Fashion Industry in India is in nascent stage at the moment and has great potential to make its mark on the world stage. Indian fashion has thousands of years of tradition behind it. India has a rich and varied textile heritage. Each region of India has its own unique native costume and traditional attire. Fashion Industry in India is growing at a rapid pace with international events such as the India Fashion Week gaining popularity and annual shows by fashion designers being held in the major cities of India.

Indian fashion industry got a big boost by the victories of a number of Indian beauty queens in International events such as the Miss World and Miss Universe. Contests such as these made Indian models recognized worldwide. Indian fashion designers such as Ritu Kumar, Ritu Beri, Rohit Bal, Rina Dhaka, Tarun Tahiliani, JJ Valaya and Manish Malhotra have also made their mark in the global fashion arena.

Apart from the rich tradition the strength of the Indian fashion industry also rests on strong raw material availability. India is the third largest producer of cotton, the second largest producer of silk and the fifth largest producer of man-made fibres in the world. India also possesses large number of skilled human resources and has among the lowest labour costs in the world.

With the end of quota regime on January 1, 2005 the prospects for Indian fashion industry look upbeat. India is among the largest exporters of textile garments and fabrics. The quota regime restricted free export of materials and garments from the developing countries, giving an edge to developed ones. The regime resulted in unfair trade practices, such as hoarding of licenses for quotas and their eventual sale in the black market, and the shipping of low quality goods to meet contract demands. There was little incentive for the manufacturers to upgrade and improve either their products or manufacturing abilities. The end of the quota regime heralds the prospects of exponential growth for the fashion industries of countries like India that had faced quota restrictions earlier.

Indian fashion industry needs to take following steps to fulfill its growth potential:

• Indian fashion industry needs to create global image. There are various agencies that can assist in the brandbuilding exercise. The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), other textile promotion councils, and industry associations such as Confederation of Indian Industries can market Indian fashion globally.
• Large textiles players must develop linkages with small medium enterprise (SME) clusters. Such networks would be a win-win for textile players that can concentrate on demand creation and branding as well as for clusters that can focus on quality production.
• Indian fashion industry has to forge designer-corporate links as is the norm in global fashion industry.
• There is a large part of the novice designer community, possibly more talented, which remains obscure. Hence there is an urgent need to give exposure to young and budding designers.

If we are able to take the above mentioned issues to their logical conclusion then there is no reason why Indian fashion industry cannot achieve its tremendous potential.

Note: The above information was last updated on 21-07-2007