In conversation with Adgully, Vishesh Verma, Group Head – Corporate Communications, Arvind Mafatlal Group, discusses how Mafatlal Industries is leveraging its textile legacy to stay relevant to evolving consumer expectations. He shares insights into the company’s marketing strategy, changing industry trends, digital engagement, festive season opportunities and the growing importance of quality, design and value. Verma also highlights the brand’s approach to connecting with younger consumers, strengthening its institutional uniforms business and exploring new growth opportunities while staying rooted in its legacy of trust and reliability.
How has Mafatlal Industries’ marketing strategy evolved to stay relevant to today’s Indian consumer while retaining its textile legacy?
Most Indians first met Mafatlal through something they wore. A school uniform, an office shirt, a length of suiting bought for a family wedding. For a marketing team, that recall is an unusual asset. It is awareness we did not have to buy, built over more than a century by the product itself.Uniforms remain the heart of our business. Our MD & CEO, Priyavrata Mafatlal, describes the company’s purpose as serving the institutions that build India: its schools, hospitals, workplaces and public services. That idea now shapes our marketing. Around uniforms, Mafatlal Industries has built businesses spanning textiles, health and hygiene, consumer durables and digital infrastructure, and each one serves the same kind of customer. Our job in communications is to help those institutions understand what we can deliver for them.Uniforms also bring a marketing challenge few categories share. The person who pays is rarely the person who wears. The institution needs uniforms that meet its specifications, fit consistently and arrive on time. The wearer needs comfort at four in the afternoon. If the wearer is unhappy, the buyer hears about it, so the wearer’s experience is our most important piece of marketing.Recall is where we start. Everything after that is earned by the product.What key consumer trends are shaping the textile and apparel industry, and how is Mafatlal Industries responding?Buyers of every kind now research before they commit. A parent compares uniform fabrics online. A hospital procurement team wants certifications on file before the first meeting. For us, a spec sheet or a product page is now as much a marketing asset as a campaign.Comfort expectations have risen, and institutional buyers increasingly ask about traceability and responsible sourcing. Policy is adding momentum, from the 2025 GST rationalisation to the government’s US$350 billion target for the sector by 2030. As a company, we believe Indian manufacturing earns its place through execution, and these shifts are a test of exactly that.Our response begins with uniforms. We have dedicated propositions for schools, corporates, healthcare, hospitality and industry. Each is backed by in-house design, sourcing, branding and fulfilment, and by certifications such as OEKO-TEX, GOTS and GRS that buyers can verify. Much of this comes from close work between our marketing, sales and product teams. The questions a sales manager hears in a principal’s office often make our best brief.How does Mafatlal Industries balance its heritage with the need to build a contemporary, aspirational brand?Inside the company, we see longevity as something we have to keep earning. A company does not last 120 years by protecting its past. It lasts by staying useful to the people who depend on it. That belief guides how we use our history in communication: with restraint, and mostly as a promise of reliability.We also define aspiration more widely than fashion. For a student, it is the pride of wearing the school crest. For a nurse on a long shift, it is comfort that lets her focus on the patient. For a household, it is linen that lasts. These quieter aspirations are the ones we are best placed to serve.Brand architecture does the practical work. Mafatlal holds the trust as the masterbrand. Mafatlal Home Fashion and MedFits by Mafatlal speak to their audiences with their own design language and digital presence, which lets them move at the speed a consumer brand needs.What role do digital platforms, social media and new consumer engagement channels play in Mafatlal Industries’ strategy?For most customers, institutional or individual, the journey now starts on a screen. Mafatlal Home Fashion is present on Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and Meesho, and in July 2026 we launched its own D2C platform with more than 400 products. The MedFits by Mafatlal website went live earlier this year. Our own platforms work like a research lab that runs every day. What people search for, reorder and write in reviews shapes our assortment and our creative.On the corporate side, we have learnt that people trust people more than logos. Priyavrata’s own LinkedIn posts, often written from the shop floor, have frequently done more to explain what Mafatlal stands for than our planned campaigns. One of the most widely read was about a handwritten workaround note found on a factory machine. That has shaped how we tell the company’s story, staying close to the factory and to the people who make things work.Our content, social, performance and corporate communication teams plan together, so every platform speaks in one voice.What opportunities does the festive season present for the textile industry, and how should brands approach festive marketing?For home textiles, it is the most important stretch of the year. Families refresh bedding before guests arrive, winter lifts demand for dohars and comforters, and corporate gifting turns a company’s festive gesture into something used at home every day.For our uniforms business, though, the season that matters most is not Diwali. It is the weeks before schools reopen. Planning around two very different peaks has taught us to follow the customer’s calendar.The festive season now starts earlier and runs longer, so it rewards planning across the whole journey, from discovery to delivery. A gift that arrives on time and exactly as promised does a great deal for a brand. That only happens when marketing, supply chain and customer service plan the season together.How are changing festive shopping habits, particularly among younger consumers, influencing marketing and communication?India’s Gen Z, estimated at around 377 million people, influences a significant share of consumer spending. They discover through reels and creators, then check reviews, compare prices and ask friends before deciding. They value transparency, and quick commerce has raised their expectations of speed.That shifts marketing towards usefulness. A short video showing how a fabric feels after a wash often does more work than a large campaign. Creators with genuine expertise in home or style make a recommendation feel earned.Mafatlal has a particular head start here. Many young Indians may have worn our fabric to school without knowing it, and many more know the name from their parents. Our task is to reintroduce Mafatlal where they are and let the product confirm what their families already knew.In a competitive market, how does Mafatlal Industries differentiate itself on quality, design and value?Our differentiation is clearest in uniforms, where quality means consistency. The thousandth garment, and the reorder six months later, must match the first. That rests on more than 120 years of textile expertise, our manufacturing at Nadiad and certifications including ISO 9001, OEKO-TEX, GOTS, GRS and ISO 13485.Design starts with the wearer and the setting. A hospitality or corporate uniform carries the client’s brand in front of its customers, so our teams work closely with clients on colour, fit and identity. With design, sourcing, branding and fulfilment under one roof, an institution works with one partner for the whole job. Our asset-light model, with more than 1,000 dealers and distributors across 25+ states, lets us deliver at scale while staying competitive.In marketing, specificity persuades. A delivery commitment kept says more than any claim.Looking ahead, what are Mafatlal Industries’ key marketing priorities and growth opportunities?Uniforms will remain the heart of the business, and strengthening them is our first marketing priority. Every new school, hospital and formal workplace in India needs uniforms, and we see our role as dressing those institutions with consistency and care. Trade agreements such as the India-UK CETA and the India-EU FTA also open international opportunities, which we are approaching market by market, beginning with our presence at LATAMTEX in Brazil.FY26 was the strongest year in Mafatlal Industries’ history. In communications, the task now is to explain that growth clearly. A medical apparel brand, a home textiles label and a digital classroom provider can look like separate companies. What links them to uniforms is a focus on institutions and a discipline of execution.None of this belongs to one function. Our marketing, communications, sales, product and manufacturing teams work far more closely than before, and some of our best ideas come from outside marketing, including the shop floor at Nadiad. That is fitting for a company whose MD & CEO learnt the business on the shop floor.Anyone who has worked in marketing knows how tempting it is to chase impressions. For a company with our history, the question that matters is a simpler one: will the customer return?
