Indian men’s wear apparel brand Barcelona is targeting Tier II and Tier III cities in India. The aim is to provide customers in these cities best quality and trendy apparels in the most affordable range. Barcelona will open 200 stores in the next six months.

It offers affordable and trendy clothing options. Additionally, the company’s store in store concept will continue to expand.

The brand is owned by Stitched Textiles.

Since 2015, Barcelona has been operating more than 50 stores in India across cities like Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Akola, Laxmangadh, Sultanpur, Nawada, Bhopal, Patna, Ranchi, Kolhapur and many more.

The promoters have established themselves in the textile industry and have made it a mission to establish an empire in the world of textiles and fashion brands by establishing a retail network of franchises and distributors as a launch pad for further growth.

With a combined effort of dynamic promoters, knowledgeable and an enthusiastic team of retail and designer professionals, Barcelona will deliver comfort and world class clothing to create the finest customer experience.

The belief is that every garment should provide comfort at its best and that customers should return with a memorable shopping experience. Barcelona will also go global at some stage.

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The second edition of the ‘Aura Fashion Week’ will be held by Aura Productions in Goa this November alongside pageant ‘Aura Mr, Miss and Mrs India’. The pageant will announce winners in three categories at its grand finale. Sakshi Bindra will be the official designer for the Aura Miss India segment of the pageant. It will also feature other designers including Neeta Lulla, Rajdeep Ranawat, Dhruv Sehgal, and Siddhartha Bansal. An in-person audition for competitors will be held on July 25 in Goa with COVID-19 safety guidelines in place.

Aura Products held its first Aura Fashion Week in Delhi in March this year. The fashion show featured a group of Indian designers who showcased their latest collections in the capital. The business also held its first ‘Aura Mr, Miss and Mrs India’ beauty pageant in Jaipur in March. The pageant is designed as a launchpad for aspiring models, according to the business.

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched khadi babywear and handmade paper slippers.

As per Fashion Network, the ew products were launched by the Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Narayan Rane at Khadi India’s flagship showroom in New Delhi.

V K Saxena, Chairman, KVIC says, developing new innovative products to support rural and traditional industries and livelihood of Khadi artisans has been the constant endeavour of KVIC.

KVIC has priced the Khadi cotton babywear at Rs 599 ($8) per piece while the slippers will cost Rs 50 per pair. The newly launched products are currently available exclusively at KVIC’s New Delhi out and website. The products are expected to be rolled out across Khadi stores in the country over the next few months.

Performance sports brand Under Armour has signed Indian mixed martial arts athlete Ritu Phogat as one of its brand ambassadors.

Launched in 2019, the American sportswear and equipment maker markets and distributes performance athletic apparel, footwear and accessories in India.

Phogat joins the brand’s list of athletes that include American basketball player Stephen Curry, American football quarterback Tom Brady, British professional boxer Anthony Joshua, golfer Jordan Spieth, swimmer Michael Phelps, and Dwayne Johnson.

Popularly known as the Indian Tigress in the MMA fraternity, Phogat comes from a well-known family of wrestlers. She is the third daughter of former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat and her sisters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari as well as cousin Vinesh Phogat are all Commonwealth Games gold medalists in wrestling.

She has participated and won in Commonwealth Wrestling Championship and ONE Championship.

The Tamil Nadu handloom weavers cooperative society Co-optex plans to foray into manufacturing and supply of organic wear for global markets. As per a Daiji World report, having over 1,000 handloom weaver societies, the cooperative plans to move away from selling traditional sarees due to declining demand.

The department is planning to target the high-income groups and urbanites. It is in the process of getting certification for its organic products to attract customers from all the age groups. It is also in the process of preparing more organic dyed products."

The raw materials for the organic cloth lines will be purchased from Pollachi and surrounding areas. The organic children wear and other new products from Co-optex will hit the market either during Diwali or Pongal depending on the certification it gets.

Co-optex is also planning to market the product in Western countries as well as in the Middle East, Singapore, and Malaysia. The Indian diaspora in these countries, as well as the local populace will be targeted in a high voltage campaign in the near future.

House of Masaba has launched a new dedicated range of kaftans for intimate weddings and the new ‘normal.’

As per Fashion Network, the range features the brand’s signature bold and ethnic-inspired prints. It provides a bridge between loungewear and occasion wear as consumer tastes shift due to the pandemic.

Metallic details on the prints and subtle embellishments give the kaftans a formal spin and floaty sleeves and slits give the kaftans a youthful feel. The kaftan line has launched on the brand’s dedicated e-commerce store as well as in its flagship outlets across the country.

House of Masaba has reopened its flagship stores in Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Kolkata. The stores have reopened with full health and safety measures in place and contactless shopping options. The brand is also holding 50 percent off sales across its retail outlets to boost sales post-reopening.

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Industry associations including the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IndiaTech have sought certain revisions in India’s draft e-commerce rules. The clauses that USISPF seeks to revise include those seeking to include related parties and logistics service providers within the definition of an ecommerce entity, ban flash sales and mandate the listing of local alternatives while selling imported goods or services.

The draft proposals were first announced in June triggering immediate reaction with online platforms, brands and select sellers criticising it. Terming the mandate to classify goods and services based on the country-of-origin and, for online marketplaces to offer locally made alternatives to consumers at pre-purchase stage as "onerous", the USISPF said it would lead to increased costs and impede innovation ‘without a clear policy justification, since it is not apparent why consumers would require such a filter mechanism’. It sought the retention of the current framework without further changes.

Susan Ritchie, Vice President-Trade and Technology Policy, USISPF says the forum supports consumer protections for brick-and-mortar and digital sales channels alike and such protections should apply regardless of where or how purchases are made.

IAMAI highlighted concerns over policy changes that do not provide a level-playing field between online and offline retailers. It noted that the amendments fail to recognize the different ecommerce models such as inventory/marketplace. It also strongly objected to the attempt to ban online flash sales, arguing that such a move would be anti-consumer and, if at all mandated, should be applicable to both online and offline retailers.

IndiaTech sought more clarity on applicability of these proposed rules. It demanded an exemption of services, such as cab-hailing, travel, gaming and insurance from the ambit of these proposed amendments.

NSE listed Libas Consumer Products has launched inner ware segment Brand - KNG. The company is diversifying into men's innerwear, women's intimate wear (organic fabrics), nightwear, casual wear, etc. which will move the company forward as it looks to be placed as a peer competitor to leading brands.

The company is present on e-commerce platforms Amazon, Flipkart, etc. It expects to generate revenues of Rs.300 crore in the next three years.

Earlier, the company had announced excellent Q1FY22 results (Unaudited) with total revenue jumping from Rs. 3.19 crore in Q1FY21 to Rs. 12.08 crore in Q1FY22 and PAT turned positive from a loss of Rs. 5.65 crore in Q1FY21 to profit of Rs. 1.74 crore in Q1FY22. Earlier this year, the company had also completed a bonus issue of shares.

Kerala based textiles major Kitex Garments will invest an amount of Rs 1000 crore to set up its units in Kakatiya Mega Textiles Park. This will be the Phase 1 of the investment and will be done in a span of two years. The proposed investment to set up an apparel manufacturing facility is expected to generate 4000 jobs.

A part of the renowned Anna-Kitex group of companies, founded by M C Jacob, Kitex Garments is the largest employer in private sector in the state of Kerala. The company was established in 1992. With unmatched global connections, this company caters to prominent and renowned conglomerates in the US and Europe.

Kitex Garments currently employs over 5,000 people at its facility, and has been a business provider to many satellite businesses in the state. Having started with Rs 1.8 crore turnover in the year 1995-96, the company grew to a turnover of over Rs 524 crore in 2014-15. The company is currently the second largest producer of children's apparel in the world, and is now in the process of setting up operations in the United States of America.