Tomorrow’s designers

The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) and 6Degree, one of India’s leading fashion business platforms, have launched Gen-Z, a platform for young, aspiring designers at the Autumn Winter’19 season of India Fashion Week (IFW) to be held in New Delhi, next year.

Eminent stalwarts from the fashion industry will select five budding designers to showcase their collections at India Fashion Week. The designers will go through a period of mentorship by leading personalities from the fashion industry, through their design journey to the grand platform of India Fashion Week. Nikhil Hegde, co-founder and CEO, 6Degree, tells us more about the platform. 

There is so much talent in the Indian fashion industry, but the challenges faced by retailers make it difficult for the new designers to demonstrate their skills and establish a strong brand. “Gen-Z is a positive step towards introducing this talent to the masses and give them the due recognition,” says Hegde.  

As a platform, Gen-Z helps young and creative designers to come and share the responsibility by bringing new ideas to the table. “We hope this turns out as a career positive step for all the budding designers involved,” says Hegde.

However, you need to keep a few things in mind if you want to pursue fashion designing. “Being fashionable and working for fashion are two different things, so only if you are ready to work hard, only then can you survive in the world of fashion,” says Hegde adding, “Success never comes with a guarantee, hence you must have backup plans.” 

One may not be welcomed and showered with compliments everywhere! “You will have to be creative to be a designer and it does happen that your designs may be liked by some, and not liked by others. So you need to be ready to face such situations,” he says. A career in fashion is for those who are ready to take up challenges and prove themselves every now and then.

Hegde say that the Indian fashion scenario is known for its cultural heritage, elegance, and colourfulness. “It brings out the subtlety and beauty which has sustained through innumerable decades. The fashion industry in India is an amalgamation of dynamic conventions,” says Hegde. 

From ethnic to Western, salwar kameez to high-street fashion —  our fashion industry has definitely gone through a milieu of transformations. “The fashion industry covers a wide range of clothing from ornate clothes designed for wedding ceremonies to casual wear. The industry has expanded to such an extent over time that it is now in par with the international fashion industry and has become one of the most popular revenue-generating industries of India,” he adds.  

Fashion these days has become more about sustainability. However,  20 years ago sustainability was not on the agenda of the fashion industry players. “Today, sustainability forms part of their agenda, so there are more than one hundred different labels addressing consumers’ health and environmental and social sustainability,” he says adding that buyers today are substantially larger in size than the suppliers they source from, hence clearly hold the bargaining as well as the market power because of which fashion designing students are taught about sustainability.

That said, in this competitive fashion industry, even established brands need to constantly work towards catering the ever-growing fashion needs of the consumer. Thus, there is a constant need for young design talent to bring in that freshness and diversity in design. Mentoring and market access becomes paramount for such young labels to be able to create a mark in the fashion sector.
Applications open at: http://6Degree.co/genz