NIFT to design workwear for corporates

In a move that might bring some relief to employees bored with their drab work clothes, the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Gandhinagar, is following the footsteps of its centres in Delhi and Mumbai in making its presence felt in the untapped sector of customised designing of uniforms for corporates in Gujarat.

NIFT, which is on a drive to introduce innovative activities for faculty and students this year, has undertaken a project to design uniforms for over 200 employees of the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC).

For this, the institute is currently doing a research on company's work environment.

"Customised designing of corporate work wear is completely unexplored in Gujarat. While the bigger business houses of the country are serious about who designs their employees' uniform and attach their brand value to it, such an approach has so far not gained currency in the state. However, considering the presence of pan India corporates in the state, customised design is topmost in our plans to showcase in-house designing talents, " said Vishal Gupta, associate professor and co-ordinator of the Fashion, Lifestyle and Accessories department.

Typically, researching an organisation takes the institute around 4-6 months following which NIFT holds discussions with the business house and finalises a framework for designs. Although customised corporate designs fall under the purview of the faculty, students across various disciplines are encouraged to give their inputs and co-ordinate for resources and accessories, said Gupta.

The prospect has evoked a lot of interest in corporates from Gujarat with many of them consulting the designers and mulling introduction of a new designer work code for their white and blue collar workers, he added.

For customised design, NIFT would be procuring materials from weavers of traditional and exquisite fabrics and designing them according to the requirements of the company.

NIFT began its foray into customised design for corporate work wear as a pilot project last year and worked on four projects.

The institute had earlier designed corporate uniforms for 45,000 employees at the Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB), for GAIL and Paradip Port Trust, Orissa among others.

NIFT's metro centres have earlier styled the uniforms for the staff of the Archaeological Survey of India, postal and telecom departments, CNG stations of India and the Delhi Metro Rail project, to name a few.