Does this header sound far-fetched? Is the first question in the introduction above a pipe dream? Questions, questions, questions. Answers are there, but caught in the dreams that design a designer's world.
Much is being said about the retail revolution – ongoing, at the threshold, to gain momentum… the industry is yet to decide as voices soft and sure emerge. What is missed out in the big story are the little stories that creep along at a snail's pace on a firm path. IMAGES BoF has been thinking of putting this story to paper for more than a year now but the scepticism had us believe we should give some more time for the idea to catch on. Some people already were at it. Some were still toying with the idea. Many were, and still are sceptical about the very idea.
But, can India really design for the world? From fabricators to designers? Fabricators there have been plenty what with the country emerging as a strong outsourcing hub for most international names, be it a Benetton or Gap. What has gradually changed over the years is that most exporters have ceased to remain mere fabricators. The brief is there from the client but there is a lot more design input going on from here, often the entire storyboard being developed and implemented right here.
Is that all to design? What about design at corporate houses? Is creativity and design given its due in the apparel industry? We spoke to a whole lot of designers at the best corporate houses today over this last year or so and many did not wish to be quoted. Many have since changed the company where they were working. Some names have been quoted and many other quotes attributed to the design fraternity. Nonetheless, the unanimous response was that although corporate houses do not grant a designer name and fame, for the brand they design for speaks for itself, what they do get very early on in their careers is the international exposure that is so crucial to help designers broaden their outlook and understand how international systems work.
What are the factors that play in a mind when a designer subsumes his/her ego to the brand in a corporate house? Is there a degree of frustration in not being able to see one's name etched across one's creation? Do designer's in corporate houses feel the creative satisafaction that a creative person must feel to be able to create more? Do freshers feel equipped enough?
India designs
But, the first question first. Can India design for the world? Yes, says a vehement Karunesh Vohra of Munch Design Workshop, a leading design outsourcing company based in Bangalore, who may said to be among the pioneers in this field. "Why is India not looking inward? We are leap years ahead. We just need to push. It is important for top honchos to understand that design is a specialists' area. Corporates must allow designers to do their jobs. Those aspiring must move up the qualitative chain of design. In the first phase is coordination, second suggestive and third the takeover of the design process wherein you tell a brand/exporter/buyer what is and what should be design."
This March, perhaps for the first time in the history of Indian apparel designing, Orsay, an international fashion brand for women collaborated with Munch for their designing needs. The collaboration is a tripartite agreement signed between Orsay (buyer), Munch and Francis Wacziarg Agencies (buying agent). Based on a design brief from Orsay, Munch would propose ideas, design lines and work with FW to convert it into a commercial product.
Vohra , CEO and principal designer of Munch believes, “It is Munch's capacity to understand and cater to the international market which led to this collaboration. If a major European fashion brand has decided to sign up an Indian company to design for its European customers, it only goes on prove that the Indian design IP is of global standards and this is being accepted by the world community.”
European and American companies have realised the importance and feasibility of design outsourcing to India for cost effective yet qualitative design solutions. India's rich and diverse cultural background, its ability to transform design on paper to actual product (with factories and fabrics within reach geographically), easy access to global trends, ease of travel, ability to communicate in English, established design institutes providing design education and the ability to multi-task, all make it the favoured destination of major fashion brands in the West.
In the current apparel export scenario, design has emerged as the trump card for Indian exporters seeking a marketing edge over other Asian competitors. Design provides exclusivity and superiority to their goods in a market which is governed by quantity and not quality.
The Indian apparel design outsourcing (ADO) industry has a lot of potential and all that is required to make it happen is the belief in Indian design abilities and the proper showcasing and marketing of these inherent design abilities and our hugely inspirational cultural base.
"I thought of this concept in 1995-96," says a relaxed Vohra in the confines of his spacious Bangalore office. "I felt the lack of design management process, specially in the B2B segment. Design is 70 per cent research and science, and 30 per cent aesthetics. But having said that it is neither nuclear science but also not quite an art. What is tough is the execution part of it.
"There are two parts to it. Where are you selling it and where you are going to get it – there has to be a supply chain of design. India needs to understand its designers – what is this human being and then be able retain this person respecting his/her sensibilities and keeping his/her interest alive.
"Started in June 2005, Munch should be able to break even this year. We have everything it takes, barring management skills. There is no dearth of business. However, if a hundred people inquire, only two work out.
"The Munch resource centre has 35,000 swatches. The aim is never to do stuff done before. It has taken me 14 years to understand design. It should take a designer four years to understand what I took 14 years. There are fresh designers now handling mega portfolios and in another two years they will be totally independent. In India once we have involved consumers they will be spoilt for choice and the only factor that can win is design – by getting their share of the mind," he concludes.
The label Moh is a showcase of Munch. It started as a marketing tool for Munch. Unlike any other label there is no commercial pressure.
The striking emergence of design as a source of comparative advantage for Indian apparel and related industries in the world market is why the promoters of the garment manufacturing company Prateek Apparels, seeing the gap, decided to back Munch. Promoted by the Phulchand Group – a conglomerate with various interests, including garments through their venture Prateek Apparels – Munch is a reflection of India's increasing capability for providing top-quality solutions in the creative spectrum.
“We wanted to be a total solutions company. When we got into Munch the idea was to emerge as a manufacturer, strong in design with survey, forecasting – the works, into sourcing and servicing. With focus in these four core areas we intend to give a complete business solution from a study of the brand to its competition, market strength, products and the like. Prateek is the anchor client for Munch. Munch will cater to any design in the country or abroad and will set up offices in the US and Europe. Munch looks into design for textiles, apparel, graphics, packaging and concepts for visual merchandising. It may also move into home fashion. We want to be a back end solution provider," said Sanjay Dalmia of Prateek.
Another player looking to make a mark in this field is the Grace Group, makers of the Sweet Dream brand of relaxedwear. For Hitesh Ruparelia, a computer engineer by profession, it was entirely a "gut feeling" to get into apparel. Along with brother Utpal Ruparelia, they are working on the ADO model. A design studio is already in place and they have handled turnkey projects for big retail brands. The money earned from the project, says Hitesh, is "paying for us and at the same time works out very economical for the client." Talks are on to market the design capability to a client in the UK.
For New Delhi-based Bricolage, "it initially was an impulse to do something of our own (impulse because it was just one year that my wife and I had passed out of NIFT), but then we found a huge opportunity in the growing need for design outsourcing in a professional set up," explains Narinder Mahajan.
Execute Execute
Having executed design projects for Reebok, Invista (Lycra), Lemax Jeans, Benetton, Pratibha Syntex (Woolworths, Wal-Mart), Gesture Jeanswear, Westwood, and design to pack for Westside and Numero Uno, Mahajan says on the the work methodology involved: "According to our experience, there are two sets of clients for such projects in India that are workable. One are those with big money power and have a lot of marketing collections happening like Reebok, Lycra, Pratibha Syntex, etc for which they don’t disturb their regular designers, and others are strong upcoming brands run by young professionals like Gesture Jeanswear, Westwood and Lemax who understand the importance of fashionable collections and still dont want to keep/trust the full-time designers.
The process of winning over a client starts with understanding their needs and then giving them ideas about how to realise them practically; also consulting them with developing missing elements in their collections and even by introducing new product lines. This consultation might also convert in giving a new look to the brand image by slightly modifying the whole merchandise for a youth category that sells more these days.
When few things are finalised the next step is to show a mood/storyboard of collection, deciding on the colours and presenting the range in sketches form with suggested fabrics. After this stage, Bricolage sources the fabrics, does the sampling and the whole range is presented for final approval to the client. This process also involves development of printing and embroidery artworks relevant to the collections. The after-project activities involve follow up with sales figures and feedbacks for improvements.
Regarding design to pack projects, as Bricolage' strength lies in the product's technical understanding, designing and merchandising, a brand feels very comfortable sharing the work load at the manufacturing level too. This becomes an added advantage to convert the designs to the packed pieces and generate more revenues. As of now the company has a capacity of 7,000 pieces a month for woven shirts.
The learnings that Mahajan lists since inception include immense product and industry understanding across all categories. Besides apparel design outsourcing, he feels there is scope in areas like accessories, home furnishings, marketing concepts, graphics, and visual merchandising.
"With India making high-fashion garments for designer brands like Esprit, Guess, CK, Marc Jacobs, and Armani, very few Indian exporters are putting that much effort in R&D (and no domestic brands because of various reasons including complex marketing structure, money power). On the contrary, designers in India are highly skilled whose wages and costs are a fraction of their couterparts in the UK or Italy. In the context of the Indian economy's growth rate, there would be no such better time to experiment and grow."
Problems aplenty
The factors hampering growth is the attitude where design is considered a commodity in the country and its cost is compared with the expenditure on a trip to Hong Kong or Bangkok. Many a times fabric suppliers and printing, embroidery, washing vendors refuse if they get to know that the productions may not follow the samplings. This proves to be a big problem in experimenting freely.
Exploitation continues even by good brands as in using designs, samples, artworks, forecasts, etc and not paying for them, said another hand trying out the ADO concept but not willing to name himself yet. He feels not enough value is justified for designs by industry people due to their access to cheaper sources of existing designs. Though it is a service-oriented business model, certain level of investment is required for fancy infrastructure, expensive software, R&D, which is not easy for a small house to acquire on launch.
"Unlike a manufacturing unit a designer's value increases with the knowledge he gains. However, there is nothing tangible in design and this is why investors have problems. If you evaluate a design company like an advertising company there are really no fixed assets," Vohra explains.
The smaller players are also hamstrung by the poor response from brands. “This is a part and parcel of marketing. It’s all about awareness of benefits of working like this, which will come with time. The best part is that industry is booming”.
In fact, says Mahajan, the small brands are more open than middle-level brands in experimenting. "We started with and are still trying hard to crack this big chunk of small and medium players. Problems come in identifying right people with right requirements. Everybody wants outsourcing but without spending money. They are stuck with time constraints between next season bookings and the running season's commited deliveries."
How did Bricolage start? "We had no idea that what we are starting would put us as frontrunners for a new industry altogether. The advent of retail boom coincided with our venturing out as design services agents. There was a huge demand for differentiated products and that excitement was seen as an opportunity by us."
Another thought that came in was the "insecurity" of people in getting designs outsourced. "But every company cannot grow just by keeping a couple of competent designers inhouse. Regular R&D in styling, patterns, fabric sourcing, printing techniques, etc require a lot of time investment," Mahajan feels.
With design studios at Prato in Italy and London, Rohit Poddar of Wearology does not agree that India can design for the world. "How will a designer in India know what is happening in the US or London? Italians are the leaders. India has been a follower of design and it can hope to find a place in the sun if it has a base abroad, have designers here too. India needs to get more into value adds."
Voices also spoke of not-industry-friendly labour laws, weak infrastructure, inefficient ports , power/water shortages, non-transparent and unhelpful customs that prove as major obstacles. "A great political will is needed to change the labour laws. One of the reasons why the IT industry boomed was that there were no labour unions," said one.
Advantage brands
Designers as a fraternity have been very volatile in nature giving a lot of instability when they leave after 1-1.5 years learning all about the company. Designing good is a talent. Designing right is what comes from experience. And designing right has a different meaning in different setups.
For upcoming companies, it is to be understood that product diversification is one of the very strong factors these days to stand apart and create a strong recall in their customers' minds. Today if any big established brand also starts going to places like China to get samples, then there would be no difference left in the merchandise of any other small medium level brand.
Again, for medium-level companies which have no understanding and product expertise with them, the ADO companies can help in launching new product ranges.
Endorse endorse
Pallav Chandra of Madura Garments is optimistic that India can indeed emerge as a design powerhouse. "There are international companies trying to outsource design from India. The challenge now is on research and innovation. We stick to surface ornamentation. The kind of finishes, treatment done outside the country at the costs they do, we really can't. We have an advantage in Indian handloom. But we have a long way to go in terms of textile innovation. In India the focus is on creativity. In China everything is too much into mass production. Their conversion costs are far lesser than what we can offer. Handcrafting is a part of our heritage. We need to cash on that. We still have skills and the steps we need to take to emerge as a design house are:
- Technical part needs to be attached to the creative in terms of finishes, seams, etc.
- Consolidation of the creative inputs – create a forum or designer guild where creative people can interact and share ideas and have a plan for the future emerging trends.
Manish Kelshikar of Shoppers' Stop feels India can emerge as a major design powerhouse only if its designing and creativity is nurtured well. The process of teaching designing to a student needs a change. It's like a mass production and then it depends on each individual. "Creativity is creativity and one has to make it feasible. India can become a powerhouse of design if a backend design cell is created with all creative software and inputs. It is all about understanding the product and the category. Fashion is a business based on time. You can't be too late or too early. If India can manage time it can do wonders. It is still a wait and watch situation."
Mahajan feels that the increased boom in the retail sector has given enough freedom to brands to experiment with their collections free from the orthodox reviews of distributors. Same for the exporters. Increased exports volumes are forcing exporters to develop their own ranges to get more and more orders.
Affirms Roger Tredre, editor-in-chief, www.wgsn.com over email: "Broadly, yes, India could certainly become a powerhouse of design – but not overnight. And from a global perspective, virtually every country with a sizable textile sector has ambitions to develop its reputation as a design centre, so the competition is fierce. My view is that development of a design reputation would have to go hand in hand with a development of consumer interest in fashion. A strong domestic market is really important. Any strategic planning to build a design reputation has to be long-term and consistent, with the involvement of industry as well as leading designers. One without the other is unlikely to work out. It makes sense for India to play to its natural strengths in design and handcraft and not seek to emulate what is going on in Paris or Milan."
Says Bridget Fell of Pikefell Design Partnership, who has worked for clients in India for over four years, creating new and rebranding existing clothing labels: "Your people have a deep-rooted work ethic and cultural integrity; I believe swiftness (vital) and determination will lead to success." She urges on the need "to maintain the identity of a country and culture, especially one as old, rich and culturally unique as India. This I believe should be preserved at all costs, the hard part is how to blend these attributes with modern cultural shifts." Fell explains how this could possibly be achieved in a nine-step guide:
- Education: Establishing a comprehensive programme of design education within India is vital to any future success of an industry. This should be through all ages of schooling to post graduate level.
- Apprenticeship: All companies who can, should offer a proportion of apprenticeship annually. These are becoming too rare in Europe and are vital for passing on skills and traditional crafts.
- It is vital to promote and create a signature that represents modern India. Design should not emulate the West. It is the responsibility of all designers in the country to create a unique modern Indian handwriting and it is this expression that will achieve the uniqueness and differentiation.
- Promote within the Indian media Indian brands and manufactured products. About 10 per cent of your annual net sale is a good figure. This will raise consumer awareness, loyalty and build brand value.
- Be price competitive, offer value for money, good design and quality at your price point. Foreign brands will struggle on price so beat them on this, but never compete only on price or you will damage your brand.
- Find out what is happening in the rest of the world in terms of fashion, creativity, art, film, tv, and then put this information into your subconscious and express yourself as your culture and demands dictate. You will find that a little of the latter filters into what you create.
- Enjoy what you do. Design and fashion require love and passion.
- Treat all members of your staff as you would wish to be treated. Provide a good working environment and share your profits. In return you will have a happy productive and hardworking team who will assist you in reaching your company's goals.
- Concentrate on export only when you have saturated your home market, and enlist a local partner/ agent to assist in target markets so that you have indepth and local knowledge.
In full support of the argument, C Nageshwar of Madura Garments’ Van Heusen says: "India is on the fast track. The world is watching. Our sensibilities in ethnic and contemporary design are being widely appreciated and rewarded. So, I believe that the thrust in this area has already started wherein now people have started promoting design studios as a service and resource centre. In the future it’s going to be an organised set of businesses."
Outlining a few steps on how India can do it, he says:
- Draft a vision and approach paper to be developed by fashion/ graphic/product/accessories designers coming together as a forum.
- All designers/labels should develop collections in line with international trends to make collections for the global market.
- The RTW brands in the country should focus on lifestyle orientation and start expanding their routes.
- There should be concentrated efforts on brand building i.e., like Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, Gap, Esprit, make the brands powerful in consistent communication strategies and logo usage.
- As a manufacturing major, add one more feather – product design specialisation.
- The curriculum of design schools should suit the contemporary needs and be in line with the market vision.
- AEPC, ministry of textiles and other central government bodies should allow some free trade options to sell design and concepts to clients abroad.
- Set up international exhibitions of design and development/trend forecast etc, and call international partners which can be done at fora like LIFW, and also tie up with Inter-Tex and TexWorld to establish the design sourcing hub.
- As senior designers in the industry are already setting up design houses, the big RTW houses should support such establishments.
- Arrive at some partnership with international design houses not just for design inputs but to streamline the strategies to get there and become a leader in this area.
The final word perhaps comes from Bibhu Mohapatra, design director at J Mendel, the New York-based fifth generation family fur house, who has designed clothes for Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Cameron Diaz, Sarah Jessica Parker, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie and many more. Talking about the latent talent in the country, he remarks: “I have always believed that India has the potential of becoming one of the prominent hubs of the international fashion industry. It is only a matter of a few years before it gets the world's attention not only for affordable manufacturing of excellent quality but also for being a strong source of refined design aesthetic that is on the same plane as the rest of the world. Just like Belgium, which has burst into the international high-fashion scene with its very talented designers in the last five years, I believe with the globalisation and high mobility of people and resources, fashion is about to make the ultimate crossover to the south east, especially to India – not only in the high volume moderate price companies like Gap and Banana Republic but also in the high end fashion houses like J Mendel. However, its sustainability depends on the proper planning, awareness and attention to the lifestyles and aesthetics of different cultures and subcultures the target consumers are from.”
As a haute couture designer in America, Mohapatra said he draws a lot from his Indian background. “I also turn to the artisans from different parts of India that come up with countless new and creative ideas for beading and embroideries. Before every collection I do extensive research and an important part of it is the Indian fabrics and embroideries. They play a vital role in each and every collection of mine. All this is made possible by the talented artisans back home that understand the fine balance of the East and West aesthetics.
"As per obstacles, I believe there are none but as we all know fashion is all about dynamic process of constant change and as long as India is a part of that dynamic process of evolution, the possibilities are endless.”
Thus, India's allies in staving competition remain – design and innovation.
