Italian or French designs are passe. Retailers today are heavily dependent on Indian designs, to cater to the ever changing fashion clothing requirements. Indian designs are capable of attracting large number of footfalls in western or European markets even during off-seasons, they believe.
India is emerging as the most preferred outfit designer for the rest of the world. So next time when you shop at Garden City Fashions, Ecko Unlimited, Polo or Urban Outfitters, chances are that most of what you pick up would carry “made in India” tags.
Clothing Manufacturers Association of India director, M K Panthaki said: “Overseas retailers are increasingly anxious to see what’s coming from India designers. They love to fill their stores with Indian designs to make sure the sales are good. Earlier, India was seen only as a cost-effective tailor, but now its style, cuts, patterns and designs are becoming a rage in the global markets. The whole world has started looking at us as an ideal destination for apparent design outsourcing.
Also, with Chinese exports to EU and the US are coming under the quota restrictions, a lot of attention has shifted to India for outsourcing garment for these markets. Consequently, domestic exporters have been receiving enquiries for all types of garment: be it men’s, women’s or children’s.
However, this design focus has brought in some fresh challenges for Indian apparel exporters, with global customers started demanding for quality processes to support tracking, auditing, cutting, designing and on-time delivery.
Taken from the ‘The Times of India’, Bangalore – Nov 14th 2005
