Reliance Retail recalibrates fashion play to tap Gen Z demand

BENGALURU: Reliance Retail is reshaping its fashion business around faster-moving private labels as it looks to win over India’s young shoppers, betting speed and control over its own brands will be critical as competition intensifies across apparel and lifestyle retail.The shift is visible across its brands, such as Azorte and Zivame, where the retailer is speeding up product cycles, adding more trend-focused styles, and investing in tech-enabled store experiences for consumers who increasingly discover fashion through digital content and influencers.The push reflects how Reliance Retail is adapting to a market where younger consumers are increasingly setting the pace of competition.“India’s median age is 26. If you are in an aspirational category like fashion, lifestyle or beauty and you are not targeting this segment, then you are missing the obvious,” said Ankur Bisen, senior partner at The Knowledge Company.

“This is the bread and butter segment, and it is extremely contested.”Reliance Retail’s fast-fashion brand Azorte offers a glimpse of how the company is responding to that shift.“When we launched Azorte, the focus was on building a brand as good as H&M or Zara, but homegrown,” Sara Fanning, creative head of Azorte, told Mint in an interview. “We were very fashion-focused and wanted to be bang on trend, in time with what you’d see internationally.”Consumer feedback has helped the brand evolve and expand into various product categories, she said.

The brand is now preparing to launch ‘AZ’, a youth-focused line aimed at teenagers and first-time fashion buyers, this month.“There’s a big group of customers between the kids’ category and 18-plus who want something more exciting,” Fanning said. “So we’re launching a