Tarun Tahiliani to JJ Valaya, top
fashion designers diversify in style
If you thought
top fashion designers are head deep into designing and displaying their latest
couture and pret collections, check this out: Raghvendra Rathore recently
redesigned a vintage 1947 Chevrolet, Tarun Tahliani and JJ Valaya are into
designing hotels and homes, Rohit Bal and
Ashima-Leena duo plan to sell designer furnitures,Suneet Varma has worked
with brands such as Swarovskiand BMW.... Call it
emulating the West or natural progression, big names of the Indian fashion
industry are diversifying into different segments to find new channels for
creative expression as well as to scale up their business.
They are buoyed a growing class of young, affluent consumers and
an increasingly aspiring middle class willing to splurge on personalised
products and exceptional experiences from customised cars and designer
jewellery to royal holidays and expansive weddings.
"There is a ready market for established designers to in
several categories. It would be silly if they do not use the opportunity,"
says Sabyasachi Mukherjee, whose sarees are a rage among women. He is now
designing a luxury, cinema-inspired suite for the Taj Hotel at Buckingham
Street in London. He says several realtors have approached him to do homes.
Raghvendra Rathore, known for
his signature bandhgalas and achkans, too is busy broadening his range of
products. "From a fashion company, we have become a design company,"
says Rathore who recently redesigned exterior and the suspension system of a
classic 1947 Chevrolet for a client and provided designer
inputs for a few luxury hotels in Rajasthan.
Market experts say there is a large market potential that is
waiting to be tapped.
"There is a certain
signature that a designer has created which can be used to create other
products and services as well," says Saloni Nangia, president at management
consulting firm Technopak.
For instance, in the home
segment, Italian designer Giorgio Armani's interior design studio Armani Casa is working with Lodha Developers
to launch luxury homes in Mumbai.
Experts say that given the small size of Indian designers market
at the moment, there is a need for them to explore new avenues.
"There are not more than 20 designers in India with annual
sales of Rs 10 crore at present," says Sunil Sethi, president of Fashion
Design Council of India, the industry's apex organisation. Only a few designers
in the country have been able to cross the Rs 50 crore turnover mark so far, he
says.
Vijay Singh,
MD of Fashion One International, says the fashion industry is estimated at
around Rs 800 crore and there is a dire need for scaling up.
"Diversification is not only brand extension, but it also makes commercial
sense," he says. Fashion One has partnered Delhi-based JJ Valaya to design
luxury weddings.
Valaya
has also tied up with 2-3 real estate developers to design ultra premium
luxury homes.
Such expansion drives are already getting the attention of PE
firms and venture capitalists.
Designer Duo Ashima and Leena,
for example, will get PE funding for expansion. They plan to set up a
lifestyle store that will sell home furnishings, crockery, and collectibles,
and open an education institute.
Private equity firm L Capital, meanwhile, is in talks
with designers to create an Indian luxury house loosely resembling its parent
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton,
the world's biggest maker of luxury goods. The firm is close to signing up with
Rohit Bal and Sabyasachi Mukherjee along with multi-designer retailer
Evoluzione.
Fashion designers' expansion
drive is not limited to designer stuff. Rocky S has turned a film producer. Muzzafar
Ali too is working on a few Bollywood projects.
