Ethnic wear, organic food and ethnic furniture and furnishing retailer Fabindia going public is a momentous moment in India’s fashion apparel business. success- or failure-predicted The 4,000 crore IPO-cum-offer-for-sale issue will probably set the tone for other players like Biba, W and Manyavar to follow suit.
But 62-year-old Fabindia holds a unique position in India’s growing ethnic wear market, which is estimated 1,45,000 crore by brokerage firm Edelweiss. So far, India’s ready-to-wear apparel market has been dominated by the organized sector players. Some are quite long in the tooth—Raymond’s will to complete a century in three years. Others, such as Pantaloons and Fashion Big Bazaar, are products of India’s post-reform transformation. And still others—like Reliance Brands and Aditya Birla fashion and retail—are part of a huge conglomerate with deep pockets. But they all have one thing in common – they primarily cater to the needs of India’s urban middle class and have a huge influence on western clothing and designs.
Fabindia is not like that. It managed to bring the crafts of India’s handloom cloth weavers and artisans to India’s urban elite, who could show off their ethnic identity and social consciousness, with the added comfort of knowing that it would fit and fit well. , and shall be of reliable quality.
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But much of its success in taking ethnic wear back to the masses as a fashion product – today, Fabindia operates over 300 FabIndia stores, as well as over 70 organic India stores across the country, with its own e-commerce In addition to the operation – has robbed it. Its some sparkle in Lutyens’ Delhi. But it undeniably put Indian handlooms and ethnic wear on the urban consumer map. Moreover, it took the homespun fabric and the traditional kurta-pyjama—which till then was considered the wear of politicians and the poor—and made it not only mainstream, but chic.
Fabindia’s success in bridging this gap – from founder John Bissell’s one bedroom in Delhi to a retail network spanning the subcontinent and abroad – is also the success of India’s unsung weavers, craftsmen and artisans. It is the success of the 50,000 artisans and over 10,000 farmers with whom it works to source the goods it sells.
Fabindia calls itself an ESG company which has not made any direct effort to tick the ESG boxes, but has incorporated it into its business model. According to the draft of their IPO prospectus, co-promoters Bimla Bisel and Madhukar Khera intend to transfer 400,000 and 375,080 equity shares, respectively, from their individual holdings to a network of artisans and farmers working with the company or its subsidiaries. , so as to be rewarded and express gratitude”.
But 50,000 weavers are a drop in the ocean. India is estimated to produce a staggering 95 percent of the world’s handmade textiles and has a tradition of handloom and weaving for centuries. But successive governments have completely failed to protect the lives of the people engaged in this sector despite turning their backs on the concept of khadi and handloom.
According to the 4th All India Handloom Census 2019-20, there are about 35 lakh handloom workers (including weavers and allied workers) today, down from 6.5 million in 1995-96. Out of 31,44,839 handloom households, a shameful over 93 per cent earned a monthly income of less than a monthly income 10,000- which is less than the minimum wage. The Handloom Board, which was supposed to advise the government on developing the sector, was shut down two years ago.
Fabindia’s success will be meaningful only when there is a meaningful improvement in the lives of craftsmen and women. Incidentally, more than 72 per cent of the workforce engaged in the traditional handloom and textile sector are women. The upside gains received by investors—Fabindia counts Premji Invest, Bajaj Holdings & Investments, Nandan Nilekani Parivar and Kotak India Advantage Fund among its investors, while rivals have equally big investors like Warburg Pincus—to convert is required. Measurable benefits for those who are really mulling this area.
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