• Opportunities

Move over six-inch stilettos, bandage dresses and structured clothes which only suit figures flaunting sizes zero-eight. Now, it’s all about unstructured, flowing garments which hide all the little love handles your New Year’s binges may have added to your figure. The fabrics are cotton, lycra and georgette and the target: You.
Tapping into the desires of such young and young-at-heart people, who want to buy designer clothes and have the ready moolah to spend on such stuff, Indian designers are gearing up to address the resort wear market to the hilt.
Till now, the focus of most Indian designers has been on the ethnic and bridal wear market. Resort wear has lagged behind as the country lacks enough clientele who are comfortable wearing designer bikinis on public beaches; in fact, the attitude of people towards the swimwear component of resort wear has made the latter still lag behind in a nascent stage in India. But all that is changing. This was amply proved at last month’s first-ever India Resort Fashion Week (IRFW). India’s bigwig fashion designers, a handful of buyers and fashionistas landed up at the Grand Hyatt Goa for the four-day extravaganza which focused on the prime opportunities the resort wear market is now throwing up. So, if you are a fashion entrepreneur waiting for a big break in this glamorous world, here’s how to break into the mould.

Showstoppers: Narendra Kumar Ahmed and (right) Pria Kataria Puri

Who will buy it?
Why resort wear, you would ask? Narendra Kumar Ahmed, one of India’s noted fashion designers explains with his customary ease (he was once the fashion editor of a noted fashion magazine, after all), “Resort wear is what India needs now. The smart casual outfits are what we Indians wear most of the time anyway, at parties or on our travels. And usually comprising of flowing, unstructured silhouettes, these clothes also hide any body-shape flaws you might have. So, yes, the future of resort wear is especially bright for a country like India.”

Where should you look to sell?
Trade shows
Trade shows are your best bets because it is at these that the maximum number of serious buyers is to be found. “I attend at least three to four trade shows every year, all over the world. The good thing here is that you get a number of buyers clustered together and they have all come with the intention to buy. If you can satisfy them with your collection, they will buy,” says fashion designer Anupamaa Dayal.
Also, resort wear being something everyone can wear the world over, you can attend whichever trade show suits your budget. “Clothes in the resort wear line can be worn on the beaches of Thailand, Malaysia, in the glamorous South of France, Monaco, in Spain and Morocco as well as for a night out in Dubai, Las Vegas or Sydney. It is this very universal appeal that has made the market for resort wear so big all over the world,” explains Manish Malhotra, the ace designer whose show was the Grand Finale of the IRFW, held at Goa’s Marbela Beach Resort.

Fashion weeks
These are also events which buzz with a number of serious buyers. In India, a lot of hype is generated around the fashion weeks held in Mumbai and New Delhi, as well as the smaller ones held at Kolkata, Chennai etc.
In fact, there are some designers who complain that there are far too many fashion weeks being held today and overkill is spoiling the impact India has on the global market.
However, the main fashion weeks still draw a lot of interest. These fashion weeks also encourage new and talented designers in segments like GenNext and Emerging Designers categories, which are watched with equal interest by both buyers and India’s top designers. Check out the relevant websites for more information.
Shop-in-shop
If Anita Dongre can, so can you. She is one of India’s most acclaimed fashion designers, yet Dongre, and many others like her, have found an easy and captive market in shop-in-shops. With shopping malls springing up a dime a dozen in all parts of India, and big retail chains occupying pride of place in these malls, you can market some of your merchandize, especially your prêt line, from such places.
Resort wear being something all of us can wear, even casual footfalls at these stores can result in a purchase for your brand.

What you need to look out for
First of all, be sure of what you create. “Differentiate your product. That holds true for all innovations to be successful and it is no different in the fashion space,” says Dayal. Shivan and Narresh, a promising duo whose collections have been drawing widespread acclaim in recent times, adds, “There are so many fashion designers in the market today and they are all trying to create something new. But if you understand what the people are going to buy and ultimately wear, you have a ready market which will stay loyal to you. With resort wear this becomes much easier since you are working without structure limitations. The usually free-flowing form helps in creating outfits which will have a universal appeal.”

Target: All age groups
Which brings us directly to the understanding of your market. Resort wear is in the lucky space where everyone is a possible client. It does not have a gender or age bias, thanks to the flowing silhouettes and clutter-free fabrics which are mostly used in these lines. With such a wide target base to choose from, the world is your oyster. “If Indian designers come up with their own resort wear options, you won’t need to grab the latest Armani or Cavalli outfits. Why should we depend on Western concepts of designer wear when we have such a vast talent pool here from which we can find the best resort wear options?” says Ahmed.

Destination weddings market
We don’t talk of big fat Indian weddings for nothing. Just arranging for the ceremonies in a marriage hall near your house is passé now. Five-star properties, especially in places like Goa, Thailand or other resort destinations, is what the young brides and bridegrooms prefer nowadays. This necessarily means a fresh new wardrobe not only for the main marriage party, but also the bridesmaids, close friends and cousins etc. And when a marriage is taking place in a beach resort, you obviously need resort wear. “I have so many clients dropping in to my store and picking up resort wear off the shelves. The price tags are also pocket-friendly, considering you just pay Rs.7,000-Rs10,000 for a designer outfit in this category and have something exclusive to wear to the special occasion,” explains fashion designer Babita Malkani.
Adds fashion designer Asmita Marwa, “Today, everyone wants to look different at a wedding. You spend a lot of extra money in taking a wedding to a destination like Goa or Thailand, so you also want to look your best there. And resort wear being more pocket-friendly than the heavy and intricate wedding sarees etc, this has really picked up in India. The fabrics used also suit our climate well, so that you are not sweating all the time the pheras are going on.”

Know your ingredients
A good chef always knows exactly what ingredients to put in the gravy. As a fashion entrepreneur, you must also know what fabrics, cuts and motifs work in the segment you wish to make your mark in.
At her show at the IRFW, Malkani’s outfits were inspired by her recent holiday to Ibiza and consisted of rich, soft and flowing fabrics like lycra, silk, georgette, crochet and chiffons.
In fact, even the silhouettes are of prime importance in the world of high fashion, so you must know which structures will catch the eyes of the buyers. In resort wear, what works best are jumpsuits, kaftans, drape dresses, sheer kurtas teamed with bikinis and cropped pants. But vary the silhouettes according to your creative bent and you could come up a winner with a different set altogether. Like Anupamaa Dayal, who showcased a number of sarees on the resort wear ramp. “Why not? It is just a different twist to a traditional Indian garment. The whole word is in love with our six yards of magic, so I felt I must experiment with the saree and give it a new look and feel with this collection,” explains Dayal.

Designer dreams: Dhara Thakkar takes a bow with a model at the IRFW

Designer swimwear gaining popularity
The Indian beaches are not really full of patrons flaunting designer swimwear, but that can happen in the next few years. “Indians are conservative by nature, true, but today they are more willing to experiment with what they wear to the beach. They are more health- and figure-conscious and want to look their best when they travel,” explains Shivan and Narresh.
Adds fashion designer Pria Kataria Puri: “You can specialize in swimwear and come up trumps in your business today. In our line, the biggest high is in experimenting with different options and letting your creative urges flow. So long as your creations are wearable, you will always find takers for your business. Just remember, innovation and ideation is key here.”

So, go ahead and board the fashion wagon

Beach diva: Showstopper Sushmita Sen with designers Shantanu and Nikhil

Ahmed has an important point to make on the sidelines of the IRFW. “The government needs to understand the importance of generating more buzz around such fashion weeks to attract more business. We need to make a property out of a resort week. Goa is such a natural destination. We have so many people here any time of the year. But we need to make it an overall attraction, maybe hold an art exhibition, a musical night and other events around the resort fashion week so that more people come and that will attract more designers as well as buyers,” says Ahmed.
As Anupamaa Dayal sums up, “I am not a fashion entrepreneur just for the heck of creating nice clothes. These clothes I make need to sell too. So, create well, understand your buyers and manage to sell your product and keep the profits rolling in. Ultimately, you are also an employer and responsible to your team too. India has so much unemployment problems. Do your bit, employ people in your organization and generate wealth for them and ultimately, for yourself.”

Tags:
fashion, India Resort Fashion Week, Resort wear