By Vishnu Makhijani DETERMINED TO make inroads in the global market, India's burgeoning fashion industry and the government are increasingly moving in sync as couture houses race to catch up with pret lines that are already in stores worldwide. Four little noticed events are firm indicators of how Indian fashion is fast consolidating its hold on the global fashion mindset. The first is the decision of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), the interface between the government and the industry, to hold two India Fashion Weeks every year instead of one in line with international practices. The second is the initiation of a Trend Dialogue between the government and designers to inculcate in them the concept of fashion. The third is the commerce ministry's decision to participate in The Sourcing Zone, one of the largest, most compressive and cost effective apparel trade events in the US that caters to 3,500 exhibitors, 5,000 brands and 90,000 attendees. The Sourcing Zone is the destination for product development groups to find new trends and new niches in fashion at one efficient, focussed location during the largest apparel market week in the world. The event will be held at Las Vegas Feb 21-24, 2006. The fourth is the Indian government's decision to confer university status on the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), which kicked off the fashion revolution in the country with its founding in 1986. "Before NIFT, there was no formal teaching of fashion in India. Those with money could go to institutes abroad, but for most it was learning through hit and miss efforts," said institute alumni Gayatri Lal, principal designer at one of India's largest garment exporters - Modelama - that has 13 fabrication units spread across New Delhi and its satellite towns of Gurgaon and Manesar. "Today, there's a lot more discipline as we are exposed to international best practices. The communications revolution has also played a major role in exposing us to international trends to enable us respond effectively," Lal added. "NIFT has certainly brought in a lot more professionalism," said Modelama chief Sanjay Gulati, whose company exported garments worth $50 million in fiscal 2005-06 in India's total pie of $5 billion. Modelama's men's, women's and children's wear sell under labels like Marks and Spencer, Hugo Boss and Tommy Hilfiger, meaning that Indian designs and manufactures are comparable to the best internationally and are also indicative of a silent trend under way in the fashion industry. "This is how it works," Lal explained, "My team of designers scans international trends and comes up with a tentative collection of not only designs but also shades. We then sit down with the stores, fine-tune the patterns, add a bit, subtract a bit, and get down to manufacturing. Some of the orders can be pretty huge - 80,000 pieces, for instance." This could also lead to outsourcing of a different kind: couture designers getting their products fashioned at companies like Modelama. "Right now it's not happening, but it could if designers get large orders that they don't have the capacity to execute or the funds to execute," pointed out Harmeet Bajaj, who once was on the NIFT faculty and now divides her time designing, choreographing fashion shows and teaching fashion. Giving NIFT the university status will not only give it more autonomy but provide it with an opportunity to expand exponentially by offering degrees and higher courses . and could even achieve the status of the Indian Institutes of Technology. All this is a matter of immense satisfaction for Rati Vinay Jha, the founder-director of NIFT who now heads the FDCI that works closely with designers and fabricators to promote brand India globally. "We set out from two rooms in a (government-run) hotel in Delhi and it's very satisfying to observe the ripple effect we've created," said Jha of NIFT, which today has campuses in New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. Speaking of the FDCI's decision to make the India Fashion Week a biennial event, she said this not only reaffirmed India's place on the international fashion map but would bring the event on a par with similar shows around the world. "Be it Rome, Milan, London or any other city they hold a fall/winter and a spring/summer show. We here had been doing only one that was more spring/summer. Now, we'll be able to focus on the two collections," Jha pointed out. And what of the Trend Dialogue "As the fashion industry expands to cater to market needs, the importance of trends and their influence on fashion and modern life becomes imperative to the lifecycle of product design and manufacturing," she explained. "Right now, primarily whatever is successful becomes a trend. This must change and become more scientific. We need to impress on the industry the value of trend forecasting and showcase how the international fashion industry has been able to use it to its advantage," Jha added. At the same time, there are pitfalls as designers who participated in a fashion appreciation workshop pointed out. The name of the game was survival and sustaining relationships, said designer David Abraham, whose products retail worldwide. "For survival, you have to develop and sustain your relationship with your clients," Abraham contended. "I started out small and rode on the name of stores (carrying my line) in New York. Because of their name, I got a name." "At the end of the day, it's your product and not media hype that counts, unlike what many people may say," maintained Manish Arora whose designs created a major stir at the London Fashion Week two months ago. Nonita Kalra, editor of the Indian edition of global fashion magazine Elle, sounded a note of caution. "Don't mistake only designer wear for fashion. Fashion is a trend. It's your statement on life," she maintained. "It's the integrity of the designer that counts, the ability to keep your pulse on what buyers want." "Just look at the bridal market. Ten years ago, did a brideto- be have a magazine she could turn to for planning a wedding No. Her mother and her grandmother did it for her. As the world has moved on, so have weddings. Today you have not only bridal magazines but full fledged shows to lay out the entire gamut of options available," Kalra noted. So, be it pret or couture, the future has never looked so bright for the Indian fashion industry.