In order to understand the key success factors required for any fashion powerhouse to succeed in the global scenario, we decided to look at two of the world’s largest fashion conglomerates – Gucci and Louis Vuitton. We looked at the evolution of these companies and also at the different strategies these companies have employed over time to achieve the position in the world fashion market they have today. This analysis helped us in figuring out the feasibility of a similar fashion powerhouse emerging from a country like India. The complete listing of our findings from these 2 companies from the cases we analyzed is given in Exhibit 1.
Shanghai Tang – the Chinese lifestyle brand
After looking at the cases of the 2 global giants, we figured that the context and market in which these companies have operated are completely different from what the same would be for a company emerging from India. In order to understand the aspects of establishing a fashion powerhouse in an Indian context, we took a look at Shanghai Tang, the leading Chinese lifestyle brand. Similar to India, the Chinese market also has a niche segment in the global fashion market, and hence the learning from this company helped us better understand the issues, challenges, key success factors, etc., for a fashion powerhouse emerging from India. Our findings from analysis of the Shanghai Tang company are given in Exhibit 2.
Names in Indian Fashion
Although the Indian fashion industry is projected to grow at a high rate of close to 10%, the industry is still largely fragmented with no major fashion powerhouse that provides holistic fashion solutions to its customers. There is still no single fashion house to compete with companies like Gucci or Louis Vuitton. Though there are a lot of individual designers with famous international icons in their list of clientele, none of them seem to have the potential to emerge as a global fashion powerhouse in the near