Some Like It Haute

Once again, Indian designers have demonstrated their obsession with couture, and a distinct reluctance to do pret-a-porter more affordable ready-to-wears. In keeping with this designerwear tradition, all one can pick up for a cool grand in Mosaic, is a printed tie. Needless to add, the lehngas and sherwanis come for nothing less than a lakh. This is a trifle odd considering that the Western fashion industry is replete with Calvin Kleins and Ralph Laurens who have flooded the market with their labels and built mega enterprises.

Indian fashion designers, in contrast, restrict themselves to the narrow top-end, furnishing the wardrobes of societys creme de la creme. Meanwhile, the broad lower-end is flooded with local readymades. The result is a big vacuum in the middle and everyone appears to be ignoring this important segment. What is it that keeps our designers cocooned in their rather self-contained worlds?

 

Any ready-to-wear project requires an investment of at least two to two and a half crore. We simply do not have that kind of money. says Kashyap. David Abraham, a designer who has spent most of his working life outside of India, draws parallels with the West. Overseas, womens and lifestyle magazines are full of Calvin Klein and Donna Karan ads. How often do you see ads of Indian designerwear? An Indian designer cannot even afford to put out a single ad. That says a lot about the health of the industry.

And all this while one thought that designers stepped straight out of the sets of The Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous! Our overheads are huge, when you take into account the costs of travel, design development and so on. Also, my clothes are expensive because I can make only one piece per style. Making five identical garments makes no sense when there are only a couple of retail outlets,

continues Kashyap.

Dearth of outlets is unanimously perceived to be a major bottleneck. After a handful of stores such as Ensemble in Bombay, Ogaan in Delhi and Calcutta, and Ffolio in Bangalore, most designers draw a blank. Stores like Ebony and Big Jos do not relate to designerwear sensibilities, gripes Kashyap. The designers make their collections at huge expenses, which are then kept in stores on a sell or return basis, which inevitably means blocking up a lot of money.

Abraham finds this strange and mystifying, especially in the context of the flourishing industry in the West. He explains, A Spring 97 collection is sent to stores as early as June-July 96. Once the buyers place the orders, the designers are clear about the product profile and plunge into fabric development and manufacturing. Even before Spring is over, work on the Fall Collection begins and the whole cycle starts afresh. Thus, there is an overlap of seasons.

However, designers are quick to point out that this system did not evolve overnight. The pret-a-porter business in Paris had its first flowering in the 60s, when recession hit the European countries. As family coffers began dwindling, women turned towards convenient, yet stylish clothing, minus the earthshattering prices. With the fashion Capital of the world setting a precedent, the rest of the West soon followed.

It was a nexus between designers, the industry and the financial structure, which ensured the success of Armani, Versace etc. Designers themselves are not equipped to be manufacturers. They must have the financial and marketing support, explains Asha Bakshi, head of the fashion design department of the National Institute of Fashion Technology.

Rohit Bal agrees. Calvin Klein makes s***! But he has a great marketing and merchandising team. Who will do it for us? he asks. Designers resent the fact that in India, designing is regarded as an activity completely isolated from the commercial mechanism of the clothing industry. They are rather like a pop phenomenon, under the spotlight for their capability to produce glamorous and provocative images. But companies dont seem to take them seriously enough to commission them for their brands and give them manufacturing support.

This is partly because the concept of readymades, which is only about a decade-old in the country, has not yet caught on completely. KB+Ts debacle with the much hyped ready-to-wear Ferre and Marzotto suits, and the success of Arvind Mills moderately priced unstitched Ruf and Tuf jeans says a lot about consumer preferences. Alternative fashion trends are in a stage of transition. Our mass market is still the sari market over which weavers and mill owners continue to have a hold, feels Bina Ramani, who owns boutiques in the Hauz Khas village, Delhis Mecca for the fashion crazy.

Given these constraints, designers are now beginning to turn towards product diversification for further growth. J J Valaya will shortly open a studio called J J Valaya Life, which will not only retail his clothes and accessories, but also furnishings, tapestries and furniture. Abraham, whose cushions, table linen etc retail at prominent stores in London calls this a smart move. According to him, Lifestyle products are easier to manufacture and sell because the volumes are higher, even if the mark ups are the same as those on garments.

Designers are keen to follow in the footsteps of the premier haute couture houses, which have amassed fortunes by diversifying into all facets of the fashion industry. The statistics are mind-boggling. Christian Dior has over 200 licenses, covering 70 product lines and manufactured in 100 cities; Yves Saint Laurent has a network of 200 stores worldwide; Ralph Lauren has a home collection as big as his menswear, and the fragrance Chanel No 5, introduced in 1921, continues to be a worldwide bestseller.

But being Johnnies-come-lately, our designers still have a long way to go before their toddler trade can blossom into big business.