Falling Quality. Review on Allen Solly

Allen Solly: Trousers

The international brand from the Coats Viyella portfolio that coined the phrase “Friday Dressing” has made itself one the most sought after brands since its launch in 1993. The genesis of this brand lay in the India that was unfolding in the early 1990’s, which was starved of any real quality offerings in the garment trade especially in the trousers section. Whereas there were some offerings in the ready-mades market in shirts {Double Bull, 7 O’clock, Charag Din etc} there was very little to offer in the trousers market in those early days. It was in this general backdrop that this brand {along with others in the next few years – Louis Philippe, Van Heusen etc} came on to the scene with its Friday Dressing Tagline and made waves.

This review is largely about Allen Solly trousers and their quality aspect from the eyes of a customer who has been exposed to the Brand for almost 8 years. As far as shirts are concerned, I have never worn them- and I very probably never shall.

My personal experience with Allen Solly trousers started with beige colored trousers @ 995/- nearly 8 years ago, and I must say that the trouser in question was indeed top-of-the-class. It has withstood all these years of wear, and pretty demanding wear and tear at that, with me being in sales for the past 9 years. It retained its newness for quite a long time – so much so that I still occasionally wear this trouser on casual visits outside home!

During those days, the colours that Allen Solly introduced were indeed different from what was usually on offer in fabrics, while cotton fabrics were simply not as good as the ones sported by Allen Solly. Comparable quality or choice was not on offer by any competing brand either, and that made the offering very juicy indeed. This helped the brand grow!

But over the past 2 – 3 particularly, my experience with this brand has been steadily declining. So much so that now I have shifted allegiance entirely to Peter England for both premium {their Zero Iron series} as well as daily office wear {Satin Touch} requirements. This happened slowly over the past 1 – 2 years, and in fact, nowadays I have even stopped purchasing Allen Solly! My last trouser was purchased almost 2 years ago…

This has come about largely because of 2 reasons. Firstly, at Rs. 1300 – 1500, the quality I am getting has not proven itself to be demonstrably superior to the 795 – 895 range of other brands. I can get the same finish, fall, longevity, comparable fabric at lower prices elsewhere. This is a major change from earlier – I did not mind spending the extra cash since I was getting a product that was a cut above. While the price increased from 995 to around 1300 – 1500 over a 7-year period, the quality parameter has steadily gone down. Now-a-days, Allen Solly does not retain their crease all day even if I am in the office sitting on a seat. This is most unlike my 2000 purchases, which still have crease retention! And please don’t say inflation: if you take average 6% inflation and apply future value of money concepts, you get a rate of 1496/-! So the rate is the same as it has been – but the quality of fabric used has gone down

Secondly, the colour choice is now available widely across many brands, which means that differentiator is also not present. The consumer has a multitude of choices available to him / her, and on that point I am satisfied by other brands!

With the exponential growth in our markets, the consumer has been spoilt for choice, putting pressure on top brands of yester-years. The scenario has changed a good deal. Now, there are a good many offerings in the same positioning space as Allen Solly, as well as the space one step below it, and above it! As an example, Color Plus has placed itself firmly in the Premium / Super Premium segment, while Peter England has entrenched itself in the Value for Money segment. There are others as well – Van Heusen, Louise Philippe, Scullers, Park Avenue, Zodiac… {not being a textile person, I can’t think of many more. But all of us know that now there are plenty of garment brands!}

Since a better option is available, I have given a NO opinion for this brand… you can get similar products at both similar as well as lower rates elsewhere. Try them as well and compare for yourself… as I did this past year-and-a-half!