Himalayan News Service

New Delhi, April 18:

This year, even as Indian designers try to take their styles to the world, they are more aware than ever before of the multi-million dollar opportunities of a booming market at home. By 2006-07, around 50 million sq ft of retail space would be available for grabs across the country — more than half of this is expected to be filled by fashion and lifestyle goods, which are the fastest moving in the segment. Domestic demand will get greater emphasis than ever before at the Lakme India Fashion Week that begins on Wednesday, with big national players like Shoppers Stop and Pantaloon aiming at doing mass market lines with big name designers.

The fashion segment has a potential of drawing $4.5 billion in retail sales in coming years. For the designers, this is a boon.

The latest buzzword in fashion in the country is corporatisation, which means a tie-up between a designer and a retail and manufacturing giant. This allows designers to concentrate in what they do best — design, with manufacturing, sales and marketing being handled by the other partner. Tie-ups like these also help the country’s fledging designers get the financial backing required for the spread of business. “It gives a great freedom,” said Raghavendra Rathore, who has tied up with mall major Shoppers Stop. Rathore’s mass label, Kasbah, is now sold from around a dozen Shoppers Stop outlets around the country. “Such tie-ups work wonderfully for the designer who gets all the necessary push to promote his work and since this is about the mass market and about volume sales, it needs big financial backing which the corporate houses bring,” Rathore said.

According to the industry magazine Images, India would have around 35 hypermarkets, 325 large department stores, 1,500 supermarkets and more than 10,000 exclusive retail showrooms that need to buy or lease space in over 300 malls in the next few years. The demand for apparel and fashion brands is stronger than ever before and provides a never-before opportunity for the country’s nascent fashion industry estimated at around $50-60 million. This boost, along with more exposure abroad, would take the industry to $225 million, according to the apex Fashion Design Council of India. Clothes and textiles constitute the largest block in organised retail, accounting — with jewellery, watches and other lifestyle elements — for around 60 per cent of the market. Around 90 per cent of sales at the Westside chain of malls, for instance, come from clothing. With fashion around the world concentrating mainly on prêt-a-porter or ready-to-wear, the retail space boom means greater demand for strong fashion and lifestyle brands that can play the volume game with higher sales of low priced items. “As you go up the fashion ladder, you must play at several levels,” said young designer Sonali Mansingka, “The retailers are looking for smart, trendy ready-to-wear which move fast and yet have something special - that designer touch. It’s a win-win situation all around.”