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Designer mantra: Goodbye to bad pricing
Designers are fortunate that only a handful of retailers are dissatisfied with their creations. Greater attention to pricing and maintaining quality standards can bring back the buyers.
Lakme India Fashion Week, the biggest business-to-business (B2B) fashion event in the country, is a good retail platform for designers. In addition to showing saleable ready-to-wear clothes, it is also important for designers to fix competitive price points and maintain quality levels at the Week.
In the designer prêt wear segment in India, the pricing has always exceeded affordable limits. Some designers even price their garments between Rs 4,000 and Rs 10,000. At commercial events like the LIFW, separates should ideally be priced between Rs 500 and Rs 1,500 and designer prêt ensembles between Rs 1,500 and Rs 5,000.
Buyers who've been participating in the LIFW since its inception in 2000 feel the pricing has improved. Designers are more serious about selling their clothes. "In the ready-towear market, the price points for designer labels are two Rs 1,500-Rs 3,500 and Rs 5,000-15,000," says Shoppers Stop category manager Suneet Chandna. "Anything higher moves towards couture. Once we develop a relationship with a designer at the LIFW, we may change the prices for other projects. For instance, we developed a label called Kasba with Raghavendra Rathore. He designed the garments and we made them. We priced them between Rs 800-1,500. At fashion weeks, we look at garments priced between Rs 1,500 and Rs 5,000," adds Chandna.
Designer prêt is big in the West with most designers moving towards ready to wear (RTW). In India it is yet to make an impact in the retail segment. Lack of brand awareness coupled with wrong pricing has led to the slow growth of the RTW segment.
According to fashion consultant Vinod Kaul, who was involved in conceptualising 'Be,' Raymond's designer prêt retail store, things have changed for the better in the designerwear retail segment. "We've come up from Ground Zero to a higher level since the inception of LIFW," he says. "While pricing has to be done with care, the quality of the garment is equally important. Unfortunately most designers don't have the back-end infrastructure needed to maintain quality. This is where corporate houses should step in." Competitive pricing, good quality and adhering to delivery schedules play a big role in marketing. If designers fail to do this, there is always the risk of the garments falling off the rack.
Pantaloon, a major garment retail chain, started and abandoned designer prêt labels almost at the same time. "It proved to be a terrible mistake as the quality of these so-called designer garments we stocked was pathetic," says Pantaloon MD Kishore Biyani. "Buttons were falling off, lengths were bad and they generally failed the quality standards. We abandoned it and won't be coming to LIFW." Competitive pricing and good quality hold the key to successful retailing. Designers are fortunate that there are only a few retailers dissatisfied with their creations so far. More attention to pricing and quality can help them bounce back. At LIFW 2005, that's what they should aim at.
