Easton Pearson to dress Indian women

High-end Australian fashion label Easton Pearson is looking to try its luck in India’s fashion market. The label run by Lydia Pearson

and Pam Easton has been sourcing a third of the exquisite textiles which it is known for from traditional women’s embroidery co-operatives in rural India. And it has a workshop in Mumbai.

A cripplingly high Australian dollar and an Indian top end fashion market growing at an annual rate of more than 25 percent have added up to make India an obvious new market for Australian couture houses. Nearly 20 years ago, most women had their salwar kameez suits stitched at their favorite tailor, and the sight of an Indian woman in a western-style dress was a rarity. But that is changing with high street brands such as Zara, Mango and Australia’s own Forever New doing brisk in India’s new shopping malls.

Easton Pearson will use its Indian partner R&B to sell its clothes through local retailers in Delhi and Mumbai, and has plans for a boutique operation in Kolkata. The Australian duo sees a great opportunity in India since women wear western- clothes, but the Indian aesthetic is still very colorful, decorative and joyful, exactly the thing the label is good at.