Fabindia to unveil western line Fabel

Known for its Indian ethnic and traditional wear Fabindia is all set to unveil a collection of western wear like jackets, shirts,

trousers (for men and women) and tops and dresses (for women) under newly coined label Fabel, next week. The range would be available at 10 stores in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai in the first phase of the soft launch.

Designed by Alistiar Blair, who has worked with high-end labels like Givenchy, Chloe, Valentino and Cerruti, the first two lines under Fabel would be retailed from 30 re-conceptualised Fabindia stores. Mark Bell, a veteran from UK-based retailers, Selfridges and Body Shop has transformed the stores into their new avatar. The price range for the western wear collection will be between Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,000, whereas jackets will fall in the Rs 3,000- Rs 5,000 bracket. Fabindia plans to have Fabel shop-in-shops in most of its 172 outlets.

Keeping in mind that ethnic wear demand is limited to special occasions with the young looking for more of western outfits, the company decided to introduce the new line moving away from its existing image. With 50 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion people falling under 30 years of age, Fabindia wants to attract a fraction of this huge prosperous group.

It had introduced fusion wear in 2006, which is registering 20 per cent growth, and contributes 30 per cent to the company's turnover compared to the ethnic wear. Company aims to double the Rs 120-crores fusion wear business in the next one year.