An elegant confluence of heritage, modernity & sustainability

Ethnix is Raymond’s youth-centred traditional wear brand that caters to customers aged 25 to 35 years. The brand offers a wide range of ethnic wears including kurtas, sherwanis, bundis, and bandhgalas and uses a number of handloom textile traditions in its designs, including Ikat and Kalamkari weaves. 

The idea behind the store design was thus to extend the focus on Indian textile heritage to the store space. As Sudhir Soundalgekar, Director - Projects at Raymond, says while talking about the approach to design, “Ethnix was inspired from Indian heritage forms. The same language had to reflect in the store design with uniqueness and style. Though it is a men’s ethnic wear brand, the design was meant to highlight Indian art, culture and heritage, while speaking a contemporary language. The design was accomplished after an in-depth understanding of business objectives, market place dynamics and competitors and played a very crucial role in creating a strong brand expression”

Store Design - a break from conventional approach

Well, the store speaks innovation right from its architecture, design and visual merchandising to the hospitality offered in-store and of course the ethnic wear range, which is different from what is usually seen in this category. As Sudhir says, “The retail experience at Ethnix has been crafted by articulating the brand personality - elegant and sophisticated, young and contemporary, Indian at heart, masculine but not overtly so. These characteristics demanded extensive research in terms of the choice of materials, forms, colour palette and textures. It resulted in an amalgamation of the old and new, of fuss-free forms and controlled use of metallic elements and of straight and curved lines.”

Also, given the brand personality, the store ambience needed to have warm lighting, fixture designs that complement art forms, unique flooring pattern, cosy lounge area, easily accessible accessory section, creatively designed ceiling and partition patterns which make the customer feel comfortable shopping. And as Sudhir informs, the design is also totally flexible and adaptable to any store shape and size.

Read the detailed report on the design of the Raymond’s Ethnix store in February 2020 edition of VM&RD magazine.