Passionate about fashion

Mohini Bhatnagar
31 January 2003

Mumbai: Fashion retailing in India is still in its infancy. But there is some good news for the fashion-conscious.

There is a growing awareness among retailers and marketers that fashion retailing need not mean just designer labels and prêt lines, but should be an honest attempt to interact with customers to find out their expectations and desires regarding fashion.

The recently held seminar on fashion retailing, hosted by Images Fashion Forum (IFF) in Mumbai, attended by high-profile retailers, marketers and fashion pundits among others, focused on changing consumer responses regarding fashion.

A number of prominent retailers and marketers said what could seem music to the ears of those desiring honest-to-goodness fashion clothing without the accompaniment of fancy designer labels and even fancier price labels.

For starters, it was widely felt that organised retailers had degenerated fashion retail into displaying large billboards and rolling out on-ground promotions to leverage their retail outlets as brands.

The speakers felt that it was high time Indian fashion retailers took a more serious view of fashion and came up with creative solutions while catering to customer needs to strengthen the presence in the evolving Indian marketplace.