Fabindia bring in western wear brand for today’s youth

Fabindia is India’s largest private platform for products that are made from traditional techniques, skills and hand-based processes by craftspeople across rural India. Fabindia, which is into ethic wear for five decades, will be out with its Western wear brand Fabel next week.

Fabindia had started the process of recreating after it sensed that it was not getting any younger moreover ethnic is no more of a everyday wear but has turned to be clothing for occasions or to an evening wear.

Fabindia, will introduce Fabel line in 10 stores in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai in the first phase of the soft launch and then plans to take it nationwide.

According William Bissell, the second generation owner of Fabindia, there is the paradigm shift taking place right now and so the needle is shifting. Ethnic will be more of an occasional wear. So the pendulum is definitely swinging.

In 2006, Fabindia introduced fusions of Indian and Western apparels. The length of traditional kurtas was cut back to shirt-length to go well with jeans, and western skirts were fused with Bikaneri embroidery. This fusion line of wear is growing faster to the traditional one.

Ethnic wear, including salwar kameez and lehenga choli, is growing at the rate of 12 % per annual while fusion line has touch 20% growth rate and contributing 30% of the company’s turnover.

Fabindia’s fusion dressing business is a Rs 120 crore and with the Indian population of urban youth slated to touch 464 million by 2021it aims to double the business in the next one year. Fabindia also look ahead to the global line to contribute 30% of the company’s revenue by 2016-17.