Another setback for Indian fashion!

The trade restrictions the Indian government has imposed on China last month is proving to be a body blow to our homespun designers, who are already reeling under the recession. Designers are complaining that the embargo on the import of linen and textile products from the walled country would increase cost of production of outfits, thereby affecting sales.

Narendra Kumar says, “The government has taken this step because they are under pressure from the manufacturers. They don’t understand that it is a lose-lose situation for them because the linen coming from China is much cheaper than Indian linen.  If I am buying expensive linen, then I will obviously be forced to charge my consumer more. And if the customer is not willing to pay, I will stop using linen. I think what they should do instead is invest the money in research to understand how to create such a fabric in the country.” 

India has also banned import of Chinese toys and taken up other trade restrictions, which the Chinese government says would severely affect bilateral trade relations between the two neighbours. Sabyasachi Mukherjee seems to be one the victims of this recent development. “I used to sell in a store called Joyes in Hong Kong.

My entire consignment was sent back because the garments were made in India. I think India is basically upset because they can’t produce the same quality product even with their new and improving machinery. The Chinese fashion industry is in its nascent stage and not culturally very high. Thus, it doesn’t make much of a difference to us in terms of loss of business, but I think we should look at other fertile markets now.”

Raghavendra Rathore adds, “This import embargo is certainly a blow to designers. The price of the outfit will only increase as Indian linen is very highly priced as compared to Chinese linen.”