One of the biggest hurdles young entrepreneurs face when launching a product is finding customers. Online shops have helped considerably, but there is still a gap between the extremely-talented and potential customers.
“Runway Rising”, a show organised at The Ashok Hotel, has managed to provide a platform for upcoming fashion designers, jewellery designers, gourmet bakers, footwear designers and home decor artists to showcase their products to a number of high-end shoppers.
The banquet hall, that had been converted into a flea-market-type setting, was full of shoppers looking for something new. It was visibly a fashionita’s paradise as shoppers came dressed rather fashionably for browsing through various stalls while looking for something that caught their eye.
One of the shoppers, Anamika Dhawan, said: “Events like these are an amazing place to find something fresh. Stores however exclusive sometimes come up with stuff that everybody has seen. If you want to make a true statement, it’s exhibitions like these that you need to visit.”
For Anurag Chauhan from Jaipur, who was seen jostling through the designer bag-carrying crowd, trying to speak to as many designers as possible, the visit was to scout for fresh looks that he could source for his boutique back home. “There is so much talent here, especially students who have just finished design school make clothes that are an instant hit in my boutique.”
For Shradha, who launched her label Karushe immediately after graduating from Pearl Academy of Fashion, exhibitions like Runway Rising have helped her set up her business by meeting people who liked her stuff and ended up giving her orders. She now supplies her collection to multi-designer stores across Delhi.
While for Shradha the platform has already helped her establish herself, newcomer to the business Tania I. Kathuria, who started her brand TI Couture less than a year back, hopes the exhibition will help sell her line of modern jewellery that can be paired with gowns, dresses and evening wear.
“My jewellery is popular with a very elite clientele. And it is at exhibitions like these, that are held at hotels and at premium malls, that I meet potential clients,” she says.
Most designers also have websites that feature their entire collection, through which you can contact them for customised orders, but they put up stalls so that people can get an idea of the quality of their product.
