launch the ISI, ECE and DOT approved shell for helmets. We launched women's riding gear. So there is this whole enhancement that's happened with the product portfolio. We've launched a range of riding trousers and gloves. While motorcycle sales reach is limited, with apparel, we have access to selling online. We have our own website, we work with shop-in-shop partners. We are available on Amazon, Flipkart, etc. What we've built is accessibility. We've made it far easier to buy these products," Sood said.
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The Royal Enfield X Alpinestars riding gear collection includes high-quality CE certified jackets and riding trousers
More recently, Royal Enfield announced its collaboration with Alpinestars. The brand has been known to make some of the best riding gear for motorsport athletes and riders alike and the collaboration with the Indian two-wheeler giant did become a huge talking point. In the major move, the company introduced co-developed riding jackets as part of a capsule collection for its customers.
"Our partnership with Alpinestars is very unique," Sood explained, "We look at a partner with common values to further the message of pure motorcycling. Brands that are authentic, have a heritage, legacy
Looking at the expertise that these partners have. The partnership has helped us learn a lot."
The collaboration with Alpinestars took about 1.5-2 years to bring the riding gear to the market, with the arrival delayed by the pandemic. However, this wasn't the brand's first such collaboration. Previously, RE joined hands with Rynox, Knox, D3O, Levi's, Belstaff, and TCX for apparel and riding gear. Each of these collaborations was to improve the product line-up at large, Sood said.
Interestingly, it has been the TCX collaboration that has been the most successful for the company so far. "When we launched TCX, it was originally envisioned as a capsule collection but the kind of response, we are now engaging with TCX more deeply to bring products continuously to the Indian market. With Alpinestars, maybe a little too soon to say. Right now, it is meant to be a capsule collection," Sood added.
Having collaborated for riding jackets, armour and boot so far, Royal Enfield is yet to announce one involving helmets with a global maker
With a variety of gear covered, the brand is yet to announce one involving helmets. Do we see something happening on that front? "Since the development time is high, we are working on multiple products with multiple brands. The clear intent is we are to keep the community at the centre. What can we bring that will help them express themselves better or make their riding experience better. If that's a helmet brand or a partner who makes helmets, so be it," answered Sood.
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The multiple collaborations coincide with Royal Enfield's aggressive product development. The new J-series platform is expected to spawn more products and variants in the near future, while the 650 range is set to grow as well. Furthermore, RE has been on a road to recovery since the pandemic. The brand reported a 10 per cent year-on-year at over 1.82 lakh units during the last fiscal but has also been strengthening its presence overseas with assembly units in Thailand and Argentina. Royal Enfield retails motorcycles in over 60 countries worldwide.
