Five years after the Indian woman took cover under the “amante” appeal the Sri Lankan woman is left to be enticed by MAS Holdings’ own brand label. The perfectly fitted bra is fashioned out of about 40 components that go into the making of a bra with care using the hands of around 150 machine [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Five years after India, amante bras grip Colombo

By Sunimalee Dias
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Five years after the Indian woman took cover under the “amante” appeal the Sri Lankan woman is left to be enticed by MAS Holdings’ own brand label.

Ajay Amalean

The perfectly fitted bra is fashioned out of about 40 components that go into the making of a bra with care using the hands of around 150 machine operators diligently sewing the seams in the backdrop of an incessant stitching noise telling you that anothr lingerie product is waiting to please the next Sri Lankan woman.

The factory itself employs approximately 150 machine operators or machinists set with team targets to achieve the required output within a particular day, MAS Brands Business Manager Binara Seneviratne said during the media tour of the factory.

The factory produces around 450-500 fashion exacting lingerie and 500-600 runner or essential styles available throughout the year.
Producing to order, the amante brand sells its lingerie by looking at current market trends and the right colours that appeal to the Indian and Sri Lankan woman, which would ideally be the dark shades, it was explained.

At the factory, the room is full of experienced hands on the job but the process starts with checking the colour and the fabric. Then, the bras are cut to size using a manual cutting system to ensure waste is avoided.

Interestingly, the people behind working on these panties and bras are those that have been provided a thorough on-the-job training for a period of four weeks, the company said. They are engrossed in their work only taking a couple of seconds to give a warm friendly smile as visitors pass by; but those hands are still engaged.

The bras are manufactured to shape in the three general categories namely bullet (general), tear drop (slightly shaped) and sharp tear drop (pointed and shaped).

Marketing the product with the aim of building consumer confidence of owning the right bra and panty the all-new branded lingerie hit the stores last month in Sri Lanka five years after the Indian woman had worn it.

But the management at MAS Holdings believes its entry into the local market was timely since it marks the fifth anniversary of amante and 25 years for the group.

“We focus on female confidence to buy lingerie for wants and an emotional benefit,” Mr. Seneviratne said.

Sri Lankan designers were able to fuse the international trends with the colours of a local appeal to market this new range of lingerie catered for the South Asian customer, MAS Holdings Director Ajay Amalean told the Business Times in an interview on the sidelines of a visit to the apparel company’s factory in Panadura.

Initially the company had tried making use of the foreign designers as well however, it was later found that they were unable to impress upon the market appeal catered to under the amante brand.

With most favouring deep colours in both these markets, it was found that there were certain specifications that needed to be modified but the overall designs and the fashion involved were adopted from the international market, he explained.

At the media briefing he told journalists that entering the Indian market found the company initially having to invite dealers to the factory to get a clear understanding of what they would sell in the future.

This helped to improve their perception and which would eventually generate at least 65% of the business from India, he explained.
India was a “good testing ground,” he said adding that following a study it was found that most women in both countries would be wearing the wrong bra size.

The company hopes to expand its brand further by marketing sleep wear in the future along with sportswear, yoga training garments and swimwear. In addition they would also be introducing a separate lingerie brand by June next year for the 16-24 age range, Mr. Amalean said.

Talking of moving elsewhere outside the subcontinent, he explained the company had plans of venturing into the Malaysian, Singaporean, Indonesian and the Middle Eastern markets with amante.

Commenting on the sales during the first two weeks the company said it was “explosive” and better than expected, which meant the brand was doing better than its competitors, the company said. However, Mr. Amalean pointed out that the premium categories would find it difficult to get off the shelf faster than its other counterparts.

Another interesting fact that this new brand manufacturer found was that there was no brand or product out there in the Indian or Sri Lankan markets that catered solely for the local consumer; but sold internationally suited bras and panties.

This in itself has created a new opening for the amante brand that caters to the South Asian woman with curves and features different from their European counterparts.

The brand would not only be available in retail stores that would be expanding to 10 by the end of this year and 50 by the end of 2013 but the company has plans to establish an independent retail store in the future as well.




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