Hermès sari to capture India's shoppers

Hermès is playing on the old adage of giving the people want they want most. The French luxury brand has launched a limited edition sari in its foray into the Indian market. With its design based on popular Hermès scarves – many of

which were themselves inspired by Indian design – the brightly-coloured saris mark the first time a western company has created the wraparound garment for India’s nascent luxury market.

Patrick Thomas, chief executive of Hermès International, called the saris – which will sell for $6,100 to $8,200 – a “wink” to Indian consumers.

“There have been a lot of connections between Hermès and India,” Mr Thomas told the FT. “Designing these saris for Indian customers is a way to pay light homage to India, and say, ‘Hermès admires India and has a lot to learn from India.’”

It’s perhaps not surprising that the first offer of a sari from a western company comes from Hermès, which last year launched a bespoke Chinese brand, aimed at winning more Chinese customers while resuscitating China’s craft tradition. Yet, with western fashion businesses still struggling to sell women’s apparel in India, many experts believe the offer of saris by a major global design house is long overdue.

“You have to create products that Indian consumers like,” said Neelesh Hundekari, a luxury expert at AT Kearney, a consultancy. “Why would you not do saris in India? Companies should have done it much earlier.”

India’s luxury market has recently captured the attention of European and American fashion houses, as the increasingly affluent elite shrug off years of socialist-inspired austerity, when Gandhi-style cotton garments were embraced by all. Today, India’s domestic sales of high-end jewellery, handbags, shoes, watches and apparel are estimated at $2.2bn, just a fraction of sales in China. Nonetheless, India’s annual sales growth of 20 per cent – and the number of Indians flocking to their boutiques abroad – has drawn many top western luxury brands to set up shop in the country.

Companies such as LVMH, Giorgio Armani, Ermenegildo Zegna, Gucci and Jimmy Choo, have all established themselves there, though their stores remain mostly confined to just New Delhi and Mumbai.

The Indian market presents a number of challenges. High import tariffs make foreign luxury goods 30 to 40 per cent more expensive than elsewhere, often prompting Indians to buy abroad rather than at home.

India’s 51 per cent cap on foreign direct investment on “single brand” retail also forces western brands to tie up with Indian partners, though Delhi recently indicated that it may soon relax this rule and allow 100 per cent foreign ownership.

The tight real estate market also makes it tough for luxury retailers to find visible, high-street locations, pushing most brands into either five-star hotels or upmarket shopping malls, catering only to a very narrow clientele.

Hermès is one of the first to break out from these confines, having refurbished an elegant, British-colonial era building for the opening of its new Mumbai store earlier this year.

“We want to communicate and be in touch with Indian society, not in a ghetto where you have all the luxury brands together,” said Mr Thomas. “We want to talk to the category of Indian customers who do not travel all the time.”

Image: Hermes AW11 campaign
Source: FT©