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He's an integral part of the fashion
industry. But the only thing Sanjay Kapoor has ever designed
is a necktie. Far away from the drawing board, this is
one man who can tell you all about "Stock turnaround
ratio'', "Stocking value per square foot'' and "QC's''
(quality control) -- terms that often leave most in the
fashion industry stumped. But then, he's in the business
of fashion.
Putting his MBA degree to good use, Sanjay,
managing director of Genesis Colours Pvt Ltd -- that owns
the Satya Paul label -- is looking at corporatising the
largely unorganised Indian fashion industry. In a segment
where designers often double as creative heads, managers,
sales personnel, marketing people and often even event
managers, Genesis Colours has decided to take a leaf from
fashion houses the world over that are usually structured
as conglomerates.
Moving on after revamping the Satya Paul
label, Genesis has recently taken over the Deepika Gehani
label. And if Sanjay's plans are to be believed, there's
a lot more in store with Genesis Colours looking at taking
over two more labels before the year-end.
"This is the way fashion houses
the world over operate. We are looking at an umbrella
organisation with a basket of brands. And we want to make
all those brands international. There is so much talent
here in the industry, it should reach out all over. For
the Deepika Gehani brand, we have conceived a strategy
that will take the label all over,'' says Sanjay.
For someone who started out as a banker,
the fashion industry could not have been further from
the horizon. And that too in the neck wear segment. But
that's exactly how Sanjay mapped out his career. Way back
in 1993, Sanjay along with a friend, Jyoti Narula, left
the banking sector to start out a neckwear business, something
that turned out to be a hugely profitable venture. So
profitable, in fact, that the group now makes around a
million ties a year.
"I just knew that I could not work
for someone else my entire life. And that's why we decided
to move out. As for the choice of product -- there's a
huge market in that. Women have so much choice with colours,
the kind of clothes they can wear. But what about a man?
He can either wear a grey suit or a blue one. Where's
the choice? Especially when you are working in the corporate
sector. It's only in the tie that one can experiment.
And my brush with the corporate sector taught me that
there's a huge vacuum in that sector,'' explains Sanjay,
who manages the financial and business end at Genesis
Colours.
As business picked up, the next step
was to look at brands and the duo went on to acquire Satya
Paul in 2002. "We wanted to make this a brand for
the global women of today. For a woman who starts her
day with a puja, then goes for work, is a mother and a
homemaker. There is a need to concentrate on the pret
line. We have the upper end market where even Maharani
Gayatri Devi is our customer but we want this brand to
reach out to everyone in the market. After all, how long
can we be satisfied by dressing up 200 women in bridal
wear?'' questions Sanjay.
In fact, to position the product in the
right segment, an entire range of clothing was designed
based on the successful serial, "Jassi Jasi Koi Nahin''
-- a value for money range. "The range did really
well. It was for working women who are looking for something
to wear to office every day. For real women, who are interested
in fashion but not necessarily top end fashion,'' he says.
As part of the strategy to position Satya
Paul in the market, a number of other unique marketing
strategies were also evolved over the past couple of years.
From putting up a ramp at Madame Tussaud's in England
to holding a fashion show with royalty, participating
in fashion shows for tsunami, breast cancer and other
women specific issues, the brand has been involved in
all this and much more.
Now with an expanding basket of brands,
Sanjay is focusing on the international market in the
coming months. Besides a show planned in Los Angeles,
New York and Singapore, a store in Dubai is also on the
cards.
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