Did the just-concluded fashion jamboree draw as many bucks as it did B-Town glamazons for designers?
For any fashion event if there’s no business, there’s no point being a part of it, feel fashion designers. Being a national trade event, last season Lakme Fashion Week faced flak for lack of business.
The management took these concerns into consideration and this time worked towards creating more buzz for the business section of the week called ‘The source’.
The bigger designers however were the ones who were benefited more. Designer Wendell Rodricks says, “My assistant was busy prior as well as post my show taking orders. For me it has been a good time. Also, this collection is quicker to deliver so we were happy with the response.” Also designers like Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Rohit Bal have had good business. In fact it is learned that Sabyasachi did business over Rs 1.5 crore by day four.
The mid-level designers however didn’t fare as well as the biggies. Designer Payal Kapoor says, “As such there were very less buyers this season but we had a few enquiries from store buyers from various tier 2 cities. Though there were fewer buyers, what is comforting is that whoever bought was not only happy with the garments but also that they were well-priced and wearable.” The designer had showcased on day two and had a stall in the business section.
The story for Gen-Next and accessory designers is however rather sad. Known to be a platform for young talent, LFW this time doesn’t seem to have created many trade opportunities for them. Designer Thinles Chosdup and Nirajara Adhya said that they hardly had any domestic buyers showing interest. They just got one international buyer’s order.
Besides them, other debut designers like Javed Khan and Urmi Ghosh were glad to receive good critical response but in terms of buyers they didn’t prove to be lucky. However the youngsters are hopeful that things will get better as it was the first time for them.
Anil Chopra, CEO Lakme Lever, says, “I think the business depends on the collections as well. If the collection is good, there will be buyers, I spoke to few designers like Sabyasachi, Rohit Bal, Wendell etc and they all were happy with the response in terms of business. However not a single person came to us with any complaints.”
A designer, on condition of anonymity, however, says, “The bigger designers are established and therefore they have always do business. An event is successful if people like us who aren’t very famous but are good with our work, atleast make as much we spend to participate. Though it is a great platform for getting visibility, I think they still need to work hard to make it lucrative business wise.”
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