Campus Ran, Relaxo Slipped
What It Says About India's Footwear Market
Q4FY25 told us something interesting.
Campus Activewear grew 12% YoY.
Relaxo shrank 7%.
Same quarter. Same category. Wildly different outcomes.
This isn’t just about one brand executing better.
This is about the mass footwear market splitting in two — on strategy, compliance, and execution.
The Delta: What Did Campus Do Right?
1. SKU Velocity
Campus dropped 250+ new styles in FY25.
Sneakers alone grew 150% YoY and now contribute ~8.5% of sales.
This isn’t your old-school “one chappal fits all” strategy — this is design-led merchandising, refreshed at startup speed.
2. Channel Rebuild
Online outright sales went up. Distributor base was rationalized (down to 300–350).
Fewer partners, better alignment, cleaner execution.
Offline expansion continues, but with more control and tighter geographies.
3. BIS Tailwinds
BIS compliance requirements have changed the game.
Cheap imports are down, and non-compliant stock is being painfully liquidated — mostly by slower incumbents.
Campus? Already compliant. Already gaining pricing power.
4. Ops Discipline
Inventory days down. Working capital days cut from 92 → 71.
New SAP system in place. Warehouses consolidated.
This isn’t just retail — this is retail infra being rebuilt under the hood.
Meanwhile, at Relaxo...
Volumes fell 10%. Revenues declined 7%.
Margins got crushed — gross margin contracted by 535bps.
Relaxo, historically a volume play, is now exposed:
High dependency on mass price points
Slower product refresh
Heavier exposure to BIS-driven stock clearance
Weak traction in D2C or premium categories
When the category shifts from cost to compliance + aspiration, legacy scale becomes a drag.
What’s Playing Out at a Market Level?
📈 Design is now a growth lever — not just branding fluff
📦 BIS is acting like a moat — it’s regulatory, expensive, and favors disciplined players
📊 Ops is driving margins — not discounts or sheer volume
🛒 Channel mix matters — especially online, where Campus is winning
The Payoff?
Campus held margins at 17.6% despite higher ad spends.
Guiding for 28% EBITDA CAGR till FY27.
PAT CAGR? 35%.
That’s not normal in a mass-market consumer business.
For New Founders Building in the Space:
Footwear isn’t just about making something people want.
It’s about how fast you can get it to the right shelf — and whether you still make money doing it.
D2C is not a side gig — it’s your margin driver
BIS is not a compliance box — it’s a market reset
SKU planning is not a design team task — it’s a revenue engine
Working capital isn’t boring — it’s your survival rate
The TL;DR?
Mass footwear is no longer about reach.
It’s about retail discipline — across product, ops, and distribution.
👟 Aspiration sells.
🧠 Execution scales.
🧾 Compliance protects.
Till next time, Madhav
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