WGSN Seminar - Global Trends Update Autumn Winter 2010/11 & Beyond
WGSN seminar starts off with a bang
Day one of IIF '10 began with a packed house at the WGSN seminar titled ‘Global Trends Update Autumn Winter 2010/11 & Beyond'. Juliet Warkentin, Content Director, WGSN, spoke about the key moods, colours, details and shapes inspiring fashion trends across the globe. WGSN, a leading international online portal, has been offering strategies and consultation to its clients in the fashion industry, located in different parts of the world.
From her years of experience, Warkentin urged the audience to be 'a global player in the local market'. She also dismissed a popular myth at the very outset - "Trends don't die, they only evolve." Moving forward in her discussion she emphasised the fact that in the current market post recession, products have to give an added value and not just remain beautiful. Her suggestion was, "Play with softness and silhouettes and give the consumers another reason to buy." Giving examples from each category, Warkentin observed, "As far as sportswear is concerned, keep it simple yet timeless."
As a final word, Warkentin pointed out that the design of the products should be enhanced by the use of graphics and a 'cheerful element'. She also discussed the need to generate an element of global fusion by mixing and matching the traditional with the contemporary. According to Warkentin, “It’s a little about the past, but an awful lot about the future!”
- Sayanti Banerjee, Mumbai bureau
AEPC Conclave: Market of the Future: The World Vs. India
Brand India to emerge soon!
The AEPC conclave was anchored by Premal Udani, Chairman, Apparel Exporters Promotion Council (AEPC). Some of the leading exporters from the fashion industry discussed the prospective markets of the future by weighing the global vs the domestic scenario.
Vimal Kirti Singh, Secretary General of AEPC, shared that the market share of Indian exporters is 43 per cent in Europe and 42 per cent in America. He said, "The Government is looking at exploring newer potential markets like Japan and South Africa." He also stressed, "At present it is not foreign exchange but skill development, on which the Govenment is concentrating." Singh also predicted that moving forward the domestic sector as well as the export sector in India will open up job opportunities for a huge number of skilled labour.
In this context, Udani added that compliance is becoming an important factor in this new-age fashion industry. The idea is to keep to socially-approved norms and build productivity in small and medium factories as well. Rahul Mehta and Ashok Rajani were also a part of the eminent panel.
The panelists unanimously agreed that the exporters should create domestic brands. Hence, establishing 'Brand India' was decided upon as the way forward.
-Sayanti Banerjee, Mumbai bureau
Workshop: Business Intelligence
Gini & Jony's success model
The noon session of Business Intelligence Workshop started right after the Triumph Lingerie Fashion show. Niraj Jaipuria, Director, Regional Sales-Asia Pacific, BIRetail, initiated the discussion on how Gini & Jony optimised its operations through Business Intelligence.
“Business Intelligence is simply an advanced retail tool by which I can access my data interactively. It allows me to see precisely what I want to see and omits all the confusing details” stated Jaipuria. He pointed out that Business Intelligence solutions are perceived to be exorbitant.
Dispelling this notion Gaganjit Kahlon, Head IT, Gini & Jony, mentioned that Gini & Jony realised tangible improvement in profitability after switching over to the solution. He mentioned that the company was using ERP solution till 2003 and it required a customised solution to simplify the complicated reports, drag and drop the summaries and a solution which could be directly used by business people as opposed to only IT personnel.
Kahlon added that after adopting the solution they were able to find the exact details of stock in each store across the country, the percentage ROI of each store, and exercise better control on their supply-chain management. Kahlon asserted that it is an affordable technology and reduced the analytical cycle from months to weeks. He added, “BIRetail provided Gini & Jony data-driven decision-making capabilities to improve their merchandising decisions, optimise promotions and performances, improve inventory and replenishment decisions and achieve better analysis of the performance of brands.”
“If I need to increase my IT fleet, then Business Intelligence solution does not make any sense. It should actually reduce my dependence on the IT personnel” quipped Kahlon.
Kahlon gave an example of one of their retail stores where the ROI was Rs. 10 lakh, which was initially assumed to be a great return. However, the Business Intelligence solution gave them a deeper insight and they realised that the investment was much higher on the inventory as compared to the return.
At the end, Kahlon added, “There is no specific time to implement it. The solution is completely affordable and is as cost-effective for a single store as for multiple stores. Moreover, it is compatible and can be smoothly integrated with the existing ERP and CRM solutions.
Jaipuria further added, “BI's Business Intelligence solution is based on micro-strategy and is more than 20 years old. It is also being used by companies like Amazon and e-bay.
-Pragya Gupta, Mumbai bureau
Fashion Connection: Sports & Fashion
Connecting to fashion in a big way
The evening session titled 'Fashion Connection' was split into two halves. The first half had a set of eminent panelists discussing the equation between sports and fashion. Subhinder Singh, MD Reebok India anchored the debate beginning with his observation, “The line between sports and fashion is blurring.”
He further set the mood for the discussion by putting forward the two languages in India as cricket and Bollywood. Singh drove home the fact that IPL teams are now owned by popular celebrities. Citing an example from another popular sport and its fashion icon, Hemchandra Javeri, Chairman, Fashion Alliance, observed, “Sania Mirza has made the fitness gear popular among women.”
Tarun Puri, MD, Nike India said, “Sportswear and sports lifestyle merchandise for that matter is a nascent category that is currently developing in India.” Moving on with various other examples, he urged the retailers to create a heritage of sports or a culture for the same with which the consumers can identify. He stressed, “It is also very important to connect to the burgeoning middle class.”
Taking the notion forward, Rajiv Mehta, MD Puma India, said, “A sports lifestyle brand should first establish its credentials in the field of sports before moving on to the fashion category. Puma has been educating people about high-fashion sportswear through various innovative campaigns across the world.” He also brought in the persepective of how positioning sportswear as lifestyle fashion wear can be challenging, particularly in the Indian market. Puri suggested here, “A replica of a Manchester United jersey should have the elements a sports lover can connect to, or else it will be only another t-shirt.”
Lalit Kishore, MD, Lotto India observed, “It is necessary to bring sports into people's lives in order to grow the market.” With a practical example, Singh concluded how Reebok has partnered with NBA (National Basketball Association) and has been planning to get kids to play basketball in the malls to begin with, in order to popularise the sport among the masses. The particular sports gear and accessories required for the sport can be marketed thereafter.
-Sayanti Banerjee, Mumbai Bureau
Fashion Connection: Bollywood & Fashion
Fashion and Bollywood come together
An eminent set of panelists explored the equation between 'Bollywood and Fashion'. There was a robust discussion about the star power of Bollywood celebrities and their fashionable personas that help various retail brands to communicate better with their consumers.
Well-known fashion designers like Narendra Kumar and Anita Dongre were a part of the panel. Neeta Lulla's son Siddharth Lulla represented her brand at the forum. From their close association with Bollywood, they put forward their views about the role of a designer, which has evolved over the years. The industry panel included some of the captains from the fashion retail segment like Chetan Shah, MD, Pepe London (India), Akhil Chaturvedi, Director, Provogue (India) Ltd, Rahul Vira, CEO, Gilli India Ltd and Sanjay Bindra, Director, Biba. Sailesh Chaturvedi, CEO and Director, Tommy Hilfiger Apparels India was the moderator for the session.
Sharing an example, Bindra said, “Bollywood merchandising is a new phenomenon but Biba has been associated with 12 movies over the past five years and has done very well with movie merchandising. The patiyalas in Devdas, designed by Neeta Lulla and Preity Zinta's ensembles in the film Hero, created by Abu Jani, did extremely well at our stores. Also the white chiffon sarees from the movie Na Tum Jano Na Hum are still in demand at our stores after selling for over two years.” In this context Chaturvedi added, “The t-shirt line which we had introduced for the movie Wake Up Sid with chest prints are still popular.”
Shah pointed out the three things that help a brand to click well with the masses as far as movie merchandising is concerned. He said, “When we were associated with Dhoom 2, three years back, what worked for us was vision, relevance and execution. The movie was shot overseas and thus had the international appeal as well, like our brand. We pre-sold the merchandise to the MBOs, distributors and franchises by showing the clippings of actors like Bipasha Basu, Aishwariya Rai and Hrithik Roshan sporting our products. ” Van Heusen had designed an exclusive collection with a Bollywood movie Ghajini. Shital Mehta, COO, Van Heusen claimed, “ We had set a trend in power dressing by making waist coats popular since actor Amir Khan, playing a business tycoon from the telecom industry, had worn those in the film. The return on investment also exceeded our expectation.”
From the designer's perspective Kumar said, “ A designer can actually affect how the audience perceives fashion in a movie.” To which Lulla added, “A designer can create character opulence but in Bollywood, however, there is a lot of input that comes form the director as well, with respect to the look of the character. In Hollywood, also, if a character like Harry Potter becomes popular, the merchandise sells well.” Dongre however felt, “It is just the beginning for designers their full potential in Bollywood is yet to be explored.” She also introduced the persepective that movie merchandising is a challenging business. She observed, “In this age of multiplexes, the movies don't run for six months any more. Also the attention span of the audience has become shorter, so the trends in fashion keep changing. I agree that there is a huge connect between fashion and bollywood and the movie merchandise does very well with the NRI communities as well.”
The issue about hits and misses in Bollywood is inevitable - so does the review of a movie affect the retailers whose brand ambassadors are Bollywood celebrities? To this final question put forward to the panel, Chaturvedi concluded, “Hrithik Roshan still remains a fashion icon in spite of the fate of his films. As a retailer we can't sell an entire range through a movie, but it does help to get the consumer into our stores. It is the persona of the actor to which a brand needs to connect in order to communicate its essence to the end consumer.”
-Sayanti Banerjee, Mumbai Bureau
