From Runway to Retail: The Journey of a Fashion Collection
Remember the time when bagging an invite to a fashion show was a moment of pure bliss! Wondered why?
Because fashion has always been an expression of art. The art that borrows inspiration from mythical tales, literature, street styles, nature, historical influences, culture and traditions. But in modern times, expressing fashion in the form of clothing is no longer restricted to the catwalk arenas, it has come out from designer boutiques to exclusive brand outlets.
Designers conceptualize their ideas, chalk them out on paper and bring them to life on the canvas of fabrics. Nowadays, designers go beyond creativity and are leaving no stone unturned to transform their designs into masterpieces that not just garner them accolades but also help them get the right buyers.
Today time has evolved and so has the fashion industry. This fast-paced industry that weaves fresh stories every new season has seen a remarkable evolution which can be defined as the democratization of the fashion world. Today, the fashion industry is narrating success stories by joining hands with the ever-expanding retail landscape. From emerging designers who are all set to make their mark in this sphere to the iconic names ruling this runway, everyone is eyeing a collaboration to retail their designs. Retailers are making fashion weeks more consumer-friendly by making the collection immediately available to their online and offline stores for buyers. This journey from runway to retail stores has witnessed immense progress in the last few decades. Because in modern times fashion is all about showcasing collections that are shoppable!
While designers are tying up with retail brands to create visibility of their collections among the desired customer segment; retail brands on the other hand, are embracing the latest fashion trends hitting the runways, developing ready-to-wear collections and making them available at their selling points with an ultimate goal of making fashion accessible to a broader target customer. The growing popularity of ready-to-wear clothing has also been a crucial reason behind this paradigm shift in the industry.
It would not be wrong to say that in the present scenario, the fashion industry has moved from aspirational fashion to accessible fashion that can easily be roped into our everyday lives and keep our wardrobes updated with outfits that speak of the latest fashion trends. Having said that, we can’t ignore the boom in the retail industry. The expanding footprints of brick-and-mortar stores in malls and shopping complexes have helped in strengthening the positioning of retail brands and eventually allowed shoppers to adopt runway-inspired styles without punching a hole in their pockets.
Bridging this gap immaculately in the Indian ethnicwear segment, Libas has made a conscious choice to make larger-than-life ambitious runway-inspired styles available to contemporary women at affordable pricing that can be easily integrated into their everyday fashion choices and is a seamless blend of style, comfort, and functionality.
We all love fashion and want to be fashionable. Be it an ethnic look or something with a modern appeal, we all want to include a slice of fashion in our day-to-day lifestyle, to put our best foot forward. And undeniably, digital media has played a massive role in giving us this front-row access. With advanced progress in consumerism, technology, and various social media platforms, many of our choices and purchases are influenced by these digital channels. Suddenly, every individual is influential, and everyone is turning into a fashion influencer. The credit goes to Social Media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok which have ultimately played a larger part in revolutionizing the world of fashion. Libas leverages this trend by collaborating with these influencers in an effort to reach out to the masses through influencer marketing. We understand, in the present times, customers are more aware, informed and exposed to trends than ever before. And with the advancement in technology, retail brands are encashing it intelligently for analysing, comprehending, and understanding their end customers and resultantly, meeting their needs at the right time and place.
Talking about the evolution the fashion industry has witnessed in the last decade but not talking about fast fashion, wouldn’t be justified. After all, the coining of the term ‘fast fashion’ has made way for retail brands to come up with trendy, comfortable and affordable clothing for diverse sections of consumers. The emergence of e-commerce and social-media shopping have beautifully united fashion and retail brands with their fashion-enthusiastic consumers, blurring all geographical borders and making global fashion accessible.
Libas has been making a strong impression with its online presence for the past three years. We have always aimed at developing designs that connect with the new-age woman who is a decision-maker, financially independent, and seeks her unique fashion voice. To keep our positioning strong enough in this cutting-edge competitive business, Libas has also ventured into the offline retail space with its EBOs, Large-format stores and MBOs across metros, tier 1 and tier 2 cities, respectively. While every fashion brand is struggling to be the numero uno, Libas is taking careful steps towards its success ladder by holding the fort along with certain functional segments that maintain the efficacy and sustainability of the brand.
Design and Conceptualization: The first and foremost step towards developing a collection is the conceptualization and designing. Forecasting fashion trends and translating the same in their designs make our design team at Libas efficiently creative. The absolute idea is to create designs that appeal to contemporary women yet narrate a tale of tradition. On the basis of multiple factors like customer feedback, market analysis, seasonal trends, and available materials, our design team works around a collection. This approach of developing more versatile and appealing designs makes our fashion wear more accessible to a broader demographic.
Production Planning and Quality Control: As a part of a strong supply chain, production planning and quality-check include the involvement of manufacturers working on the design prototypes, sourcing raw materials, and working with skilled labours to deliver of the final designs that define the latest trends. Libas’ as a brand believes in a thorough pre-planning before launching a new collection for the seasonal cycles all-round the year. All products meticulously undergo a quality check to maintain harmonious standardization across all SKUs.
Supply Chain Management: Fashion and retail are fast-paced industries that demand effective supply chain management. Libas has an efficient supply chain management that connects manufacturers, suppliers, designers, warehouse staff and more. As a result, we can’t ignore the fact that efficient supply chain management requires good technological support that optimizes and automates processes, identifies risks, and monitors system performance. At Libas, we target to meet customer demands, examine issues and resolve the same to stay competitive in this sector. Libas holds great strength in seamless warehouse management and solutions. Maintaining a balanced product cycle of procuring it from the warehouse to delivering it to the end customer within 5-7 days; while keeping a close check on inventory management and maintaining the lowest rate of damages and pilferages.
E-Commerce and Omnichannel Growth Strategies: Within the current fashion dynamics, Libas believes in empowering the consumer and assisting them in making their choice from a diverse range of fashion styles available online at various marketplaces. Being present in almost all leading e-retail channels, Libas maintains a robust online presence offering access to a plethora of collections that are fashionable yet affordable. Libas has designed collections for various occasions and festivities; including Noor, Gul, Sukoon, Bahaar, Jashn, Nazm, Riwaayat, Noor and more. Beyond e-commerce, Libas believes in adopting the omni-channel approach by making its presence felt through offline retail stores. Currently, the brand owns 12 stores across the country. And is looking at a massive expansion plan with approximately 50 retail stores within a period of two years across the country.
Social Media Marketing: Social media platform acts as the key voice for fashion. Libas primarily focuses on affiliate marketing, social media marketing and influencer marketing with more than a 500+ influencer’s base. Libas maintains a healthy mix of paid and organic marketing including social media events, giveaways, interactive sessions, and more. We allow our consumers to engage with us and borrow inspiration from our social media influencers to seek fashion advice and style tips, hence keeping our customers abreast with the latest happenings, at their fingertips.
Customer Engagement & Post-Sale Support: Maintaining a healthy customer engagement and a strong post-sale support is vital in any retail landscape. We believe, the customer is the queen! And engaging with the customer through media channels keeps us updated on our shortcomings and loopholes and helps us understand how to rectify them and provide seamless customer service. We, at Libas take pride in our wholesome after-sale services and have a dedicated Customer Relations Management team to bridge the gap between the brand and our valued customers. We also use social media and personalized marketing effectively which helps in strengthening the brand loyalty and certainly helps us to get an insight into consumer’s preferences.
Overall, Libas is paving its path to success by strengthening its positioning in the online as well as offline retail sector by creating a dynamic and inclusive fashion landscape, accessible for a broader consumer base. We, as a renowned Indian ethnic fashion brand believe that the collaborative efforts of all the major verticals collectively facilitate our efforts to bring a trendy yet fashionable collection to the retail space. At Libas, our goal is to maintain a synergy between teams to create a flawless supply chain management system that could minimize the risk of errors and make fashionable styles accessible to our consumers seamlessly.
