XYXX’s vision is to inspire and empower the modern man, offering high-quality, sophisticated innerwear that caters to the ambitious and the dreamers alike…
Traditionally seen as a niche or basic necessity, innerwear has evolved into a fashion forward category, offering a wide range of stylish, comfortable, and functional products. Brands are working to transform the innerwear market landscape by embracing innovation, inclusivity, and consumer-centric designs.
One such brand which has shifted the market focus from generic fits to customised offerings that cater to different body types, sizes, and preferences, empowering consumers with choice and comfort is Surat-based XYXX Apparels.
Rapidly emerging as a game-changer in the men’s basics segment in India, XYXX is gaining widespread popularity for its innovation-first approach, for adopting sustainable fabrics and modern designs, tapping into the growing demand for eco-friendly fashion, enhancing consumer experience and generally setting new standards in the industry.
With a mission to revolutionise the innerwear shopping experience, XYXX offers unrivalled designs made from innovative fabrics, with superior craftsmanship, creating comfortable, functional and stylish products.
Redefining how innerwear is perceived in India – no longer just a utility but a symbol of confidence and self-expression – XYXX has set new benchmarks in the industry by being a pioneer in introducing modal fabric to the Indian market. This has made the brand a preferred choice among young Indian men between 18-35 from Tier 1 and 2 cities.
The brand’s vision, explains Siddhartha Gondal, Co-Founder & Chief Sales Officer, XYXX Apparels, is to inspire and empower the modern man, offering high-quality, sophisticated products that cater to the ambitious and the dreamers alike. Aside from innerwear (underwear, vests, thermalwear), athleisure and loungewear including hoodies, jackets, sweatshirts, joggers, cargo joggers and shorts make up its product portfolio – all of it size-inclusive.
“Inclusivity is at the core of XYXX’s ethos. We understand that comfort and style should be accessible to everyone, regardless of size. That is why we are actively working
on extending our size offerings across various product categories, ensuring that more customers can find the perfect fit in XYXX apparel,” Gondal explains.
The brand’s approach to size inclusivity involves thorough research and testing to develop sizes that are fit for all body types. It engages with its customers to gather feedback to refine its expanded size range.
Integrating Innovative Digital Tools
Perfecting its size range for XYXX comes as a byproduct of staying at the forefront of innovation by integrating emerging technologies into its product lines. Some of its
best technologies, according to Gondal, are:
1. Quick Drying Fabrics: Featured in ‘shackets’. These support quick washing and sweat-wicking. XYXX is set to introduce underwear made of Tactel Nylon, which dries eight times faster than cotton and helps minimise chafing.
2. Advances in Design: XYXX already boasts clean, invisible stitching created with the help of cutting edge technologies and is all set to reȃ ne these for even greater precision. Invisible buttons and advanced stitching techniques further enhance the overall aesthetic of products while maintaining durability. The use of 100% polyester makes for easy care.
3. Nanotechnology: The brand is actively exploring the application of nanotechnology that boosts fabric durability, reduces static cling, and provides enhanced stain resistance.
Business Strategies
To ensure its innovative products reach the right audience, XYXX takes a strategic and data-driven approach to discern store locations that align with its vision and customer base. It analyses consumer behaviour and preferences in various regions to identify areas with high demand for its products. This involves studying demographic trends, purchasing power and lifestyle patterns of potential customers.
The brand also studies the presence of complementary brands and retail ecosystems that align with its target audience, ensuring that the stores are situated in a vibrant, relevant environment. Additionally, XYXX assesses foot traffic, visibility, and accessibility of the location to ensure that its store is easily reachable for customers and positioned in a high-traffic area.
The brand, which operates in the mid-premium segment, recognises that a discerning consumer is willing to pay a premium for quality. “Keeping this in mind, we have strategically positioned our pricing to be closely aligned with Jockey, our biggest competitor and the current market leader in this segment,” says Gondal.
Marketing it Right
XYXX’s marketing strategy includes a blend of traditional and digital tactics to effectively reach and engage with customers. Along with conventional marketing strategies, XYXX also utilises new-age social media formats like VoxPop, Podcasts, Misheard Lyrics that drive very high engagement for the brand. Collaboration with social media influencers from different domains also helps in reaching a much wider audience. Some of its most popular campaigns include:
1. The Undiependence Campaign: XYXX launched a comprehensive 360-degree marketing campaign that encompassed various channels including Influencer marketing, On-Ground Activation, Outdoor, PR, Social Media, YouTube, Amazon DSP, and Culture Marketing. This campaign was instrumental in solidifying the brand’s presence across diverse platforms.
2. Live Better, Wear Better Campaign: This campaign was pivotal in repositioning XYXX as not just an innerwear brand but also as an outerwear brand. It focused on the themes of hustle, consistency, and the importance of always striving to ‘wear better’. The campaign led to a 10% increase in social media engagement, jumping from 15% to 25%. Sales saw a significant boost of 50%, propelling XYXX to become the 3rd highest trunk-selling brand on Amazon and the 2nd highest on Flipkart. The campaign unfolded in multiple stages.
- Influencer Campaign – set the foundation for the brand’s new identity.
- Brand Campaign – featured the upgraded XYXX man through a film that showcased the brand’s persona
- Athleisure Collection Campaign – continued the momentum with another influencer campaign and the #SpottedInXYXX series, featuring celebrities like Orry to amplify visibility.
Multi-Channel Integration
Even as XYXX got its pricing, marketing and location strategies right, it realised that
its biggest growth came its Omnichannel approach of leveraging multiple sales channels.
The brand, which has established a widespread network of:
• over 22,000+ retail touchpoints across India through general trade
• 85+ counters across 2 modern trade formats mapping a network of 160+ cities and towns; and
• which currently operates 5 exclusive brand outlets (intending to steadily grow this number)
• is also working towards establishing a robust online consumer experience.
“Ensuring that our online shopping experience is as comfortable and seamless as an in-store experience is a top priority for us,” says Gondal.
With a clean and easy-to-navigate website, XYXX offers detailed size guides and fit information to help customers choose the right size that minimises returns. Streamlined checkout processes, guest checkout, multiple payment methods, and saved payment information for returning customers, hassle-free return and exchange policies, are part of its growing online services allowing them to shop with confidence and comfort.
Owing to this, its website sales have gone up by 52% in FY24 compared to FY23. Additionally, XYXX has also cemented its online success with a presence on prominent digital marketplaces, including Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Ajio, and has consistently ranked among the top 3 innerwear brands for three consecutive years.
November 2023 also marked XYXX’s launch on quick commerce platforms including BlinkIt (across 29 cities), Swiggy Instamart and Zepto, a launch which saw the Month-on-Month (MoM) sales going up by a substantial 20%.
Mitigating the Online Challenge
Siddhartha Gondal says XYXX follows a comprehensive approach towards tackling abandoned carts and size-related inconsistencies on their online sales channels.
1. Detailed Size Charts: XYXX provides detailed size charts for each product category, including measurements for different sizes while ensuring that sizing is consistent across all products by adhering to standardised sizing guidelines.
2. Customer Feedback: Before launching new products, the brand engages in consumer testing. This involves regular reviews and adjustments to its sizing charts to align with industry standards and customer feedback.
3. Flexible Exchange & Returns: XYXX offers clear and flexible return and exchange policies reducing the risk of dissatisfaction with sizing. It also introduced the ‘Risk- Free Returns’ campaign to address a common challenge men face when trying new innerwear brands online—uncertainty about design, fit, and size. Based on customer insights, this campaign was designed to offer a refund policy on the first innerwear purchase, a first-of its-kind initiative in the category. The goal was to create a unique value proposition, making it easier and more reassuring for customers to try XYXX products without the fear of making a wrong choice.
Fiscal Progress
As the brand continues to lead transformation of innerwear from a basic necessity to a fashion-forward, aspirational product, it is focused on creating localised marketing strategies that resonate with consumers in diǹ erent parts of the country to ensure it remains relevant and appealing across diverse markets.
XYXX has been recording an Annual Reccuring Revenue (ARR) of about Rs 300 crore. The brand closed the last fiscal year at Rs 110 crore revenue, and is now targeting 50-70% growth while foreseeing 50% growth Year-on-Year (YoY) for the next 10 years.
Sales from digital platforms account for half of XYXX’s revenue, with online marketplaces being the highest contributor at around 50%. Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) and quick commerce channels garner 15% of the brand’s revenue while the remaining revenue is generated from offline channels, which include a mix of General Trade (GT), Modern Trade (MT), and Exclusive Brand Outlets (EBOs). Among these, General Trade (GT) generates the highest revenue in the offline segment.
As it continues to record significant growth in Tier II and III cities, XYXX is aiming to strengthen its distribution network, open new physical stores, and enhance its presence through both online and offline channels.
