Anxiety Over Raintree

As the date of my exhibition in Bangalore approached, I felt anxious and nervous and I could feel a weight in my chest. I've always had a gut feel that Brass Tacks would have a lot more takers in Bangalore than any other city in India, so this exhibition was so much more important than the costs and sales involved for this one-time event. For me, the exhibition represented the potential for Brass Tacks to succeed outside Chennai.

I spent a lot of time last year trying to find a boutique in Bangalore that would retail Brass Tacks. But lately I’ve been feeling that for a brand like mine (bridge brand, between mass produced and high-end), retailing in small numbers at boutiques isn’t the way to go. When I heard from a few other designers that Raintree in Bangalore was a great place to have an exhibition, I jumped at the idea. This was a chance for me to really see how Brass Tacks is received in Bangalore, and it could be the initial steps that lead to a franchise or a branch in Bangalore.

My exhibition was on Friday and Saturday of last weekend. Low on sleep but high on nervous energy, I had set up the place the day before with help from my sales associate and family in Bangalore. Friday's sales went well, and Saturday was fantastic with a gap of only 15 minutes in the afternoon when the trial room was empty. Next time I'll have to stay for Sunday!

It was interesting to see which styles flew off the shelves and which ones didn’t elicit much of a response. I had chosen styles that were very popular in Chennai but clearly there are differences in taste across cities. Honey Dress and Sangeetha Maxi were very popular, but only a few pieces of Black Orchid and French Parfait sold. I'm really not sure why but I need to figure that out.




Organizing an exhibition is a lot more lucrative than retailing in someone else’s boutique, but it’s a lot more work too and I couldn't have managed without all the help I got from family and friends. My cousin helped me with billing and accounts on both days, my Aunt and Uncle gave me their car and driver and helped with all the packing after the exhibition was over, and my Aunt sent lunch every day for us! I am also very grateful to all the people who sent their family and friends in Bangalore to my exhibition- thank you!

So while I still have family in Bangalore, I'm planning my next exhibition! Not sure whether to have one in December (may be too cold in Bangalore for Brass Tacks clothes) or February (right before the weather starts getting warm). I guess this is the right time to start designing for a larger audience and make sure my collections work in other parts of the country.

My Defense

It’s always hard for a designer to receive negative feedback about her creations, but since my business depends on how women perceive my brand I try very hard to take a few deep breaths and listen to feedback and advice.

But then there are times when I receive criticism for changing Indian culture, or succumbing to “western” culture, or promoting a certain look that is anti-feminist. Recently I was told that my clothes promote a look that is anti-women.

When I started Brass Tacks I was very clear that the reason I needed to design cosmopolitan (or “western”) silhouettes is because a lot of younger women don’t wear sarees everyday. The goal was to sustain and hone the skills used in handloom weaving, but to find a market among a younger generation in the form of stylish clothing. But while I receive good press about using handloom fabric, I am also judged for making garments that do not work for older women’s bodies, or for making garments that are too western for our culture. (Incidentally, last year I made a halter dress with a low back for my Monsoon Collection and it flew off the shelves. To me this is proof that the taste and demand for evening dresses exists already; I’m just making it in fabrics that are normally reserved for sarees).

And as for calling my designs anti-women or anti-feminist, I can’t explain how much that hurts. I’ve met so many people who think that a feminist is essentially a man-hater and I’ve spent hours trying to delicately correct their misconception of feminism. Now I need to watch out for people who think I’m a woman hater?

Okay maybe woman hater is a bit of an exaggeration, but one woman told me that my silhouettes are made for an androgynous figure and she added that a lot of younger women are doing whatever they can to achieve that look. Since when did full busts that need darts and empire lines or extra gathers at the lower back to give room for full hips fall into the category of androgynous? An androgynous look may have been an appropriate description for women’s trousers decades ago when it was new and scandalous, but to describe women’s figures as androgynous is either an insult or a reflection of a high and homogeneous standard that all women’s bodies must conform to.

At this point I’d like to add that Brass Tacks trousers that actually have some waist to hip ratio unlike many international brands that expect women to have a straight body from the waist down, and those trousers are worn by women of all ages. I am all about curvy- in fact, curvy brings out the shape of the clothes even better and the shape and fit of the garments is all we focus on at Brass Tacks.

Sure, many of my silhouettes work under the assumption that a woman’s waist is smaller than her bust or hip, but is that a bad thing? Every brand needs to take some position or define its niche in order to distinguish it from every other brand out there. Maybe I should expand my line and work in a variety of silhouettes, but until then my brand is not meant for androgynous women. It is meant for young, confident women, many of whom want fitted clothes. You only need to look at old school bollywood actresses like Zeenat Aman or ancient Indian art like the sculptures at Khajuraho to see that slim waists with curvy busts and hips were in back then too.

Women come in different shapes and sizes and we have always been compared to some “standard” of beauty which is why so many women are sensitive about their body weight and appearance. Some women don’t hold weight and others may not have the time or the money to look after their health. I say that every time a new brand caters to different body type, it’s a celebration of women and the different forms their feminine figures can take.

Too Early to Mourn

The other day during a phone interview someone asked me whether it was a conscious decision to work with environmentally friendly fabrics or if it just happened to be that way. I felt it was an unfair question, and in a moment of foolish rebellion I said it just happened to be that way. How could I let Cotton down by proclaiming my entire business was built on a calculated decision of marketing environmentally friendly fashion when in fact my love for Cotton goes way back to days when I was too young to know about global warming?

But here I am, two days after that phone interview and wondering why I chose not to play the game. Marc Jacobs has a perfume called Cotton, high-end Ayurveda-based cosmetics are now in, and 5-star yoga and wellness spas now exist all over the country (with a day trip to the nearby village school planned for the conscientious).

So what’s the problem? Well the marketing game only works if you publicize something that is sought after, something that appeals to everyone’s notion of what is cool. I feel that for some reason Handloom and Crafts missed the coolness train in India. You can buy handloom everywhere, and the quality varies so much that for most consumers handloom still stands for cheap and poor quality. And when they think of block-printed or tie-dyed fabric, they also think colour bleeding, faded-in-no-time, and difficult to care for.

And they aren’t always wrong. We don’t live in an age where people have the time or money to wash each of their clothes individually. If the textile sector had caught onto that a long time ago, we would be competing with mill-made fabrics on a different level; instead of poor quality competing with durability it could have been luxury goods competing with run of the mill.

Let me take a minute to make it clear that I am not saying we should strip a fabric of its core personality; I don’t want cotton to behave like polyester, nor do I want tussar to behave like silk chiffon. I am just asking for fewer weaving defects, for colour uniformity, and most importantly for colour fastness.

Below are swatches of three fabrics.


Swatch on the left: mill made cotton fabric.
Center swatch: handloom cotton fabric (yard dyed).
Swatch on the right: hand block-printed fabric (the fabric itself is powerloom but that doesn’t matter because the printing was done on white fabric).

I washed each of the fabrics separately in soapy water, and then placed them on a white fabric out in the sun. After a few hours when they dried, I rolled back the fabric swatches to see if any colour had bled onto the white fabric.


The results are hopefully clear to spot. The mill made fabric did not bleed at all, the handwoven fabric in the center bled a little, and the block-printed fabric should clearly never come into contact with any other fabric in its wet or damp state (so if you sweat while wearing this your undergarments will get stained).

Representing handloom and other textile crafts is not easy, but if we expect to get on that coolness train then we have to take it seriously. Handloom does not have to imply poor quality. I own many handloom fabrics that do not bleed. I also own a few (very few) block-printed fabrics that do not bleed. Surely there is something we can learn from how the big mills do it.

Getting textile crafts back on track now will take double the effort it would have taken a few decades ago; because aside from the work required to improve the quality as a whole, think of the kind of effort it involves to change people’s perception of an un-cool product. Improving quality requires some communication amongst craftsmen from different parts of the country to share R&D findings and to make a collective effort to raise the quality of traditional textile crafts. There’s enough of a market out there for handmade products they way they already are, but to move into that luxury goods category would require craftsmen to think of handloom and block-printing (or any other craft) as brands.

It may be too early to mourn, but if we don’t do something soon it will be too late to ride the train.

Playing the Game

My old school friends and I had a little reunion last week during our friend’s wedding. While talking about our careers and things we need to do to get to where we want, the topic of marketing ourselves came up. We talked about how difficult it is to indulge in “self-promotion”, as it is sometimes negatively referred to, but also acknowledged how important it can be.

I remember during one of my first few interviews for Brass Tacks I eagerly explained how I wanted to work with Indian textiles, re-packaging them in a language that young, urban women will find appealing, and how although I loved New York I really hated my job there. The article that was written afterwards painted a picture of a girl who gave up the good life in New York to come home and work for Indian craftsmen. Not entirely untrue, but not quite what I had said either.

I guess that journalist had a much better understanding of what sells and knew how to spin the story in a way that would get more readers excited. I’ll be the first one to say that press articles are the best kind of publicity anyone can hope to get- it gets noticed much more than an advertisement, and it costs relatively nothing. So over the years I’ve become a little savvier when it comes to marketing Brass Tacks and myself. I get asked about fashion trends, and where my answer used to be “Oh I don’t know, I don’t really follow fashion trends”, I now try to do a little homework and give an answer, because that might make me seem like a designer who has a pulse on fashion.

Dangerous things to admit, right?

It’s an interesting situation really. Readers look to fashion magazines and designers for advice and suggestions, and here I am trying to give answers that I think people want to hear. Or rather, I’m giving answers that I think will make readers respect my design sense.

The marketing game gets tougher as you are scrutinized. Clients ask for detailed advice on what shoes to match with a dress, and what hair style will go with an outfit- and it’s not that I don’t have the answers, but it does make me wonder if I’ll get into trouble one day for literally walking out of the shower with my hair in a knot and leaving it like that for the rest of the day. But here I am; part of an industry that is all about “the entire ensemble” with the matching outfit, accessories, make-up and hair-do (and even attitude). Most typical fashion blogs celebrate (indirectly, of course) the woman who wakes up an hour earlier than she needs to just to put her whole outfit together.

In the end it always comes down to business and what sells. Brass Tacks was created to re-articulate hand-woven textiles in the form of cosmopolitan silhouettes. If my market reads fashion magazines, spends time in large malls, and looks up to brands that are featured in glossy magazines, then I need to compete at the same level. I can’t afford to sit in my corner and say, “No, I am different, I don’t need to take the same mainstream route”. Wrong. I need to do just that, and although each step I take may not be completely representative of who I am, it may be good for the brand.

And you know I’ll do anything for Brass Tacks.

Infused with Tamil Pride

Two men from the Chennai Corporation came to my shop a few days ago and delivered some news that made my day, nay, my year. They told me the Chennai Corporation had a new regulation that all retail outlets had to abide by: store signs must have the name of the store in Tamil, and then the classification of that store in Tamil below that (i.e. hair salon or designer store or book store) and then finally below that the name of the store in the English alphabet.

Needless to say I was thrilled; it’s not everyday that someone throws you a little curveball just to keep you on your toes. And truth be told, I was planning on changing my sign anyway because it’s lost among all the other more colourful signs in that building, and it’s behind a tree so I need to do something different to make it stand out. This notice from the Corporation could not have come at a better time: my collection had to be launched today, a close friend who I’ve known since 3rd grade is getting married in Bangalore and I’m leaving town on Sunday, and the deadline for this new sign is 31st May!

I know, this is a very small issue in comparison to staff issues or low sales, which is why I choose to cope with a bout of sarcasm rather than starting a campaign against it. If this had happened two years ago I would have got worked up about it and fired off a letter under the Right to Information Act asking why private businesses can’t have creative control over their own signboards. Now, after many experiences dealing with uncooperative businesses and an unhelpful Corporation office, I know when to pick my battles and I don’t think this should be one of them.

Still, it’s sad that the government thinks changing a signboard is what will change people’s attitudes or their level of pride in the Tamil language. It’s also sad that this is at the top of the Corporation’s list of things to do in Chennai. It’s not providing clean drinking water or making roads safer or doing what they can to facilitate business and economic growth; instead if anything they are hindering small businesses that rely on their signboards as a marketing tool to attract customers.

At first I thought I’d be giving their illogical agenda too much importance by writing this post on my blog. But then I realized that if I don't speak out at all then I am not showing any form of resistance or at least reluctance. I hope that more businesses speak up- especially some of the larger retailers and traders. To have our creative license taken away from us for signboards that we pay for is unfair. And if it's signboards now, then what's next?

Gotta keep people's thoughts from focusing on their drinking water or their unsafe roads...