IMPRESSIONS from a Cross-section

Window displays across global high streets have been splashed with designer hot pants, corset jeans and haute couture collections, all in denim. Retailers and brands are surely at an inexorable innovation spree. Rugged indigo fabric, made to fit the style and sensibility of youth, has triggered widespread mutiny against the age old trousers.

Where are we headed in 2012? Globally, brands are high on innovation and sheer newness in style. In doing so, the customer is up for a treat. The industry saw a slight resilience in 2011 owing to a global slowdown but the excitement in this sector is rather palpable.  Challenges, mainly the fluctuating price of cotton, remain, yet opportunities are emerging in Asia Pacific on a scale that overshadows events elsewhere. This is a time where price tag is largely influencing buying trends. Having said that, customers are not up for flaws in quality or style. While there is an upsurge in denim industry with regard to innovation, there is also an unorganized sector in India which is making big bucks with throwaway fashion which is something brands must endear to curb by better penetration and sensible pricing.

We need to be fastidious when it comes to denim.  Our designers are constantly trying new techniques and have become increasingly sensitive to environmental conservation. It’s a learning platform, a sort of lab from where great ideas come out. It is extremely humbling to know how small efforts at restoration and conservation of environment have actually brought about a shifting change in our approach towards quality and best practices. However, it is difficult to adapt to the changing technological environment.

Customers understand and respond to earnest efforts at value delivery, and we have witnessed it firsthand.  Denim is the blue eyed baby of fashion industry and its rage is here to stay!

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