Designer Tarun Tahiliani takes a decisive dive into pret with OTT

Tarun Tahiliani, celebrated as the master of drape, whose ready-to-wear collection is priced between Rs 50,000 and Rs 17-odd lakh, has now launched an ‘affordable’ range. Branded OTT, the women’s-wear collection, costing Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000, targets a younger consumer.

 

This is not the designer’s first luxury pret outing, though. He first experimented with pret in the early 1990s when he introduced a Bhagalpur cotton series. Then in 2002, he showcased pret at the Milan Fashion Week, and dabbled in it again in 2013 with a Kumbh collection, followed by a Kutch-inspired outing in 2016.

 

However, none of those collections was produced at scale. With OTT, the designer has announced that pret will be a part of his portfolio, which includes ready-to-wear and bridal couture. The new brand, he says, espouses his signature “India modern aesthetic – balancing tradition with contemporary influences”.

   

“I’m not here to make clothes that are not wearable,” says Tahiliani. “Even my couture is wearable”. OTT, he adds, is for a larger audience, with the clothes produced at scale. 

 

OTT is not a wedding-wear brand; “it’s to live your life in”, says the designer. Presented as everyday luxury, it comprises structured drapes, tailored gilets, and dhoti pants. It’s a range that allows for mix and match. Comparatively inclusive, it, however, has sizes only up to XL.

 

The brand is about modern, wearable silhouettes with a palette that draws from urban landscapes and Indian traditions, with soft hues and understated prints. 

 

“Everyone thinks of Indian fashion as colour and embroidery, and while it is that, the main thing is about how people drape fabric,” Tahiliani says. “That’s what I’m bringing to OTT, too.” 

 

After a soft launch at the Lakmé Fashion Week in October, Tahiliani is set to take the brand to the people with five standalone stores. The first one will come up at a mall in Gurugram in the first week of December. Selling from a mall is unusual for Tahiliani, who only sells out of his boutiques, or through multi-designer retailers like Aza Fashions. 

 

He will also open stores at the DLF-Emporio and at a few locations in Mumbai. The goal, he says, is to take the brand global. 

 

Though the apparel market is witnessing a slowdown, Tahiliani is confident that the appetite for luxury fashion is strong.

 

“The market is crowded at the base level with several brands operating in the ethnic-wear segment,” he says. “However, OTT is much more luxurious and more fashionable.” Tahiliani says there are some things he does on an instinct, “like opening Ensemble (India’s first multi-designer retail store, in 1987)”. The market for women’s luxury ready-to-wear, he says, is much bigger than he imagines it to be.

 

For his decisive dive into pret, the designer credits Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL), which owns a 51 per cent stake in Goodview Fashion, the manufacturer and seller of Label Tarun Tahiliani.

 

ABFRL’s stake in his business helped set up Tasva, a brand that changed the men’s wedding wear market. 

 

“We have been focused on couture, but ABFRL does so many things at the same time,” Tahiliani says. “From them, I am learning how to make things at scale, like we do at Tasva.” While OTT is more luxurious than Tasva, he says he has learnt to operate units that produce higher volumes.