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Fashioning the future... and how!
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With fashion extravaganzas happening every other day now, one wonders how much these shows decide fashion in Indian retailing. Players in the domestic retail market deliberate on the future of fashion and concur that the trend has begun. <145,4> SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY reports from Mumbai... .
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An interactive session at the first-ever held Images Fashion Forum in Mumbai this past week.
FASHION SHOWS are no more aberrations in Indian metros. Designers flashing their seasonal collections across newspapers, magazines and TV slots make interesting colourful picture stories. But, one wonders whether these shows and collections dictate the fashion preferences of the majority of Indian customers, whether Indian masses truly value fashion and are willing to pay for it. You would say, designer wear is selling, but how big? Most of us buy our clothes from retailers and so, the question is, is fashion trickling into retailing in India? Players in the domestic retailing market say, yes - a gradual, chequered beginning is on the go but the journey no doubt has begun.
"To speak about the future of fashion in Indian retailing, one has to see whether there is a present. I would say there is. Unlike in the `80s, the buying behaviour of Indian customers is changing," says Arvind Singhal, Chairman, Technopak. Singhal, who deliberated on the topic along with a roomful of retail industrialists at a seminar held as part of the two-day Images Fashion Forum in Mumbai this past week. He says the common Indian with a bit of money power these days is willing to pay a certain premium to gain "quality, design and contemporary elements".
"Look at any consumer sector these days, the products which are selling are not the cheapest. It shows the customers are voting fashion with their wallets."
Quoting a survey, he says, in the early `80s, only pricing mattered to the customers, which changed into stress on both pricing and quality in the mid-80s. In the `90s, along with quality and price became entangled a wide range of products and less time consuming shopping.
"In the last year, the buying trend besides quality, pricing and time management was the ease of purchasing such as less stressful shopping with enough car parking space and other amenities," says Singhal.
Kishore Viyani of Pantaloon Retailing Limited agrees but wants to add that though retailers in India are ready to market fashion among the customers, the suppliers are not yet geared up. "The country has the world's largest youngest population in the world. Fashion is bound to sell. But fashion makers are not yet ready to produce in bulk. Just one fashion show has limited designs," he opines.
Simone Tata of Trent Limited, the owners of the Westside stores, says fashion has to move out of the concept that it is the reserve of few. "It can not be churned out by a few. It has to outgo its image on the ramp. It has to be wearable, watchable. And, that's what we are trying to do in our stores and it is clicking. People these days want to wear well and look good".
However, an interesting point, which remains the focal point in the marriage between fashion and retailing in Indian market is still the individual choice and lookout. B.S. Nagesh of retail chain Shoppers' Stop, highlighting it, laced with a personal story, says, "Once in a seminar, I thought of dressing fashionably right and so went with a broad striped tie which is in vogue these days. Soon, one commented on how ugly it is looking, one labelling me as the worst dressed CEO ever and one saying, Wow! You look great and fashionable," adding, "You all will agree that fashion in India is purely what the customer perceives it".
But well-known fashion designer and perhaps the only person from his brigade so far to jump into retailing some good ten years ago, has another problem to highlight to the retailers. "The stores selling the wares of fashion designers should at least have some mechanism to highlight the products to generate customer interest. But, most do not do. So, a customer does not know where to look for designer wear. This has to change".
However, all agree that in the next few years, the customer bracket to look for is between 20 and 44 age, which has the much-needed money power.
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