It's cut to charm. It's tailored for growth. It's branded in bulk. It's staring at you from ads, wooing you from windows, hanging by your belt and probably walking all around you. From a mere 2.5 million pieces in the 1980s to 24 million this year, from sales of Rs 385 crore in 1996 to over Rs 1,200 crore in 2001, this boom below the belt is perhaps the biggest in the clothing business since the advent of polyester. It is the humble pair of trousers we are talking about.

Vijaya Poddar, MD and the woman behind the male brand Oxemberg, gives a perspective of the explosion. Three years ago, Oxemberg sold 7,500 trousers a month. In 2000, the figure was 29,000 and last year 39,000. Their 2002 target? "We hope to touch 75,000 trousers per month," she says. Others echo the optimism. S.Y. Noorani of Zodiac declares that trousers are the fastest growing segment in their entire range.

Rajendra Mudaliar MD, Color Plus

At Color Plus, trousers constitute almost half the sales volume, with sales keeping pace with brand growth which has a compounded annual growth rate of over 50 per cent. Their success key: adaptation to changing fabric preferences.

So what's happening? After all, the Pantaloons, the Park Avenues, the Cambridges and other brands have been in the business for over a decade now. Till recently, the market was tailormade for darzis, given the diversity of height and girth. Unlike the humble dhoti, the trousers are not a wraparound garment which allows one-size-fits-all production. Indeed, Nabunkar Gupta, group president, Raymond, emphasises that Indian men till recently opted for the custom-stitched primarily for fit and, of course, price and wearability.

All that has changed. To understand the genesis of the current boom travel back in time. Circa 1994. A chemical process that limits wrinkles for a minimum of 50 washes on cotton fabric came into the market. Dubbed wrinkle-free it opened a window of opportunity for garment makers. Among the first few players to hit the high street was Madura Garments which launched wrinkle-free trousers as part of its informally formal "Friday look" initiative. "The response," says Vasant Kumar, vice-president, Madura Garments, "was simply out of the world."

Kumar Mangalam Birla Chairman, AV Birla Group

To convert the Indian male from tailormade to readymade, the Birla Group has set up Trouser Towns: 14 outlets rack over 5,000 trousers from six brands offering a choice of eight fits and 20 colour options.

On hindsight, it is not so surprising after all. Denim was fading out. Market research indicated that the younger consumer was looking for alternatives to tiring trials and the drab darzi look- and the Dockers look was in. The wrinkle-free trouser, attractively priced, got the younger consumers into shops. As Usman Aly, director, Stellar pr, points out, "You can go from work to party. It's a better way to look smart."

"Suddenly," says Vikram Rao, group executive president of Grasim, "readymade is ready excitement." Fridays got stretched across the week and within months a plethora of brands crowded the shelves. But there were still many wrinkles to iron out. The primary worry, says Bela Gupta, a consultant to garment makers, "was and is the fit". Some brands simply tried pushing through the mindset barrier while others worked on the basics.

Madura initiated an "anthropological survey" of the Indian male's fit. They collected tailoring data about 20,000 men to design the profile of the Indian male. Such was the impact that Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, AV Birla Group, initiated the creation of specialised Trouser Towns: 14 outlets across major metros rack over 5,000 trousers from six brands offering a choice of eight fits and 20 colour options. The idea: to convert the consumer from tailormade to readymade.

BUSINESS FIVE-YEAR FACT FILE The trouser market in India has grown at 3 per cent every year over the past five years. The branded trouser market has grown at an annual rate of 17 per cent. From 14, the number of national brands has grown to 25, a 75 per cent growth. Total number of branded trousers produced has grown from 20.7 million to 24 million in 2001-2. From Rs 385 crore five years ago, the estimated worth of the branded trouser market has grown to Rs 1,200 crore. Figures as per KSA Technopak study

And it has happened. In five years the number of national brands has shot up from 15 to over 30. Trend forecaster Rajiv Goel of Trend Vision says there has been a major switch of attention within menswear from shirts to trousers. "It's not just the simple pleat anymore. The look is young and trendy, with a wider palette of colours replacing boring neutrals like black, brown and grey."

Images Panorama, an org-Marg survey on garment preferences, mirrors this change: consumers prefer light-weight trousers for comfort and the cool look; beige is the preferred colour followed by khaki, navy blue, cream, black and gray; the most popular style is double pleats and three pockets, comfort fit the fastest moving; gaberdine is the top selling fabric option and wrinkle-free the favoured wash.

Clearly, technology has made it possible for garment makers to offer contrasting feels and looks. So while the feel could be cotton, the look stays smart, thanks to the blend of fabrics. "Fabrics have become more 'climatically appropriate' rather than just 'occasion appropriate'," points out Fazle A. Naqvi, director, Indus League.

Indeed, the momentum to the boom was given by the choice of blends that allowed consumers an alternative to the staid formal look: treated long staple cotton, stretch corduroy, lycra-based cotton, microfibres, gaberdine weaves, tencel, chambray, cotton nylon, polywool, micro-sanded twill, viscose rich polyester, polynosics, micro polyester plus innovations like stain-free and scented fabrics. Add styles that range from slim fit and flat front to loose tapered to cropped trousers. Consider this snap shot of expanding choice:

Gautam Singhania Chairman & Managing Director, Raymond Ltd

Raymond has launched a new, mid-priced brand Parx for the younger consumer. Backed by 257 retail outlets, it is now looking at hi-street outlets that stock just Parx, Park Avenue and Manzoni lines.

> Pantaloon offers 160 options in14 different fabric types, in five different colours, each in two fits.
> Color Plus offers a choice of five fabrics and 15 colours in several fits.
> Lacoste has four styles, including flat fronts, five-pocket, pleated and crease resistant.
> Live-In offers six styles.
> Monte Carlo, known for knitwear, now sells trousers in 16 styles.
> Indigo Nation offers five new styles in 83 options of colours and finishes.

Arvind Poddar, joint managing director, Oxemberg, describes the boom as "the commoditisation of trousers". Translated, it means trousers are becoming an industrial product. Take greater access to fitting formulas, evolve fabrics domestic and imported and add mushrooming of garment factories. The result: economies of scale, technology for the clean cuff and crease plus attractive pricing.

Quite naturally, the branded trouser market is growing annually at around 25 per cent and there must be over 60 regional and national brands vying for a share of the girth. The competition is fierce. Players are fine tuning strategies and learning about consumer tastes. If some are setting up studios and tying up with designers, others like Peter England are opting for the FMCG strategy of test marketing.

BUSINESS HOT FAVOURITES Cambridge's stain-free trousers for the price-conscious man. Indigo Nation's The Autumn Winter 2001 Black & Khaki Collection for trendy office wear. Louis Philippe's Sartorial Trousers for stylish corporate power dressing. Live-in Lites' Corporate Chinos for Friday dressing San Frisco's metal colours like brazen gold for the adventurous trouser wearer keen on variety. Zodiac's American University Chinos for the semi-casual workday attire doubling up as semi-formal evening look.

The expanding market has made players cater to changing tastes and age-groups. Raymond, which has been marketing its Park Avenue line since the 1980s, now has evolved a new brand aimed at the smart, trendy consumer: Parx. Backed by 257 exclusive retail outlets across India, Raymond now is looking at specialised hi-street outlets that stock just the Parx, Park Avenue and Manzoni lines. Other traditional fabrics giants like Bombay Dyeing and Reliance too are changing strategies. Reliance, for instance, has tied up with Indus League for a slice of the ready-to-wear segment with the Reance brand.

Despite burgeoning brands, penetration of the ready-to-wear segment is still low. The KSA Technopak Domestic Apparel Market study points that garment makers are draping only 14 per cent of Indian males. In other words, 86 of 100 men who wear trousers still head for the darzi. Sanjay Gagopadhyay, gm marketing, Levi Strauss, points out that despite the success of the khaki look, only 15 per cent of an executive's trouser collection is readymade. "Actually speaking, the tailor is still our biggest competitor," he confesses.

The reason: price. As of now an average consumer can buy fabric for Rs 500, pay the tailor around Rs 100 and wear formal trousers at around Rs 600-which is cheaper than what is available off the rack. Some like Cambridge have pushed price as the strategy and manage to offer perhaps the most reasonably priced trouser range at Rs 260-1,000. And this, says Kapil Bhatia, partner, Cambridge Group, is possible primarily because of "efficient sourcing, low overheads", and, of course, volumes.

That could well be the mantra for success because the trouser market right now spells opportunity: Indians buy around 125 million metres of polyester-blended fabrics, which works out to over 100 million trousers a year. Currently, 24 million or 14 per cent of the trousers bought are ready-to-wear. In other words, the total market size for trousers is 171 million pieces.

The potential for expansion are even better. Of the 500 million Indian males a third perhaps wear trousers. If each of them buy even two trousers a year, it adds up to over 333 million trousers a year or a market worth Rs 16,000 crore plus. Small wonder then that the players in the trouser market are furiously cutting and stitching strategies.