Fashion Industry Internship Report

A Report on Brand Development & Constructing Marketing Strategies

Company- Sun International Pvt. Ltd.

Under the guidance of:

Mr. Puneet Agarwal
[Industry Mentor]

Dr. Bharti Moitra

[Associate Professor, NIFT Kolkata]

Submitted by:
Rakhee Kochar
MFM/21/100
Masters in Fashion Management (2021-23)
National Institute of Fashion Technology, Kolkata- 7000098

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 DECLARATION

I, Rakhee Kochar declare that the project “A Complete study to understand the working of
the Brand Airlit in-terms of marketing and business developing” submitted to National
Institute of Fashion Technology, Kolkata in partial fulfilment for the award of the degree of
Master of Fashion Management is a project given to me from 1 st June 2022 to 1st August
2022, under the guidance and supervision of Ms. Bharti Moitra , Department of Fashion
Management Studies, NIFT Kolkata.
I further declare that no part of the project is copied from any other reports or any other work
carried by someone else which has been submitted for any other degree/award. However, any
material taken from any other published source has been suitably referred and acknowledged
at the last as reference.

Rakhee Kochar
Masters in Fashion Management
MFM/21/100

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the following people who have made the
completion of this report possible:
I am grateful to team of Airlit for providing me with such a great opportunity and a friendly
environment where I got a chance to explore the working of the company. My industry
mentor Mr. Puneet Agarwal, Founder of the company for providing great insights which
enhanced my learning experience. She has been a great support system throughout my
learning journey.
My Mentor, Ms. Bharti Moitra member of the faculty, for her full support and guidance
throughout the course of my internship, as well as for the final compilation of the report. I
would also like to thank Dr. Sougata Banerjee, Dr. Annanya Deb Roy, Dr. D.B. Datta, Dr.
Ritu Malhotra for their continuous support.
I would like to extend my acknowledgement to our Department staff, Uttam Sir and Sudip
Bhattacharya Sir as well for always helping me.
My friends and colleagues from college for their great help and valuable inputs in completion
of this report.

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 Table of Contents

Introduction 5
Fashion Industry in India, An Overview 6
Company: Sun International Pvt. Ltd. 8
Airlit 9
Vikava Labs 10
Design Cartel 11
Products. 12
Products (Handbags) 14
Marketing Mix 16
Segemtation , Target & Positioning. 20
Project 1 21
Project 2 25
Project 3 27
Learning Outcomes 28
References 29

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 INTRODUCTION

Brands have a powerful influence on customer engagement, competition in the markets, and

the management of a company. A strong brand presence in the market differentiates a
company’s products from its competitors and creates brand affinity for a company’s
products or services.

A brand that has been established has to continually maintain its brand image through brand
management. Effective brand management increases brand awareness, measures and
manages brand equity, drives initiatives that support a consistent brand message, identifies
and accommodates new brand products, and effectively positions the brand in the market.

A brand manager is tasked with managing the tangible and intangible properties of a brand.
The tangible aspects of a company’s brand include the product's price, packaging, logo,
associated colors, and lettering format.

A brand manager’s role is to analyze how a brand is perceived in the market by taking the
intangible elements of a brand into account. Intangible factors include the experience that
the consumers have had with the brand and their emotional connection with the product or
service. The intangible characteristics of a brand build brand equity.

Brand equity is the price above the product’s value that consumers are willing to pay to
acquire the brand. Brand equity is an internally generated intangible asset in which its value
is ultimately decided by consumers’ perception of the brand. If consumers are willing to pay
more for a brand than a generic brand that performs the same functions, the brand equity
will increase in value. On the other hand, the value of brand equity falls when consumers
would rather purchase a similar product that costs less than the brand.

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 FASHION INDUSTRY IN INDIA, AN OVERVIEW

The Indian textile industry is one of the largest in the world with a massive raw material and
textiles manufacturing base. Our economy is largely dependent on the textile manufacturing
and trade in addition to other major industries. About 27% of the foreign exchange earnings
are on account of export of textiles and clothing alone. The textiles and clothing sector
contributes about 14% to the industrial production and 3% to the gross domestic product of
the country. Around 8% of the total excise revenue collection is contributed by the textile
industry. So much so, the textile industry accounts for as large as 21% of the total
employment generated in the economy. Around 35 million people are directly employed in
the textile manufacturing activities.
A textile is the largest single industry in India (and amongst the biggest in the world),
accounting for about 20% of the total industrial production. It provides direct employment to
around 20 million people. Textile and clothing exports account for one-third of the total value
of exports from the country. There are 1,227 textile mills with a spinning capacity of about 29
million spindles. While yarn is mostly produced in the mills, fabrics are produced in the
power loom and handloom sectors as well. The Indian textile industry continues to be
predominantly based on cotton, with about 65% of raw materials consumed being cotton. The
yearly output of cotton cloth was about 12.8 billion m (about 42 billion ft). The manufacture
of jute products (1.1 million metric tons) ranks next in importance to cotton weaving. Textile
is one of India’s oldest industries and has a formidable presence in the national economy
inasmuch as it contributes to about 14 per cent of manufacturing value-addition, accounts for
around one-third of our gross export earnings and provides gainful employment to millions of
people. They include cotton and jute growers, artisans and weavers who are engaged in the
organised as well as decentralised and household sectors spread across the entire country.
India has already completed more than 50 years of its independence. The analysis of the
growth pattern of different segment of the industry during the last five decades of post
independence era reveals that the growth of the industry during the first two decades after the
independence had been gradual, though lower and growth had been considerably slower
during the third decade. The growth thereafter picked up significantly during the fourth
decade in each and every segment of the industry. The peak level of its growth has however
been reached during the fifth decade i.e., the last ten years and more particularly in the 90s.
The Textile Policy of 1985 and Economic Policy of 1991 focussing in the direction of
liberalisation of economy and trade had in fact accelerated the growth in 1990s. The spinning
spearheaded the growth during this period and man-made fibre industry in the organised
sector and decentralised weaving sector.
Textile industry plays a significant role in the economy. The Indian textile industry is one of
the largest and most important sectors in the economy in terms of output, foreign exchange
earnings and employment in India. It contributes 20 per cent of industrial production, 9 per

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cent of excise collections, 18 per cent of employment in industrial sector, nearly 20 per cent
to the country’s total export earnings and 4 per cent ton the GDP. The sector employs nearly
35 million people and is the second highest employer in the country. The textile sector also
has a direct link with the rural economy and performance of major fibre crops and crafts such
as cotton, wool, silk, handicrafts and handlooms, which employ millions of farmers and crafts
persons in rural and semi-urban areas.

India has several advantages in the textile sector, including abundant availability of raw
material and labour. It is the second largest player in the world cotton trade. It has the largest
cotton acreage, of about nine million hectares and is the third largest producer of cotton fibre
in the world. It ranks fourth in terms of staple fibre production and fourth in polyester yarn
production. The textile industry is also labour intensive, thus India has an advantage.

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 COMPANY – SUN INTERNATIONAL Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. Puneet Agarwal established Sun International in year 2005 in Delhi. He is a manufacturer
of knitted apparels, accessories & home furnishings for more than two decades. With an
expansive experience of working with national & international brands, buying houses, buying
agents, apparel & home furnishing export houses, and couture labels. The company gained
enormous trust & success because of the in-depth product knowledge, transparent and
quality-conscious manufacturing.

Clientele

Domestic: Benetton, Reebok, Allen solly, Louis Phillipe, Blackberry, Biba, Rangriti,
Born,etc.

Couture: Ogaan, Prama Narender Kumar etc.

Institutions: GD Goenka Public School, Modern School Barakhamba, Aravali Faridabad,

Presidium.

Third Party Shipments: Legend International, A-one Exports, Laaj International, Sai
Creations etc.

Home Furnishings: Radnik Exports, Sunlord, C&R Textile, Rateria Exports, etc.

Mission
 
To be the customers first choice by:
 Providing them with the latest fashion trends, creative designs, diverse product lines
from multiple locations.
 Setting high sustainable standards of quality products, customer service, and delivery.
 Making it a preferred employer by investing in people and best HR practices.
 Optimizing resource utilization and focusing on environmental sustainability and
community empowerment

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 AIRLIT.LIFE

An initiative from heart-time to give back!

In the year 2020, Sun International Pvt. Ltd. took the initiative and launched the brand
AIRLIT to help tribal artisans by creating work opportunities for them. It is a premium
brand.

It has collaborated with tribal artisans of various states for hand painted masks and various
lifestyle accessories. The artisans keep the historic artform alive, however, with the boom
in industrialisation, craftsmen couldn’t keep up with the growing demand and couldn’t
compete with large-scale companies that use machines, resulting in their survival being at
risk. 

To rescue their profession and bring authentic handmade designs to the people, Airlit  has
partnered with artisans to introduce products made through traditional techniques. There
are also homegrown small- and medium-scale businesses that are promoting traditional art
by collaborating with these skilled artisans.

An initiative for not only the artisans but for freelance designers as well. The whole project
was done by the freelance designers during the pandemic giving job opportunities to many
designers and artisans.

During the pandemic variety of masks with rare artforms on it was launched. They sold the
masks through various e-commerce websites and also through social media. The masks were
in the premium category and the majority of clients were from European Countries.

After successfully launching one category of products and giving employment to so many
artisans around the country, Airlit has come up with its second product category which is
range of sustainable and vegan bags using apple leather, pineapple leather and other materials
with giving them a touch of tribal artforms. The bags will be in market by January 2023.

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 VIKAVA LABS

A Self sustainable ecosystem for start-ups specially for Fashion Industry

Vikava labs is an upcoming venture of Sun International which aims to provide a self
sustainable ecosystem for the startups.

It has segments under which are :

 Design Cartel
 Sustainable Library
 Sourcing Cartel
 Design Library of India
 Ministry of Slow Fashion
 Social Lab
 Ecom Lab

Sun International has started working on Design Cartel and Sourcing Cartel. They are in the
initial stages of developing the business model.

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 DESIGN CARTEL

Collaborating with designers, we in DESIGN CARTEL propose to build, self-sustainable

community with all those personals, who choose to grow, not only in professional terms, but,
financial & personal as well, who believes in the fact " If you are no upgrading, you are
downgrading "

Purpose:

 Mission to create apt working opportunities for creative minds.

 Connecting creative minds to build the strongest global platform/community ever.
 An entity, where one will never get the feeling of an employee, he/she will always
have a feeling that they own it.

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PRODUCTS

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 PRODUCTS (Handbags)

Airlit will soon be launching bags made of vegan leather with hand painted tribal artsforms
on it. The company has sourced apple leather, pineapple leather, cork leather to make bags.
The artisans of rare tribal artforms are working on the bag panels. Airlit makes sure that these
artisans are given the presence on the platform so that they get a sense of achievement.

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 MARKETING MIX

Marketing Strategy of Airlit analyses the brand with the marketing mix framework which
covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). There are several marketing strategies like
product innovation, pricing approach, promotion planning etc. These business strategies,
based on marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the market.
Airlit marketing strategy helps the brand/company to position itself competitively in the
market and achieve its business goals & objectives.

Product Strategy:
Airlit is considered a cult lifestyle brand as it converging global style with traditional Indian
handicraft. Airlit is expanding and remain profitable without losing its soul of handmade
accessories made by rural Indian craftspeople. The company offers a variety of products in its
marketing mix as it has diversified into categories such as masks and handbags as of now.

Price Strategy:
The target customer of company is middle class consumers in cities of India and abroad. The
market in accessories segment is competitive, so Airlit applies going rate competitive pricing
for most of its product. However, Airlit applies product line pricing for each of its product
wherein a base price is set for the high price sensitive consumer segment and higher quality
products are marketed to less price sensitive consumer segment at a premium over the base
price. This strategy has helped the company to expand its middle-class base as well as in
attracting upper class of society. The company recognises the value perceived by Indian
consumers in hand made and sustainable accessories and thus deploys perceived value
pricing to add a slight mark up on its products. Airlit also does promotional pricing by
offering its product at discount prices for a window of time.

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Distribution Strategy:
Airlit sells its product through its online web portal. Company’s product also available
through other e-tail platforms like Amazon and Flipkart. Products are also sold on social
media via Instagram and Facebook.

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Promotion Strategy:
Airlit’s unique proposition lies in its institutional framework where it gives employment to
craftspeople in rural India and has protected the dying industry of tribal artforms. Company
put forward its work for the community in all its marketing campaigns to get emotional
connect with people of India. Its campaign also revolves around assuring higher quality of its
products which are handmade and organic. It organises crafts mornings where artisans speak
about their art and experts are invited to speak on importance of using organic products and
environmental production. Company has been involved in various CSR activities and is one
of the most known brand in India for its work towards the society. Airlit has used acquired
media platforms like Facebook and Instagram where subscriber positive opinions on its page
has helped the brand in acquiring more customers in India as well as globally. For its B2B
channel, Airlit offers product customization.

People:
Airlit has twin focus, one is to create profitable retail platform for its product and second is to
create sustainable jobs for the rural sector. Most of the employees on the direct payroll of the
company are also given stock ownership to derive more commitment towards company’s
objective. The company is focussed on artisans empowerment . The company hires only
those people who are aligned to the social values of the company. It gives attention to the
requirements of skill development of the employees through regular training programmes.

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 BUSINESS MODEL

Type: E-commerce, LLP

Value Proposition: Accessories for men & women

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USP: Customization, Curation & Quality check
Marketing Strategy: Social Media Marketing

SEGMENTATION, TARGET & POSITIONING

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning are the building blocks of Branding and it deciphers
how the marketer identifies the potential customer, profiles them, targets them and positions
his offering in the mind of the customer.

Segmentation: It is the process of dividing the target customers into a set of homogeneous
groups on the basis of their demography, geography and psychography.

Segmentation of Airlit – Man or woman who wants to buy accessories

·      Demographic -Any age, both men and women.

·      Geographic – Metro cities and tier 2 or 3 cities of India.

·      Psychography – College going, young professionals, just married couple. People who
love Indian tradition and culture

Targeting: Target Market consists of a set of buyers who share the common characteristics.

Airlit targets the customer of all age groups, who are young professionals, college going
students, just married couples have love for Indian culture, traditions and artforms. These
customers may be regular or occasional buyers earning somewhere around 35k to 1 lakh.

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Positioning: Positioning is the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy
a distinctive place in the minds of the consumers. It is the place the product occupies in
consumers’ minds relative to competing products. Lifestyle brand which is Indian at heart’.

Positioning of Airlit – An Indian brand providing accessories to all ages of men and women.

·      Judgement – Indian brand which is contemporary, authentic and ethnic in outlook and
natural and sustainable.

·      Feeling – Give customer a feeling of being connected with our culture and feeling of
simplicity.

·      Resonance – First name that comes in the mind of customers when he/she thinks about
tribal artforms.

PROJECT 1: MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR AIRLIT

1. Analyse the market.

Competitive research:

 Primary competitors are those who have the same product or audience or both.
 Secondary competitors are those who have a similar product but sell it to a different
audience.
 Tertiary competitors are those who sell products or tools that expand your existing
product.

2. SWOT Analysis:

 how to use the strengths to take the opportunities,

 how to minimize the weaknesses with the help of these opportunities,
 what strengths will help you avoid the threats, and
 what weaknesses make you vulnerable to the found threats.

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3. Define your target audience.

 age,
 gender,
 location,
 education,
 job title,
 income level,
 goals,
 challenges, and
 personality traits.

4. Develop positioning and messaging.

Positioning statement

1. Who is this product for?

2. What does this product do?
3. Why is this product different?

Product messages

 The message should be like an elevator pitch – short and explained in under a minute.
 Focus on the benefit, not the feature.
 Use words that resonate with people.

5. Choose a pricing strategy.

The value depends on product quality, uniqueness, your current strategy, and other factors.

 Premium prices are artificially high prices set for exclusive products to accentuate the
VIP status of buyers.
 Promotional prices are lower than the average market prices. They help new products
that have just entered the market win buyer attraction.

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 Commodity prices mirror the low-level value of the products that don’t differentiate
on the market.

6. Develop a product launch plan.

In a launch plan, we need to list all internal and external activities, including sales
training, events, product launch, and promotion campaign timeline

7. Create a promotion strategy.

Tactics of a promotion strategy include advertising, sales, events, email marketing,
content marketing, social media, and more.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

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Infographics are a great form of visualization between images and data. They are engaging
and easy to understand, as they are constructed based on short text, numbers, data, and

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graphics. We can share them as a single standalone piece of content or include them in blog
posts and sustain an idea even better.

Videos…. Blog posts… Reels… Paid Ads

Experiment with Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Linked-in, Snapchat, or YouTube ads

Emails

Referral marketing or freebies

Work with influencers to create brand awareness:

Choose them carefully

Work with more than one influencer

Set campaign goals

Give them discount codes

Run contest and giveaways. They may include steps like:

 Tag a friend
 Like the post 
 Follow the brand’s page
 Share the post
 Create content related to the brand
 Leave a comment

PROJECT 2: PRESENTATION TO BNI (Business Network International)

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BNI stands for Business Networking International. It is the world’s leading business referral
organization with nearly  285,000 members in 10,500 chapters worldwide. BNI operates
a network of franchises in different territories
BNI is the brainchild of Dr. Ivan Misner, who started the organization over 30 years ago. The
idea is simple enough; you meet each week with your chapter members, and any interested
visitors, to learn about each other and your respective businesses. The premise is, once you
get to know, like and trust the other business owners, the more likely you’ll refer business to
each other.

The members tend to be small business owners, independent contractors or sales

representatives. The chapters are all different but they tend to be organized into 4 groups
called power teams. There is the Business Services Team who all focus on B2B clients.
The Health Services Team is focused on different aspects of health care. The Home Services
Team are all focused on some aspect of real estate or homeownership. The Personal Services
Team all focus on B2C offerings such as a florist, personal financial services, photography or
an automotive shop. The teams work together to develop mutually beneficial relationships to
take advantage of natural synergies within different buyer journeys.

As per BNI format, the members of BNI have to give a presentation on their company, like
what they are, what they do and what they expect from their other BNI members.

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I was given a task to make a presentation on the company under the guidance of Mr. Puneet
Agarwal and had to present it in the BNI weekly meet.

The purpose and overview of BNI is to increase business for its members. The primary core
value of BNI is “Givers Gain” so when you give referrals to others they are motivated to give
back to you as well. This presentation process helps each member educates each other about
what they do and the kinds of referrals they want. Referrals are key! Members may get most
of their business from referrals. After all, BNI is about GIVING BUSINESS to its members.

BNI is a coalition of businesses. Each industry is represented by one person. This mutual
support system helps each other increase business by giving each member referrals. BNI® is
a business and professional networking organization that allows one representative from each
classification to join. The sole purpose of the group is to give its members more business. It’s
based on the concept that what goes around comes around. If you give business to me, I will
give business to you.

Giving a presentation at BNI helped me gained confidence at public speaking. It helped me to

get a complete idea of how to make a business presentation and also upskill my presentation
techniques.

PROJECT 3: Developing Business Model for VIKAVA Labs

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After understanding the whole concept of Vikava Labs, I was given a task of making a
business model of how will this platform work. What elements should be there?
Out of my understanding and under the guidance of Mr. Puneet Agarwal we came up with a
model. Then I was assigned a task to create pitch for the designers to onboard them.
I made a presentation for the designers and how they will benefit from this platform. After
onboarding around 50 designers, we planned a next step.
The next move was to make a pitch for our clients that is the brands which will onboard. I
made the presentation for the brands.

LEARNING OUTCOME

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Airlit is one of the most prestigious companies to work with. It has the best atmosphere to
grow and develop. The HR practices of the company are very well compiled. While working
at Airlit as an intern, I gained a lot of practical knowledge. Interactions with my team mentors
about the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats essentially gave quality
information about the industry. Assisting my team helped me understand the buying and
merchandising process in a much better way. I realized that team, along with the design team,
tech team works together in a close network so as to provide the customer with satisfaction.

REFERENCES

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 www.bni.com
 accruemarketing.com
 Airlit.life/instagram

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