Consumer durables major Usha International is now seeing a rise in interest among youngsters to buy sewing machines. This includes children as young as the 8-14 years age group.
The company has also made available a series of products including the Barbie-themed sewing machine priced at Rs 12,500, Usha Quilt Magic at Rs 49,000 and Usha Mystique at Rs 20,000 among others.
In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Parveen Kumarr Sahni, Senior Vice-President, Sewing Machines Business, Usha International said earlier there were individuals buying sewing machines only for utility purposes.
“Over the last one year we are seeing even children as young as 8 years getting interested in sewing. Being at home for longer hours also means that children explore new hobbies like sewing. We have also noticed that our products are being used by these youngsters to create personalised gifts like bookmarks and sling bags,” he added.
In India, about 4.8 million sewing machines were sold in 2020-21 including organised and unorganised segments. Here, about 4.4-4.5 million machines are industrial and straight stitch machines while the rest are automatic zigzag machines.
Usha has over 65 percent market share in the automatic zigzag machines’ category, said Sahni.
“We have seen a 10 percent plus growth in FY21 driven by new hobby-led entrants purchasing sewing machines,” he added.
Usha, Singer and Brother are among the leading players in the sewing machine market in India. The sewing machine industry in the country is estimated to be Rs 1,000 crore.
Sahni explained that there is a shift to the organised sector by customers especially during the pandemic as DIY and hobby culture became more prominent.
Among young children, he said that the product push is also being driven by parents who want to reduce the screen time.
"The screen time has increased a lot with kids being exposed to mobiles and other screens, our sewing machines is one such gadget/device which kids or parents are exploring for their kids to decrease the screen time and inculcate a creative hobby," he added.
Over and above 8-14 year-olds, Sahni said that another rising customer segment is college girls at the age group of 21-22 years.
"These young women are exploring it from a perspective of creative stuff for submissions, hobby, craft and fashion," he added.
Sahni explained that Usha Memory Craft is the range of machines for quilting and embroidery and that the brand has expanded this range.
"Some of the models are iPad enabled and to further enhance the creativity, and efficiency these machines come with an embroidery designing software – the Artistic Digitizer that simplifies the digitization of images as well as doing the specialized embroidery work. The software can be used in both Windows and Mac systems," he said.
An allied focus is also on building a budding entrepreneur community, according to him. For this, Usha has close to 300 demonstrators and promoters across pan India who help customers in using the machines.