It's a great time to be in the industry

Anjali Bhaskar has an experience of 12 years in the fashion industry. She has worked with veterans like Shantanu Nikhil and Suneet Verma, and launched her label Samatvam in 2010. Her label is a marriage between age-old craftsmanship and modern sensibilities. Bhaskar divulges details about her latest collection and design strategies in an interview with Fibre2Fashion.

Fibre2Fashion: You have been in this industry for over a decade. How has the Indian fashion industry evolved?

Anjali Bhaskar:

The Indian fashion industry has thousands of years of heritage behind it. We have the cultural legacy of hand embroideries and handlooms; these are never going to go out of fashion. The industry over the last decade has become more organised. Online portals are giving many young designers an opportunity to display their work and connect with clients across the globe and have a broader outreach. Even customers have become more aware. They are willing to experiment with new designers. I think it's a great time to be in the industry.

F2F: Where do you source fabric and accessories from?

AB:

F2F: What is your design strategy? What is a staple in all your collections?

AB:

In our designs, we try to have the perfect blend of age-old craftsmanship and modern sensibilities, cuts and silhouettes. We have considerable focus on embroideries and craftsmanship, and we believe that eventually the magic lies in the smallest of details.

F2F: Who is your target audience? Where is your clientele majorly from (in terms of geographies)?

AB:

Anyone who appreciates the intricacies of workmanship and those who can filter between quality and quantity would be our target customer. We make clothes for all body types as we believe beauty shines from within you and clothes should help in that. Geographically speaking, the Middle East, UK and US are our strong markets and closer home Mumbai, Delhi and even small towns work very well for us.

F2F: Since you stock with stores abroad, how is the demand for your clothes in India versus abroad?

AB:

Stores abroad mainly cater to the Indian diaspora and in Middle East even their own population. We feel that they have a very strong understanding of what they want, and they are driven more by personal choices rather than the latest trends in terms of indutvas or ethnicwear, which I find very admirable.

F2F: How easy or difficult is it to get to the point where you get to dress celebs or even design for a movie?

AB:

It's a combination of having the right type of styles along with the visibility for celebrities. However, there is no substitute for hard work and perseverance. One needs to be at it and keep evolving. Dressing celebrities or doing clothes for a movie are the result of one's constant creations and hard work.

F2F: How is Indian fashion being perceived internationally?

AB:

Indian designers have earned themselves great respect internationally. Designers like Sabyasachi and Rahul Mishra have set the bar very high and Indian designers have found a great market abroad. Also, social media has made the world very small place as we have clients from across the globe.

F2F: Which are the key factors which go into deciding the right kind of retail space for your clothes?

AB: