
Fashion design. What do these two words mean? No, I don’t mean the dictionary definition. I mean what does it mean to you? What comes to your mind when you hear these two words? Food for thought.
Let me start by saying that being a fashion designer is difficult. This field involves a lot of hard-work. When people think fashion they think glamour, but what they don’t know is the amount of blood, sweat and tears hidden behind the glamour. The glamour quotient is just the tip of the iceberg.
I think it is safe to say that fashion designers do not get the respect that they deserve. I am sure that every designer would have been ridiculed at some point in their lives regarding their career choices.
The problems are insufficient exposure, extensive competition and not enough resources, plagiarism to name a few. Ideation and designing combined is only 50% of the work, rest 50% involves bringing a designers idea to life for which they have to cross a lot of hurdles rely upon skilled craftsmen and that is one of the biggest challenges they face. The start of those hurdles is procurement of the right fabrics. It’s one thing to imagine a dress and another to get the right fabric to match that imagination. You just never seem to get satisfied! The next hurdle is to find the artist who can convert that imagination into a reality. Here in India, it’s hard to find the craftsman with the specific skill you’re looking for. Even if you do manage to find one, they’re either working far away from you or they have very little time to spare. The third hurdle faced is the distribution. Ideally the product should be available for purchase both online and offline but most often it is either online or offline. For expensive designer wear, people prefer to have a touch and feel experience which is only possible in an offline store and for the same reason people do not buy expensive designer wear online. At least in India, people consider online market as a place to get cheap merchandise. The fourth hurdle is marketing. So yeah, I’ve made my collection, I’ve got it all stitched and ready to be shipped, but who’s going to buy them? Nobody knows me in the market. They don’t know my style, my specialty, the perfection I strive for — none of these. The initial thrust that a designer needs is the hardest and that is where most of us fall. I feel that the life of a fashion designer is like an eaglet. The hardest part is the first flight when the feathers are yet to be complete, when the wings are yet to be strong enough. But once the eagle crosses that stage, then there’s no stopping it from reaching great heights.
Now let me tell you about me. I am a fashion designer too and mind you not an established one. When I heard about GetNatty and about the difference they want to bring in the lives of designers and to the way the world sees designer fashion, I made up my mind to join them. They take care of the third and fourth hurdle. By giving both online and offline platform in the form of website and offline exhibitions, GetNatty tries its best to solve the problem of distribution. By promoting the designer through social media, affiliate fashion websites, product search engines and its own website, they are able to cater to the fourth hurdle of marketing pretty well. Luckily I got to be a part of the team and I am helping designers in getting a podium and building their business online. Our entire team comes across so many designer inquiries everyday and most of them have such praise to give. It fills our hearts with joy that we are helping people design their dreams and hence we went with the same tagline. Our aim is to help designers design, not just design clothes or accessories but design their dream.
We started with a vision to empower Fashion designers and everything and everyone associated with fashion design. To give them the respect and recognition they deserve. Our doors are open for students who have just started out and to those who have established themselves and are looking to expand. We don’t discriminate. We just want to make this world a better place for fashion designers.