India gets Hermès sari

It seems, on the face of it, like a dreadful case of taking coals to Newcastle. Next month, on October 7, the French luxury brand Hermès is to launch a limited edition of its first Indian sari in Mumbai. Sari? In the land of the sari? In a country where many women can identify, from 50 feet and in poor light, the exact weave, region of provenance, perhaps even the mood the weaver was in when he made it? What may seem recklessly foolish is, in fact, a belated recognition by Hermès that the Indian woman's attachment to her traditional clothes and cultural identity is so strong that she will not accept anything blindly, no matter how globally famous the brand. It has to "connect" in some way with her traditions and those traditions dictate that, on formal occasions, she should wear a sari, not western clothes. "We want to be part of the life of India, to meet Indian culture," said Bertrand Michaud, the regional managing director of Hermès. "Our sari is not a marketing tool, it is a tribute to Indian culture and elegance." The idea of a "Hermès sari" is, for Radha Chadha, managing director of Chadha Strategy Consulting in Dubai, a master stroke. "It's delightful," she said. "It's like saying 'namaste' to India in its own language." The 25 Hermès saris, made of cashmere, twill silk and mousseline changeante, have been created in Paris and are priced at US$2,000 (Dh7,350). They may not be a marketing tool as Michaud insists but they demonstrate a new awareness by the luxury brands, which have not seen the kind of growth in India that they have experienced in China or Russia, of the need to cater to the specific needs of the discerning and often finicky rich Indians. With an economy roaring along and a surplus of millionaires, India was expected to be a no-brainer for the luxury brands. Yet it accounts for only half a per cent of the global luxury market at $846 million. China, by comparison, accounts for 10 per cent of the global market at $17 billion. The big brands came to India expecting explosive growth. Instead, they have been forced to wait. Several factors have thwarted their hopes. For one, there is no Bond Street, Fifth Avenue or Ginza in India where they can open shop. In an "ordinary" shopping area, they may end up next to a McDonald's or a Pizza Hut, which is not quite the location they deem desirable. In a country where the pot-holed road to a five-star hotel may be littered with rubbish, the luxury brands have found it hard to provide a self-indulgent retail experience. Given the absence of a fashionable, upmarket place, they have confined themselves to small outlets in five-star hotels or the two dedicated luxury malls in New Delhi and Bangalore in south India. Mumbai, oddly enough, has no luxury mall, despite being the commercial capital and the home of Bollywood. The small size of the shops in the luxury hotels has meant that they cannot stock as much variety as in their stores elsewhere. For another, India's import duties of 30 per cent make the prices of the same goods high. Many affluent Indians who travel frequently prefer to shop abroad for their luxury goods because of the price, the greater variety and the generally more enjoyable experience. The habit of shopping on overseas trips dates back to the days before India's economic reforms, when there was hardly anything worth buying. Anyone going abroad used to be presented with a long list of items to bring back, ranging from lipstick and chocolates to perfume. "Maybe the younger generation will be different but for my generation, the habit of shopping abroad is just too strong," said the Mumbai socialite Arti Surendranath. "Psychologically, you feel they'll have the latest stuff and it's more fun there. And when you've shopped abroad, why buy here?" Research has shown that Indians love to shop on holiday, unlike westerners who prefer to relax. "The first thing they ask about any destination is the shopping, not the sights," said Prakash Verma, a New Delhi tour operator.