A whole generation has shopped at Westside, and as the brand turned 25, there were widespread celebrations, beginning with the launch of their Autumn-Winter 23 collection at NCPA's Experimental Theatre in Mumbai. Exploring a spectrum of contemporary style across casual wear, lingerie and ethnic wear, the brand reiterated its commitment of inclusivity and body positivity. In conversation with Indian Retailer, Shailina Parti, COO, Trent, and Umashan Naidoo, Head of Customer & Beauty, Westside, summed up the mammoth opportunity that India had in store for the brand. 

Owning the Brand from Design to Market

During the celebrations, Shailina announced the launch of multiple collaborations with designers, celebrities and a leading jewelry brand. Saaksha & Kinni, Coco Bloom, Leather Tannery, yoga and fitness brand Wesness and NCPA form the cohort of fashion collaborations of Westside. On the other hand, the brand also tied up with actor Sameera Reddy for her ‘Limitless’ podcast that features the brightest stars of the country’s women entrepreneurial world.

When asked about the milestones Westside had crossed over the years, Umashan recalled the landmark guidance from the Tata Group on building an identity from scratch. “At a time when retail was starting out in India in the late 1990s, and we had just five-seven stores, Mr Tata recognized our need to own the value chain. Over the years, we achieved complete autonomy in our design and production with about 25 odd sub-brands providing an exclusivity in Westside, no other brand can offer,” he said.

While building brands, Westside experienced the freedom to amalgamate inspirations from across the world and stay true to their creativity. Umashan believes that’s how the brand was able to usher in premiumization of products with understated yet resplendent luxury across verticals. This also improved cross-selling as footfall increased exponentially. In terms of marketing, Westside took a few steps ahead of time and had started experimenting with TikTok while it was in India and Instagram. A large chunk of the Indian fashion market still thrives on ATL, low boards and TV advertisement, but Westside’s foresightedness has brought it to a profitable space in organic digital marketing.

Expansion Strategies

“The fabrics are beautiful, the palette subtle and the price points are very accessible for this collection, which resonate with the consumer,” stated Shailina while describing Westside’s glorious silver journey. “In the first 10 years, we opened one store in India. When we crossed the one-decade milestone, we started opening 25-30 stores a year! Today, we are sitting at 225 stores because we took the step of investing in our real estate,” she elaborated. 

With huge digital enhancement and facilitation in fashion design and CAD, teams at Westside were empowered to work remotely and create collections together. Investment in state-of-the-art ecosystem in stores and a better product life cycle management system helped the brand study consumer data and roll out their customer loyalty schemes. Completing the circle, shared Shailina, through an end-to-end journey was a fortified digital supply chain ever since Westside.com was launched in 2019. 

“We are moving into Tier II cities and want to be in every state of India. We know that Westside will be relevant for consumers there too, because the cities house our emerging target audience who appreciate innovation, inclusivity in contemporary fashion, and swagger,” Shailina concluded.