Affordable Fashion by Karmik at LFW 2012

Pradeep and Neha Hirani the leading couple of the Indian fashion industry, just launched the most innovative label – Karmik at the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week and expanded their portfolio by adding a whole new and interesting dimension to it.

 The idea behind this concept is to create affordable designer wear thus bridging the gap that currently exists between the very high range and low range.  This will be the mid-ranged collection from the country’s top designers like Rohit Bal, Anamika Khanna, JJ Valaya, Rocky S, Falguni & ShanePeacock, Rana Gill, Shantanu and Nikhil, Rina Dhaka, Neeta Lulla and Kavita Bhartia. The range will be reasonably priced without compromising on the quality and at the same time will retain each designer’s individual creativity.

Karmik promises to provide the best of Indian designer wear at affordable prices and easily accessible.  The currently available designer labels are not only steeply priced, but are also proximally inaccessible. Hence today’s woman has lesser choice and thus she invariably ends up buying mass brands that, although affordable, are both non-exclusive and non-aspirational. Hence there is a tremendous scope of developing a retail model which will cater to the desires of today’s woman, who is pressed for choice when it comes to buying affordable designer Indian wear.

The collection was showcased with Sonakshi Sinha opening the ramp in JJ Valaya’s creation for Karmik. According to designer JJ Valaya, a prospective customer who is stuck between the low and high price range will step up and invest in sensible fashion while someone who regularly shops designer labels, will end up buying several instead of one. Thus Karmik aims to tap the best of both worlds.

The store is all set on achieving a pan India presence. The average price point would range between Rs 5,000 to 6,000 (UDS 100) per garment and Karmik is committed to openning 60 stores across the country in the next few years. Retaining the aesthetics and design philosophy of each designer, Karmik will house ethnic Indian wear including a range of sarees, salwar kameez and tunics; exclusively sampled and crafted by some of the nation’s biggest designers.

Karmik garments will lay emphasis on age old Indian textures, motifs and crafts with a view to contemporize the classic Indian silhouettes and designs to give them a more modern edge.

This was quite an interesting show as it was the first time in the history of the Indian Fashion Industry that so many top designers walked the ramp for one particular brand.