FASHION REIMAGINED: CONVERTING CHANGE TO PROGRESS

The Indian consumer’s behavioural and consumption patterns were already changing when the pandemic hit the fashion industry. The consumer was already leaning towards online purchases and treating in-store shopping more like an experience. The pandemic has only accelerated this change. At the Phygital Retail Convention, experts from the fashion sector deliberate on how they have adapted to this change quickly enough to benefi t from it and what the future holds.

- Tripti Mehta

Panellists

Manish Kapoor, CEO, Pepe Jeans India

Mevin Murden, Director of Education, Istituto Marangoni School of Fashion & Design, Mumbai

Muhamed Fawaz, CEO, HiLITE Mall

Pankaj Vermani, Founder and CEO, Clovia

Rohiet Singh, COO, PVH Arvind Fashion Pvt Ltd

Session Moderator

Sakshi Goel, Senior Director – Retail, CBRE

The pandemic has been both an adversity and a blessing to the Indian fashion sector. It has laid the road for new brands to emerge, as online shopping takes precedence over offline shopping, making the latter more an experience for the consumer than a point of sale. Speaking about his learnings from the fashion segment, Manish Kapoor, CEO, Pepe Jeans India, speaking at the Phygital Retail Convention that was hosted in Mumbai between November 10 and 11, said, “The consumer was changing anyway; a lot of us on the fashion side was probably not too serious about the change. We were too concentrated on the divides of the channel, commercial models, online & offline modes, but the consumer was never looking at that. What the pandemic brought to the forefront was that it made us realize that these changes are already happening. It was then that we were able to fast-forward the changes that we wanted to make in our business. It did also, at the same time, throw up newer opportunities in terms of product categories, in terms of new ways of reaching out to consumers, etc.”