Gramophone In Parleys For Mega-Movie Deals

We still seem to have a white hang up. Our industrialists spend crores of rupees to bring in some vague brand of shirts. Look at Madura Coats and the Singhanias. Who's heard of Louis Feraud here? I don't understand why the Indian business houses can't put the same trust in us" _ fashion designer Rohit Bal.

"We have only seen our designers making wedding trousseaus and cocktail wear. How do we know they can make a quality, mass-market ready-to-wear apparel brand?" _ a garment exporter.

"We are willing to buy from you but you should display some amount of professionalism, meet deadlines, have the courtesy to return phone calls" _ Pooja Singhania, business development manager for Ffolio, a Chennai-based garment retailer.

This is a sampling of the exchange that took place when industry and the bratpack of the Indian fashion world met at a seminar organised by Ficci in Delhi last week. They traded insults and complained about each other but in the end promised to work together. The designers pledged themselves to create a viable, mass-market, ready-to-wear brand while industry promised to support them in their endeavour. K G Denims' Badal Chaudhary went so far as to promise the earth to the designers _ "You can take our manufacturing units, our managerial strength, our R&D labs, our retail network, raw materials _ we have 300 varieties of denim _ and use them to create a brand." "Where can we meet," queried Ritu Beri. "Over lunch, as soon as the session is over," shot back Chaudhary.

It was the idea of L Saptarishi, the executive director of NIFT, who harangued old friend Ficci president Sudhir Jalan into organising the event. Textile secretary Shyamal Ghosh and joint secretary N Ramakrishnan represented the government while business houses sent their representatives.

"We are here to discuss the good, the bad and the woes of the fashion industry," said Suneet Verma.

"If the film world can be granted industry status, then why not the fashion world," asked Amit Mitra, secretary general, Ficci. "It is to this end that we have set up the Fashion Design Council of India," said Sumit Nayyar, head of Black and White, an apparel concern and designer Geetanjali Kashyap's husband, unveiling the forum's logo. The FDCI was set up in December to provide a platform for the designers and help them link up with the corporate sector. They propose to go on a membership drive this month and on the agen