Teens Lifestyle: Three Generations of Innerwear Business

About this episode

In this episode of The eCom Show, host Shan A Salam sits down with Mohammed Shabin Raza, Executive Director of Teens Lifestyle, to discuss the evolution of his family textile business into a modern omnichannel innerwear brand. Tracing the company roots back to a local textile shop started in 1956, Shabin details how his father launched the kids brand Indcare Bubs in 1999 and subsequently pivoted to women's innerwear under the Teens brand in 2005. Shabin explains how the business scaled from slips and camisoles to complex molded brassieres and panties, requiring deep technical knowledge of fabrics, components, and fit. He also details the operational shift from founder-dependent management to structured corporate departments in 2015. Shabin shares practical lessons on managing offline distribution across thousands of retail stores, optimising an online D2C store on Shopify, treating digital ads as a brand-building distribution expense, and orchestrating early international expansion into the UAE and the UK.

Key takeaways

1. 1Undergarment brands enjoy high customer lifetime value because buyers rarely switch once they find comfortable fit and sizing.
2. 2Scaling past early revenue plateaus requires dividing founder-run tasks into distinct departments like production, sales, marketing, and accounts.
3. 3Complex manufacturing with dozens of components demands strict nomination of raw material vendors to maintain consistent fabric and elastic standards.
4. 4D2C websites often serve as discovery and trust engines that drive significant offline store walk-ins and purchases.
5. 5Heavy discounting can harm profitability and brand perception in essential innerwear categories where pricing must remain consistent across channels.
6. 6Entering quick commerce with high-SKU apparel categories is difficult due to dark store space limitations and uneven size variant velocities.

Chapters

1. 00:00Highlights
2. 02:12Introduction to the brand “Teens Lifestyle,” led by the third-generation entrepreneur Shabin.
3. 04:12Father’s initiation of a kids’ brand “Indcare Bus” in 1999.
4. 07:12Pivot to ladies’ camisoles under the brand “Teens” starting in 2005.
5. 10:42Shabin’s education and joining the family business in 2022.
6. 14:12Fabric production and dyeing challenges explained.
7. 17:12Organizational changes in 2015 with creation of departments and hiring skilled staff.
8. 19:42Launch of panties and bras post-2017, expanding product range.
9. 22:12Market preference shift to knitted molded bras over woven cotton.
10. 25:42Product complexity in sizes and fittings discussed.
11. 28:12Customer education on product types and usage.
12. 34:12Emphasis on quality and comfort as key to customer retention.
13. 37:12Marketing and sales strategy focusing on direct shop engagement.
14. 42:12Early challenges with e-commerce platforms; later Shopify adoption.
15. 50:53Expansion into multiple online marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart.
16. 54:12Online vs offline sales dynamics and profitability considerations.
17. 01:04:39Long term game
18. 01:17:12Omni-channel approach.
19. 01:25:54Summary of long-term business vision, emphasizing steady growth and system building.