Fashion Design Council of India

Summary

The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) is an Indian organisation that intends to establish itself as the apex body in the field of fashion design in India and to work for the development and growth of the fashion design industry.

Formed in December 1998, the FDCI is a non-profit independent association of fashion designers. Currently, the office is based in New Delhi with Mr. Sunil Sethi as the President. The FDCI is supported by the Indian Textile Ministry & it also works very closely with fashion institute like NIFT.

Objectives

The FDCI is represented by over 400 members and was created to promote, nurture and represent the most incredible talents in the country. Its prime objective is to propagate the business of fashion in India and globally by adding resplendent flair in the form of coveted fashion weeks.

As part of its initiatives, the FDCI’s calendar of events include the annual prêt week for women and menswear for Autumn-Winter and Spring-Summer, the India Fashion Week and the yearly luxurious offering, the India Couture Week. Over the years, in a bid to make India cross the shores, it has spearheaded heady collaborations with different countries/their fashion bodies for an interchange of designers, created a new breed of supermodels, as it hunts for fashion connoisseurs whose handcrafted joys have made a place in the world’s fashion dictionary.

It also continues to foster fashion designers, retailers, models, make-up artists, hair stylists, choreographers and manufacturers as it takes style beyond perceived boundaries by improving business practices, whilst creating domestic and international opportunities.

The FDCI has integrated designers from various states, cities and towns of India into one cohesive body guiding them towards sustainable growth. Understanding the complex crafts of the country, it works with textile designers closely to create a unique handprint. With its unerring prism, it sets superlative quality standards, sparking a revolution towards ‘fashion with a soul’ tying up with various CSR intiatives.

FDCI is the fulcrum for activities that have been supported by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Textiles and Gujarat State Khadi and Village Industries Board as they actively facilitated trade at various fashion weeks. With each passing year, the FDCI builds on artisanal fortitude and embarks on a journey with a brilliantly dynamic approach fired by inspirational ideas.

Initiatives

India Fashion Week & Trade Show Events:

India Fashion Week

The Council has been instrumental in promoting the Indian Fashion Industry globally through its platforms India Fashion Week – Autumn Winter & Spring Summer & India Mens Week. FDCI has also started India Couture Week to cater to the growing needs of the Indian Couture Designers making it the 3rd Couture event in the world. FDCI’s mission is to hold more such industry developing initiative.

Retail Distribution & Network:

To study the present distribution/reseller network and to see how designers could benefit from this network.

Finance:

Fund resource mobilization for the industry is an important goal. Funding to be mobilized from Government schemes, corporate sponsorships, direct investments etc.

Forecasting and Trends:

Create a trend forecast forum for domestic and exports markets.

Industry Promotion:

It promotes fashion designers in India & internationally through strategically planning and executing promotion campaigns. The forum hopes to cultivate and consolidate a market base for products designed by Indian Fashion Designers.

Technical Up gradation & Training:

This will focus on technical standardizing across the industry. To professionalize the prêt-a-porter industry by having standard norms for all designer members. These could include sizing norms, accounting norms, labeling norms etc. The Council in the past has developed a system of norms for member fashion designers. FDCI plans to organize and conduct entrepreneurial development programmes, quality awareness programmes and so on.

FDCI.org:

To host a website listing the objectives of the FDCI and also create links to the web pages of individual designers.

Resource Centre:

The FDCI will set up a research/ resource center that would cover the history of Indian fashion and would catalogue the collections of designer members.

Government Policies:

FDCI aims at liaison with the government and related governmental bodies on matters pertaining to excise duty, taxation systems, preferential tariffs for cargo etc.

Fashion Hub:

The Council would also like to work towards creating a Fashion Village / Hub. Work on the same in association with other governmental bodies is in progress.

Charitable Initiatives

FDCI organises the annual mega-designer sale, offering designer garments at heavy discounts. Five per cent of the sale proceeds from this event goes towards various charities like Divya Chaya Turst in Kolkata, Observation Home, Mumbai, and the relief fund of Gujarat earthquake victims to name a few.

In 2003, four designers: Anju Modi, Anjana Bhargava, Puja Duggal and Ameet Sikka tied up with nine artists Jatin Das, Sudip Roy, Niren Sengupta and Jai Zharotia, among them to paint garments ranging from the traditional salwar kameez to trousers and skirts. The result was a novel collection for a charity.

In 2010, the Design Council along with the organisation Khushii (Kinship for Humanitarian, Social and Holistic Intervention in India) held the ceremony of Art on Wheels on the last day of WIFW to raise funds for the NGO’s global development initiative – World Action Forum (WAF) for causes like educating children, empowering village communities etc. Twelve well-known artists like Dilip Sharma, Farhad Hussain, George Martin, Hindol Brahmbhatt, Jayasri Burman, Jagannath Panda, Paresh Maity, Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Satish Gupta, Sudhanshu Sutar and Yusuf Arakkal had handpainted a limited edition autorickshaws. The autos were also auctioned at The Claridges for bidding.

FDCI, in order to generate funds for a People for Animals (PFA) initiative entered into a design alliance with the carpet weavers to weave the creations of artists such as S.H. Raza, MF Husain and Paresh Maity along with the designs of fashion designers such as Rohit Bal, Manish Arora, JJ Valaya, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Ritu Kumar, on a museum quality carpet that can be displayed on walls or floors. The carpets bought from the exhibitions were available at a considerable cheaper price to raise funds for the (PFA) initiative.

In 2012, the Fashion Council partnered with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to encourage the cause of Vegan Fashion in the country by announcing the Fashion for Freedom Boycott Bill. In the same year, a significant initiative of signing a pact between the Ministry of Textiles (MOT) & Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) was also taken.

Board of Governors

• Anjana Bhargava
• Rahul Mishra
• Safir Anand
• Nitin Bal Chauhan
• Rajesh Pratap Singh
• Sunil Sethi
• Paras Bairoliya
• Reynu Taandon
• Varun Bahl
• Payal Jain

References

• http://www.fdci.org/about_us.aspx?iType=4
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_Design_Council_of_India
• https://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/7118
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/fashion/shows/FDCI-changing-headquarters/articleshow/6265664.cms?referral=PM
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/events/delhi/Creativity-for-charity-at-this-do/articleshow/5746482.cms?referral=PM
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/events/delhi/FDCIs-art-exhibition-for-charity/articleshow/6114830.cms?referral=PM