Durga Puja was always a time for the fashion conscious youth to strut around in style wearing the latest designs. And with a surge in interest for designer labels, city-based designers are leaving no stone unturned to woo them.
As many as four of the city-based designers – Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Agnimitra Paul, Abhishek Dutta and Jaya Misra – have launched their festive collections.
“Puja and fashion go hand-in-hand.
“And recently, we have seen a surge in interest for designer apparels,” said Agnimitra Paul, one of the leading fashion designers in the city.
Another designer Kallol Dutta maintained that with increasing demand for such apparels, two formats are now being followed.
While a section of designers follow the international calendar of having one spring-summer collection and a fall-winter collection; others have a bouquet of smaller collections spread across the year.
“Obviously, there must be good offtake during such occasions, otherwise so many designers would not have come out with festive offerings,” Dutta adds.
Pricing
Market sources add that festive collections are typically priced a tad lower than the major collections keeping in mind the consumer profile.
“Over the last couple of years, there has been a substantial increase in traction of designer apparels by nearly 30-40 per cent,” Abhishek Dutta told Business Line . His collections are priced Rs 10,000 onwards. Interestingly, most of the festive collections are upwards Rs 10,000.
Designs
Off-take of designer clothes has been popular with the influence of serials and movies.
“Cocktail” inspired western wear, Anarkali, short kurtis and shrugs have been the flavours in the ethnic segment, Paul said.
“The outlook has changed. Earlier, splurging on designer apparels was wasteful expenditure. But with people’s desire to socialise, they don’t mind spending on clothes to make themselves look and feel good,” she pointed out.
According to Jaya Misra – the official designer for Femina Miss India 2012 and 2013 – sales are picking up substantially.
“Weaves are always in vogue during pujas and we have introduced designs under this category,” she said.
Moreover, in view of the increasing demand, some of these designers have now tied up with e-commerce sites to push the sale of their apparel wear.
Tie ups
Dutta, for instance has tied up with five e-tailers this year such as “fashionandyou” and “prêt-amoda” (premium lifestyle e-tailers).
This is over and above the stores spread across eight cities that include Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. His range aims at the upper middle class and those working at MNCs.
Similarly, Agnimitra Paul has tied up with the Kolkata-based e-tailer 365oranges.com.
Nearly 20 of her designs ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 30,000 – have been put up on the site.
“Demand has been good so far and we have shipped some orders within the city and Delhi. This apart, we are getting 20-25 queries everyday,” Joy Chatterjee, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, 365oranges.com said.