India : Now, Its Time For Market Week After Fashion Week

As the curtains come down on the Lakme India Fashion Week with Liberty, despite the minor glitches and brickbats in the press, the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), which owns the event, is considering a second, smaller `Market Week' in addition to the annual event. The market week is likely to be held in New Delhi in January, and provide an opportunity for buyers and designers to interact closely.

The market week is partially necessitated by the timing of the Fashion Week, said Mr Vinod Kaul, Executive Director, FDCI. Held in July, the Fashion Week caters to the fall/winter season of the domestic market, and the spring season for international markets, he said. So the market week will cater to the summer season for the domestic market and fall/holiday season - a big season - for international markets."The Fashion Week has worked well, but there is clearly an opportunity for buyers and designers to interact one more time of the year," Mr Kaul said. "All the big fashion centres have more than one Fashion Week." Paris, generally acknowledged as the fashion capital of the world, has four fashion weeks.With 58 designers, 35 shows and about 15,000 visitors, there has also been a "quantum leap" in the sheer logistics of the event, Mr Kaul said.

The event this year is on target to meet its goal of 25-30 per cent more business as compared to last year, he added.Also, while the original plan was to alternate the event between Mumbai and Delhi, the organisational details are getting too complicated to pull off every year, Mr Kaul said. So the FDCI will soon settle for one city as the permanent venue, and operate out of a space like the Pragati Maidan, as the event has clearly outgrown the hotels it used to operate out of, he added.