Builders use sponsorships as social leverage: Wendell Rodrick 

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Builders use sponsorships as social leverage: Wendell Rodricks

The veteran fashion designer shares his take on everything from the salaries of models to the impact of the falling rupee on global luxury brands

Goa-based fashion designer Wendell Rodricks —known for his globally sought-after resort wear, for dressing up divas and for his exemplary revival of the almost extinct Goan Kunbi sari—seldom minces words. While that might not have been the only reason why he wrote a memoir last year (Green Room, Rain Tree), he likes telling it like it is.

In the current weak economic conditions, Rodricks doesn’t want to dress up the fact that it is a slow year for fashion. He argues that it is time to think laterally and diversify. For someone involved with fashion weeks for the last 13 years from the very first edition of the then Lakmé India Fashion Week to his show on Saturday night sponsored by Fiama Di Willis at the ongoing Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2014 edition in Delhi, Rodricks seems rather sceptical about the current fashion sponsorships scenario. Edited excerpts from an interview:

How has the economic slowdown affected the fashion industry?

This is a slow year. We have noticed a slowdown in sales in general. But I am reversing that trend by doing other design assignments that can compensate. It is not just fashion, but all areas that are being impacted and we hope it will pass soon with the festive season around the corner.

To remain relevant at home, will fashion designers need to offer more value for the same price tag? How do you intend to bring these changes in your own label?

We will follow our regular policy as far as design aesthetics are concerned and will anyway raise our prices like we do annually in November. The price of humble cotton, silk or even polyester georgette has doubled or tripled. This will naturally affect the price tag on not just designer clothing, but all garments in the industry.

What’s really the place of an Indian designer in a global fashion market?

Designers may show at many world events and garment fairs. But how much they sell is another matter. Definitely, there is a visibility of Indian designer wear. I wonder how much of that translates into increased sales. Everyone knows that international buyers will buy only after they have seen a sustained presence of designers over a period of years. International buyers do not buy at the first showing.

Designers like Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Ashish Soni have shown at New York Fashion Week. This question is best addressed to them. But from my own experience, I realize that one needs a firm 10-year investment to show overseas. That is a large investment that few Indian designers have the capacity to cope with.

The rupee’s depreciation may not be an entirely bad thing for designers who sell abroad or those who export. Do you think the export arm of Indian fashion will become stronger in the current scenario?

I have no idea how many designers export. But they are definitely in the minority. Export of garments is normally not designer wear-focused. It is either prêt or luxury prêt that will benefit from the strong dollar.

Could the jobs of the huge workforce associated with fashion—retailers, sales people, store managers, visual merchandisers—be in trouble? Are you personally concerned as an employer about your staff?

I am not concerned about my staff. They will not be laid off. Nor will other designers lay off staff because of a passing phase that occurs in all businesses. In fact, Rohit Bal has been asking on Facebook for an assistant for weeks now. If designers feel the crunch at this moment, they should diversify to other design assignments that can help them tide over this situation.

You have been associated with Indian fashion weeks for the last 13 years; do you now see a decline in brands willing to become associ­ate or title sponsors of fashion?

As a designer associated with fashion weeks in India, I am alarmed at the slide in sponsor endorsements in fashion weeks. It is very flippant. Sponsors use fashion to suit their needs and then can abandon the sponsorship. We have seen this especially in couture weeks. Real estate builders attach themselves to a couture week to use them as a social leverage because designers bring film stars in touch with the sponsor. In turn, they appear on Page 3, which helps them with social networking and visibility.

But the bigger problem is more widespread. There are too many fashion weeks in India. As a result, the market has thinned out for sponsorship. If it was just the Fashion Design Council of India-organized Fashion Week, all other sponsors (attached to every fashion week from Ahmedabad to Chennai) will put their money on one ticket that will benefit them. Now the money has thinned out all over the country.

Recently there were reports on disgruntlement among Indian models about not being paid well and that they earned nothing close to what their counterparts did abroad. How far is this true?

Excuse me, Indian models are paid very well by Indian standards. And with so many fashion events a year, they have been earning more in the recent years. How can one compare Indian rates with foreign rates? That is like saying that an Indian waiter, manager, director gets the same wage as the counterpart in London, New York or Paris. If Indian models feel they are underpaid, they have no touch with reality. A teenager earns Rs.1.2 lakh in a five-day fashion week. Isn’t that way above what another profession pays?

Do you think global luxury brands will be hit by the sliding rupee?

Let’s face it! Global luxury brands do not sell clothes in this country. All they sell are bags, shoes, sunglasses and beauty creams. In fact, all brands sell these products. Walk into a couture shop in Singapore, Shanghai or Senegal...what are they selling? I call them bag shops. The space per square foot in the shop is divided into maximum space for bags, a space for shoes, a counter for sunglasses and beauty products, and a rack of clothes hidden in the corner. That gives an indication of what is selling. Go figure! Will the sliding rupee impact them? Yes. The honeymoon is over.

How many bags can a lady have? With the rupee on the downside, Indian women will think twice about a bag that once cost Rs.80,000 and is now a lakh. Maybe for the very wealthy, the extra Rs.20,000 is nothing. In any case, buyers will adjust their purchases to suit the present crisis.

What do you think fashion houses and small designers should do in the current scenario?

Designers will need to diversify into other areas such as Web retailing, etc. so that their products will get a wider visibility and a broader reach for the common person who desires a designer label. For the moment, it is the only way out.

 

RANJAY KUMAR

PGDM 1st YEAR