Trouser Manufacturers get Clever (eNidhi India Research Article !)

In this post I'll show some simple tricks adopted by trouser manufacturers which make alterations impossible so as to ensure higher sales.

Before buying anything we look for durability. We try to assess how long we can use it. (Be it a footwear, mixer grinder or a trouser, we don’t usually throw it away on the first instance it stops working/develops a problem- we try to get it repaired and use for some more time.)

Talking in specific about trousers, (informally known as Pants) Indian men usually use dress materials for years. If it doesn’t fit anymore, we try to take it to the tailor and try to make some alteration so that it can be used for some more time. For that to happen there has to be some provision in trousers which will facilitate the alteration (read: increasing waist size, length etc).

But obviously it is not in the interest of apparel manufacturers that we use their product for several years. They want us to throw the old one as early as possible and buy new one. How do they ensure that? Simple-ensure that the trouser can’t be altered

See the images below:

The brown coloured one is a tailor designed one. Observe the circled space-you see some extra cloth material. This extra cloth has a purpose-Suppose you want to increase the waist size of your trouser tomorrow, your tailor can remove the stitches and re-stitch the trouser for a higher perimeter (by pushing the extra cloth outward)

Now see the white trouser below, which is a branded one (RUGGER).

If you notice here, there’s no extra piece of cloth. There’s no way you can increase the waist size when your belly outperforms rest of your body in growth…:)

Also observe the front button:

The extended portion gives a provision that the hook/button underneath can be repositioned such that perimeter increases increasing the waist size.

But most of the branded trousers won’t give that provision at all, again prohibiting any alteration of increasing waist size.

Another factor is length of the trousers, which should be flexible enough, but the tailor at the shop often chops off the extra cloth instead of folding it inwards…

I checked several brands for above parameters- Most of them were not flexible enough to facilitate alterations. But few brands such as Louis Phillipe, Van Hussein and few variants of Arrow were an exception.

Also read: Supermarket Super savings- a word of caution

Mginger Feasibility Study | An analysis of Dell's Business Model

Share this post