Fashion designing in vogue

Mumbai: India's management education segment isn't the only attraction for national and international players; fashion designing also ranks high on their popularity lists.

After France-based Lisaa School of Design, which opened a centre in India two years ago, the latest entrant in the segment is Italy-based Istituto Marangoni, which set up an office in Mumbai, the first in India, last week. The institute's liaison office would help Indian student secure admissions to its campuses in Milan, London, Shanghai and Paris, and forge partnerships in fashion and design with the entities concerned in India.

Another recent entrant was film-maker Subhash Ghai-promoted Whistling Woods International, which set up a fashion school in partnership with fashion designer Neeta Lulla. The school, Whistling Woods-Neeta Lulla School of Fashion, would commence classes next month in Mumbai. The school, of which Lulla would be the dean, would offer a one-year diploma in fashion design for Rs 5 lakh and a two-year advanced diploma for Rs 8.36 lakh.

These schools, in addition to the existing National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) (which has 15 centres), National Institute of Design (three centres) and Pearl Academy of Fashion, would cater to the growing demands of India's fashion industry. According to estimates, the Indian design and fashion industry is worth Rs 20,000 crore. Of this, branded wear accounts for about a fifth. Over and above this, there are segments such as footwear design, product design and accessories design, which are yet to be fully tapped.

Dario Cattaneo, group sales director at Istituto Marangoni, said, "We are looking to expand our business outside Europe. We have seen a 20 per cent growth year-on-year in the number of Indian students coming to our campus."

Lisaa School of Design provides an exchange programme and an option for students to complete their final course year or the final project in France. "The art and design scene in Europe, especially Paris, is more culturally and deeply entrenched. We can't separate Lisaa from the essence of French art and design, which is exactly the flavour we wish for our Indian students to experience," said Sarabjit Singh, chief executive of Lisaa School of Design, India.

Lisaa France, which has been around for about 30 years, has campuses in Paris, Nantes, Rennes and Strasbourg.

The school, which began operations in India with four students, now has 100 students across many of its programmes. In terms of placements, it partners about 200 brands, firms and design houses, including Eurodisney, Alstom, Habitat, Ikea, BNP Paribas, Louis Vuitton Moet Hannessy, Hermes Paris, Prada, Alcatel, Saatchi & Saatchi and Christian Dior.

Growing fashion awareness among Indians, good placements and the ease of launching one's own label in fashion designing makes this segment exciting and popular. Yashika Rama (name changed), who graduated from NIFT-Delhi two years ago, has set up her own boutique in South Delhi. The boutique records an annual turnover of Rs 6 crore.

"These days, being fashion-conscious means being aware. I have clients as young as 14 who know what fashion is all about. Growing awareness means more business for fashion designers," said Rama. She aims to double her turnover in the 18-24 months.

As many students graduating from design schools join companies that have design divisions, placements aren't an issue. While the salary packages varies, the list of companies keeps increasing, institutes say. For instance, at Pearl Academy in Delhi, while the count of recruiters was about 70 last year, about 100 companies came to the campus this year. At NIFT, Trident, a first-time recruiter, offered salaries of Rs 15 lakh a year to master's degree holders and Rs 9 lakh a year to bachelor's students, in the first round of placements. New firms visiting the campus included Adidas, Samsung, Hennes & Mauritz and Brand Marketing India.

The average salary for an entry-level position for a fashion technology or design student ranges from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh, depending on the size of the firm. If a student manages to secure a job at a design company run by celebrity designers such as Satya Paul, Ritu Kumar and Tarun Tahiliani, the starting salary is 20-30 per cent higher, experts say. An average fashion design course costs between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 20 lakh, depending on whether it is a national or an international institution.

Cattaneo says while the number of players in this segment is increasing, a better location and teaching methodology would be Istituto Marangoni's unique selling point. While several fashion companies from Europe came to the institute's campus, he said several students were interested in setting up their own ventures. The institute has offered ^1 million worth of scholarships and is looking at similar schemes for the design school, too.

"Studies show in the next five years, the fashion industry in India would record average 15 per cent growth. Corporations have understood this potential well and, hence, the spurt in the number of institutes," said an education consultant with a global consulting firm.