Are there enough takers for Indian fashion?

DEBATE

Back-to-back Lakme and Wills fashion weeks got a lot of coverage, and crowds, but the sustained presence of global buyers is the real test.

SUNIL SETHI,
CEO, Alliance Merchandising

It is not just the number of foreign buyers that is growing, their seriousness about Indian fashion is also increasing

India has been the flavour internationally for the past couple of years now. It is not just the number of foreign buyers that is growing, but what is also increasing is their seriousness about Indian fashion. Business is no longer limited to someone placing an order for 20 pieces; this is serious money that we are putting in.

The trend started a couple of years ago. For instance, I remember that four years ago, one of our buyers in Italy spotted a Rina Dhaka product at a London store and picked it up. They then asked us whether we would be able to supply this to them on a larger scale. So, you can't just gauge international interest in Indian fashion business from the number of representatives who are turning up at the fashion weeks. Within this year, we alone will be giving a combined business of Rs 4-5 crore to designers under the FDCI umbrella. This would include business to people who are doing accessories such as Aamrapali.

Apart from Europe where we have been working for some time, our strategy now is to focus on virgin markets "" places that are unexposed to top-end Indian fashion but where there could be a great demand for Indian work, embellishments and craft. We are looking at places such as Israel, Thailand and Russia since there is a great demand for our designer products there and, yes, there is enough money in these markets. The Russian market, for instance, is flooded with oil money at the moment and there is a great opportunity for our designers there. We are taking people like Tarun Tahiliani, Rohit Bal, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Rana Gill, Rina Dhaka and J J Valaya to Tsum in Moscow. We have also already picked up a small order from Samant Chauhan, a NIIFT graduate.

We are constantly asked why it (international business) is not happening on a large scale. You have to start somewhere and that's what we've done. We have taken the first step but the acceptability of Indian fashion internationally will depend on many other things. The creativity is there but much else needs to be worked on "" pricing and product quality, for instance. Orders have been rejected and that creates a bad impression; production facilities too need to catch up. You might say that not enough (foreign) buyers come to the fashion week, but where is the infrastructure to accommodate them? The stalls are so small... the number of seats made available for these buyers is limited, if more of them come how will you manage them?

PRADEEP HIRANI,
CEO, Kimaya

The fashion week's been around for six years but which foreign buyers, including those flown in, have come back more than twice?

Fashion is a sunrise industry in India today and there is potential for 200 per cent growth. There are enough designers today but where is the infrastructure to service the buyers? Creativity, after all, is not all "" it must be channelised and there have to be both the means and the will to grow into a serious business. It is not enough to have designers "" you need to look into production, distribution, packaging, everything. Designers need to adhere to a timeframe, too. Earlier, we lost a lot of business because of this, but from this year onwards we have a clause on the order form where we charge 1 per cent penalty for every day if the order is late by more than 10 days.

Today, there are enough takers for anything Indian and there is a lot of attention on international buyers. The fashion week has now been around for six years but tell me, which international buyers, including those that are flown in "" yes, that happens "" have come back more than twice? Selfridges was here for two years but did they come back this year? On the other hand, we (Kimaya) are three years old and have been present at the fashion week for all three years. We have spent about Rs 18-20 crore on both fashion weeks. There is a lot of demand for Indian fashion within the country itself, even though I would say that the fashion market in India is primarily Delhi and Mumbai, with some parts of northern India "" places like Ludhiana and Chandigarh "" that have potential. People in the south have a lot of money, but because of cultural predisposition, they don't prefer to invest in fashion where the value of the product, after all, depreciates. Even if the media attention is on international buyers and many people are here (at the fashion week) just to look at the models"" it's becomes a carnival"" for us it is serious business. We, after all, have as many as 82 designers on board and account for 75-80 per cent of the market.

The real growth in the Indian fashion industry will come through pret. But for that you need to expand on your production capacities. Indian designers need to go mass. Their talent, thus, needs to be channelised. But right now they still have to get up to the mark. Look at the fashion week itself "" we are marketing it on international lines but even the basics are missing"" there are no cue sheets, and there are no look books either. Very few designers have bothered with these.