Outsourced apparel design is newest trend

A Bangalore firm is breaking new ground in outsourcing by setting up an apparel design centre for the multi-billion dollar global apparel industry.

Munch Design Workshop is the first design outsourcing firm in Bangalore which encompasses the entire design supply chain from trend forecasting like predicting what lies ahead for a season, to apparel design, textile design, graphic design, accessory design and packaging design.

As consumer awareness grows, the design element is gaining precedence and outsourcing the designing to niche service providers is becoming imperative. The increasing importance of design has led to the setting up of design management firms who design garments for various apparel industries.

The comprehensive design-outsourcing model offers immense value for garment companies as they can have a strategic partner in their effort to understand the changing consumer and come up with newer designs. The core competence of the company will be "marketing and retailing", while designing will be "outsourced" to design management team.

Karunesh Vohra, principal designer and CEO of Munch Design Workshop says that "this is a new trend". Design management is a niche sector and the increasing importance of design has led to setting up of design management firms.

"A key driver of the trend is the emergence of design as the differentiator in the market place through the increasing awareness of the consumer who seeks more value at a cost," he said.

He added that large brands can afford to set up in-house design centre but most brands do not have the bandwidth to do so with other important aspects of running the business like marketing, expansion to attend. Hence outsourcing to a specialised player becomes a natural imperative.

Even for large brands, through outsourcing, the task of designing to a design management team it gain fresh insights to latest designs. International firms outsource designing task to India because of the cheaper labour costs.

Though at present there is a shortage of design managers, Vohra said that it would pick up as the trend for outsourcing increases.

Munch Design Workshop is a new venture by its Mumbai based parent, the Phul Chand group, which has been in the apparel business through its Bangalore based company Prateek Apparels.