Its getting Haute in India; Indian Fashion Designers are talking about figures such as the magical number of 100 Crores, just like Bollywood films (its just that Bollywood now has graduated to 200 crore plus). Fashion is turning into big business and with aspirations growing higher, Indian fashion designers may soon be rubbing shoulders with the top names in the fashion world. Looking at their galloping pace, it could very well happen sooner than expected.
Here are some of the leading fashion designers in India, who are in the 100 crore club.
Everstone, a leading South-East Asian private equity and real estate investor, has purchased a minority stake in Ritu Kumar’s brand, worth Rs 100 crore. Ritu Kumar’s son Amrish now looks after her business and their foray in retail expansion has yielded this investment.
Anita Dongre, who already has General Atlantic as her investor, touched Rs 350 crore in profits. Dongre’s model is mass market too, where her bridal label supports the idea of haute fashion but is supported by her retail labels — AND and Global Desi — in almost 100 stores across India. Her brother is also the CEO of her company.
Priyadarshini Rao has got Future Group to launch a mass-market label called Mineral that aims at multiple stores across India (and even in Finland and Luxembourg). Rao’s husband Jaydeep Shetty is the CEO.
Then there are designers whose labels are self-owned and self-promoted.
Sabyasachi Mukherjee did Rs. 100 crore turnover this year, and mind you, he’s a one-man show. His success has come without the help of investors or mass market numbers. The sales come only from his bridal wear and independent ventures alone.
Manish Malhotra did a turnover of more than 108 crores this year. Malhotra is probably the only designer who adds the Bollywood glamour to his collections, he presents multiple trans-seasonal collections a year, hosting sometimes a fashion show a week.
Changing Face of Indian Fashion
The prices of “designer” clothes have been falling down (priced between Rs 1000 and Rs 5,000), courtesy the several fashion weeks in India, which allowed the elite bunch of fashion designers to design clothes for a large ever-expanding middle-class consumer.
Because of these fashion designers, fashion in India is finally getting an “industry” status. It will not be long before the high street model followed by European and American designers will be available in India, where ready-to-wear label can be bought by a large consumer base.
