Linen's lib

RETAIL: Bombay Dyeing has Sabyasachi designing some exquisite bed and bath offerings.

It's a mutually profitable alliance, if there ever was one. For the 127-year-old Bombay Dyeing, a design union with designer Sabyasachi means progressing in customer perception from middle-class staple to fashion label.

For Sabyasachi, it's the ultimate exercise in democratic pret, without the financial gamble, and a royalty fee arrangement thrown in for good measure.

For the last six months, Bombay Dyeing and Sabyasachi have been crafting a whole new look for the company's new designer bed and bath range, in a bid to infuse the brand with some of the frenzied fascination that Indian fashion is becoming the target of.

"This is a breakthrough for the Indian consumer," says Sabyasachi, "because why should aesthetics be kept away from functionality?"

By way of prices, the new range begins at Rs 180 for a towel, and goes up to Rs 2,250 for a set of bed linen. "It's been priced very competitively," says Arun Bhawsingka, head, domestic business, Bombay Dyeing.

"The way the consumer sees it, it's a designer product at just Rs 180," adds the designer, "it's a psychological high." A high that could elicit sustained brand loyalty, in a sort of pact of mutual understanding (vis-a-vis the finer aspects of design).

Sabyasachi, who experimented with home furnishings before he found his niche in designer apparel, says that he looked to different cultures for cues. So there are splashes of batik from Indonesia, tribal symbols from Africa and tile patterns from Morocco "" "mix and match, modern kitsch".

"It's the kind of bedsheet that doesn't need to be hidden under a bedspread," he elaborates. And these patterns will be replicated in his New York fashion week showing next month. "Consumers can rid themseves of the complex that products reach Indian shores only after doing their rounds of Western markets," he laughs.

The association might be extended to new product offerings, according to Bhawsingka, and design turnarounds will occur every six months.

Indian and international sales make up the company's 2005-06 textile business revenues of Rs 375 crore in a ratio of 1:1, and the Sabyasachi products would be exported too. Assuming, of course, a positive consumer response.

For a start, 10,000 pieces of the collection will be distributed across 450 of Bombay Dyeing's retail stores and assorted multi-brand outlets.

The company's choice of Sabyasachi is prudent. He is currently one of India's most talked-about young designers. His unique fashion sense justifies the Rs 2-crore odd that Bombay Dyeing has invested in the project "" mostly in advertising.