THE DEFIER OF AUTOPOIESIS: SABYASACHI MUKHERJEE

Sabyasachi is a fashion brand owned by an Indian bridal-wear designer, Sabyasachi Mukherjee. This article talks about the choices that the organization has made with regard to its management processes, that includes investments in promotion, labour and resources. It also discusses the conventional doors of mass production, distribution, stocking and retailing, variety, customization, environmental sustainability and external funding that have intentionally been shut. 

THE WEDDING INDUSTRY

“Till Indian designers do bridal wear, they’ll never feel the pinch of recession.” – Sabyasachi Mukherjee 

Before we dive into the dressmaker of the bride, groom and guests, we need to understand what fuels the Indian wedding industry. According to KPMG, the wedding business in India is estimated at $40 billion and is expected to grow by 25% to 30% annually. A report by Business Standard revealed that there are 10 to 12 million weddings that take place every year. Often termed as a recession proof industry, the secret of this lucrative business is that Indians tend to spend almost 30% of their life’s savings on weddings, despite their financial situation and even resort to loans if needed. And this splurge is only on the rise due to the influence of aspirational Instagram visuals, created by celebrities and now laymen alike. The generation of Instagram has bid farewell to standardized halls and opened a foray of customizable, fantasy creations, majorly intended to leave on-lookers stunned. The Hindu wedding became the core of the Indian cinema industry in the 20th century. Inspired by the opulence on reel, real life took a more organized, professional and commodified turn for weddings. The old ways of the un- organized and self-planned activities with the help of an informal economy were abandoned. Jyotsna Kapur in her journal, “An “Arranged Love” Marriage: India's Neoliberal Turn and the Bollywood Wedding Culture Industry” tries to explain how post-modern Indian tradition has been proudly embraced at a time when globalization is at its peak. She attributes the reasons for this to be the marketing of a cultural brand that is visually extravagant and caste-less, backed by the government and businesses. Thus emerged the consumer culture of Bollywood that united everyone despite differences. The family- centric films with happy endings and romantic stories were so deeply ingrained in Indian subconscious that Hindu wedding ceremonies were orchestrated with the same grandeur or more, even seas apart, abroad. In addition, the Hindu wedding is not to be a viewed as one single event but several rituals that take place over a longer time duration. Dying traditional practices, lest be forgotten are brought to life by the screen. However, these activities are not driven by tradition but the pressure on young masses to conform to the induced consumerism transpired by capitalists portraying a dreamy fairy tale. It serves as the perfect outlet for assertion of individuality for the neoliberal generation seeking validity from self-exhibition.

FROM PAUPER TO PRINCE 

Sabyasachi Mukherjee was born to a father who is a chemical engineer and a mother who is a teacher, in a middle class family, in Shantiniketan, Kolkatta. He had a modest upbringing in a household where his father was rendered jobless by the 1980 jute factory crisis in West Bengal. Struggling to make ends meet, Sabyasachi’s parents wanted him to be an engineer but he ran away from home, slept at a train station and sold his books so as to appear for the NIFT exam. He borrowed INR 20,000 from his sister and started his own label with three employees. He made plastic jewellery which he would sell for at INR 20 to INR 150 on the streets of Kolkatta. Sabyasachi thus started off as an unrecognizable designer with no influential connections with the fashion industry. He used to collect scraps from local markets in Kolkatta to create patchwork dresses for his small scale shop. However, Sabyasachi was able to create a league of his own, and today, his business is reported to generate INR 250 crores in revenues for the financial year ending March 31st, 2019. The average annual growth rate in revenue has been approximately 30% for the past two years. However, he does not reveal his earnings, therefore we aren’t able to determine the premium the brand affords to charge. The fashion industry had well established and impermeable giants like Manish Malhotra and Tarun Tahiliani that have decades of reputation. He has been the only Indian designer to have showcased his work at the Milan, London and New York Fashion Week, being voted as one of the top 10 influencers in Asia according to India Inc.. What were the steps taken to create an impression in an industry ridden with nepotism, non-penetrable to any foreign agents, least someone from a middle class background?

STRATEGY ABANDONED 

“Had I not been depressed, India would've lost me to some company called Google, in San Francisco.” – Sabyasachi Mukherjee 

Sabyasachi did not benchmark against competition but created a league of his own, he did not find himself compelled by industry practices but created his own methods. What others found foolish in the subject of business, Sabyasachi selectively shut those doors. He has defied lessons learnt in business schools yet continues to thrive. The following are the trade-offs he made to attain high quality at a high cost, rejecting optimal quality at optimal cost. 

No variety

It is evident that Sabyasachi is aware of the market potential of creating variations but voluntarily chooses to shut that door so as to avoid any negative spill-over on his niche and unique style. “Out of 100 customers, 10 understand what you are doing, but 60 don’t grow. Women still ask me for Kanjeevarams made of net. A clever business must still reach out to them. So when a section of people criticize me for doing ‘bridal’, I ask: what bothers you—the money I make as a lehenga designer or do I make bad bridal wear?" When he appears defensive he replies by saying,

“It is not a defence, it’s a strategy".

He is aware of the tussle between the customer and his craft. He says that either the customer may disrupt the craft or the craft might infuriate the customer and strives to find a balance between the two.

No customization

Sabyasachi is open to serving his customers but says that he won’t be subservient or open to suggestions. He openly states that if somebody wants to change it, they won’t be buying a Sabyasachi. In a world where business schools impart rules that ‘customer is king’, Sabyasachi risks customers walking out. But the astonishing part is that they don’t. He has the ultimate power in this transaction – seller power supercedes buyer power.

No mass production

He tries to find the fine balance between authenticity and rarity in his luxury products. Sabyasachi Mukherjee believes that his craft would die if he were to mass produce his products. He currently has a long waiting list of clients. A parallel can be drawn to Jiro’s sushi restaurant that has a one year waitlist period yet still seats only 10 guests at a time. Sabyasachi says that making more money via mass production is a lure, terming it as creative prostitution. He adds that the fashion industry tries to talk about individuality and ironically mass distributes garments. Companies advertise saying that you will stand out if you wear this luxury product and goes on to manufacture ten million pieces of it, adding a limited edition tag as well.

No mechanization

Sabyashachi’s motto is that if machines can replace 10 people in his line of business, the machine should be discarded and 10 people should be hired instead. He prides himself in the employment he generates for the dying Indian breed of craftsmen and is aware of the high cost of time risk, voluntarily taken on.

No external funding

The business has grown organically, slowly but steadily, like a tortoise. Sabyasachi has ploughed profits to reinvest in the business and admits to not taking a cut for years in order to grow the business. All this while he has made compromises and rejected external investing. However, he is slowly opening doors to external funding because of the high capital costs of jewellery, but strictly asserts that it has to be an investor with a long term vision. However, his caveat is that he retains control. He also advises other businesses to only seek funding when they are able to dictate their own terms and not sell out. His idea behind this is that he does not want to run the business purely for profit, which would mean push selling, variations, accessibility. He wishes to slowly build a reputation with investment and dedicated craft. This will pull the audience and one day become the pride of the nation.

Limited Distribution Outlets

The brand has outlets in only 4 Indian metro cities – Kolkatta, New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Limited pieces are held by international retailers in California, Atlanta, London and Dubai. While people believe this to be the brand’s weakness, Sabyasachi says that he believes in value and not volume. While his store in Mumbai is spread across 1900 feet, he refuses to stock his outlet like a warehouse, holding a mere number of five racks. This is similar to the case of the restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro, that serves a limited and fixed menu of 20 sushi pieces, yet still hones a three Michelin star rating. While other wedding designers like Kalki and Ritu Kumar stock up in malls, Sabyasachi has a complete radical view, calling malls degenerative. He believes in redecorating public places of heritage and has put up rare paintings and exquisite chandelier at his outlet in New Delhi. While giving it the appearance of a royal museum, it is rare to see heavy investments in the intangibles or non-core products. He also has no online selling presence, which reduces accessibility. 

No sustainability compliance like other fashion houses

Sabyasachi says that he does not and cannot use environmentally friendly dyes because it would compromise his products and dilute the brand. He adds that if you try to deliver a lot of good things, you will end up delivering nothing. Focussing on one category will help one deliver, risking market opportunity during a time of increased awareness around environmental sensitivity.

STRATEGY CHOSEN

Vision

According to French philosopher and sociologist, Roland Barthes, fashion is the amalgamation of conformity and innovation. While this may appear to be a baffling paradox, a conflict of instinct, emotions and rationality exists in humans too. Sabyasachi tries to create an amalgamation of the three, extending his intellect in art. Much like Jiro Ono, whose sushi’s sell at $300 per meal, Sabyasachi admits that people are afraid of working with him, calling himself a monster. He is uncompromising with the quality of his products and has great attention to detail. He says he can be controlling and can only see the bad, pointing out minor flaws and nit-picking obsessively. His work always reflects Indian roots and is handmade by artisans and his design philosophy is based on the personalized imperfection of the human hand. He says,

“For the last 18 years, I didn’t pursue relationships, friendships, didn't party, didn’t socialise. I was single-minded about sowing the seeds of a tree and nurturing and watering it.”

Sabyasachi believes his work is a positive stimulant for the Indian economy. While he was initially allured by the West, he is of the opinion that there is a greater home advantage. While the rest of the fashion industry is struggling to catch up with industry trends, Sabyasachi works at his pace, but creates the trend. His inspiration has been antique textiles and traditions from his hometown, Kolkatta. The unusual fabric, texture and fusion of an International styling with an Indian soul evoke images of the royal medieval ages. He believes that his work brings a unique and exotic flavour to the west making him the most sought after. He dislikes the fact that Indian designers haven’t been able to get a world-wide prominence like other brands like Louis Vitton and Versace, but he dreams of making Sabyasachi the Chanel of India, by laying its foundations deep.

Product

Sabyasachi’s product portfolio currently includes traditional sherwani kurtas, lehengas, sarees and jewellery for festive occasions that range from INR 1 lakh to over INR 10 lakhs.

Customer

40% of Sabyasachi’s business is currently generated from America. An affluent base of 30 million Indians live abroad and 4.4 million in the United States alone.

Advertising

Sabyasachi has chosen Instagram as his medium of communication. Instagram has a higher Click Through Rate (CTR) than Facebook at 0.8%. There are two strategies that can be adopted in digital advertising, that is Cost per Mille (CPM) and Cost per Click (CPC). CPM can yield more visibility but is not a guarantee for conversion and the business would pay $5.14 for every 1000 views. The CPC cost is $0.61 for every click. With an investment of $10,000 to $ 40,000, Sabyasachi, for an average post investment, would receive 4.8 million customer views via CPM or 40k clicks depending on the strategy adopted. A research study, ‘Investigating the marketing impact of consumers’ connectedness to celebrity endorsers’ by Gina A. Tran, Atefeh Yazdanparast David Strutton showed that customers on an average showed a purchase intention of 71.51% when shown a celebrity endorsement. Sabyasachi endorses his products through A-list Bollywood actresses for aspiration, interspersing Instagram posts with real brides from the affluent, common masses for relatability. He thus creates a quotient of yearning and desire within the realm of accessibility. He has been the first designer of choice for the real wedding ceremonies of Indian celebrities such as Deepika Padukone - Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma - Viraat Kohli, Priyanka Chopra – Nick Jonas and Isha Ambani – Anand Piramal. Viraat Kohli’s brand value has increased by 18% since 2018. The value of celebrity brands stood at $877 million in 2018 and Bollywood dominates rankings of the top 20 celebrities.v Sabyasachi’s follower base on Instagram, as of September 2019, stand at 3.8 million, Priyanka Chopra & Deepika Padukone, his top muses, at 44 million and 38.4 million respectively. Relying solely on Instagram as its channel of communication, the brand leverages on the popularity and following of these actresses for its visibility. The designer has been called a master story teller by writing image descriptions from stories of his person life. He demonstrates humility and a high degree of relatability with his audience by describing his humbling background.

Positioning

The media is buzzing with how every woman wants to be a Sabyasachi bride. No other Indian designer has been able to achieve this feat that Sabyasachi has in a short span of time. The secret recipe of this brand is in its positioning. The designer makes women feel like princesses and queens in his couture. He has been able to create a sweet and unique spot on the brand perceptual map for the everyday woman by marrying product features of royalty and product benefits of feeling empowered. What was once reserved for the elite is now made accessible to the masses. 

Capacity

Sabyasachi has dressed 50,000 brides, excluding the groom and relatives in his 2 decade career. He employs 4,500 artisans across India in the states of Orissa, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Kashmir and West Bengal. He sees himself as a textile designer instead of a fashion designer vowing to stick to the qualities of craftsmanship. In his factory in Delhi, apart from a regular staff of 500, he has 900 artisans that work on exquisite fabric, across a huge 70,000 factory space. He follows a lead capacity strategy for the masses with affordability, releasing a periodical array of designs for every season – Spring/ Summer/ Autumn/ Winter. However, it is important to note that these are not mass produced but are limited editions. He does not believe in forecast and projections like Zara does for styles and Benetton does for colours. Instead he relies on belief and instinct. He believes that if a brand denotes a certain aesthetic, you must stay true to your belief system, irrespective of people’s perspective, and commerce will follow. There is also no necessity for huge warehouses/ stocking issues.

Centralized functioning

Sabyasachi is at the heart of all the operations. The systems theory teaches us that a system is capable of reproducing and maintaining itself. However, all ideas and decisions flow through him. Processes would come to a standstill if the component were to be extracted.

Labour

His key resource is his craftsmen and invests time and money in his team. His loyalties lie with his employees and no one else. They depend on him for their children’s education and healthcare. Every worker in his workshop is employed at a commission basis. He incentivises them with money to work harder. He employs 3900 full time workers for end-to-end tasks of printing, dyeing and steaming. He also lists, 37,000 contractors, at any given time, to create fabric by hand. A team of 35 to 40, are dedicated to one bridal outfit alone that takes an average of two months to produce. He creates 9,000 outfits every year and prides in providing employment over investing in machines.

Brand Extensions

Sabyasachi dreams of an empire of perfumes, jewellery and skincare. Jewellery is an integral aspect of Indian weddings. Approximately 50% of the demand for gold stems from Indian weddings. Over 400 tonnes of gold are exchanged at such weddings every year. Each year, this market is valued at $25 billion, that is about 60% of the value of the market. A report by India Brand Equity Foundation revealed that the gem and jewellery industry is one of the biggest in the world, and drives 29% of world consumption. In the following decade, more than 140 million households have been predicted to enter the middle class segment, signalling the expected increase in demand for gold. Sabyasachi began his diversification in 2017 in jewellery after much resistance to category extension. After much criticism for a mismatched outfit, he began feeling responsible for the muse’s entire ensemble. Jewellery seemed to be the easier extension because of his army of artisans and its complementary aspect with clothes. Hence, he not only had the infrastructural resources for this expansion but also a guaranteed market potential from those who purchased outfits. His jewellery business today accounts for 25% of the overall revenue. While the cliched idea of mass reach is increase in production and distribution, Sabyasachi has a different route in mind. Using historic data of Chanel, he agrees that while the trophies are the clothes, the main revenue is generated through the jewellery. The clothing line will eventually be a small part of the business (only in terms of revenue). However, by selling products that people can afford, like perfumes and cosmetics, he would able to reach the mass without diluting the core essence of the brand.

Collaborations

Sabyashachi has partnered with Christian Louboutin, who is known as a dominant player in luxury footwear, Pottery Barn, a home furnishings chain and Lane Crawford, a luxury store in Hong Kong.

Distinctions

His clientele also includes the likes of Rani Mukherhjee, Sridevi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vidya Balan and Kareena Kapoor Khan. While he has designed costumes for several Bollywood movies, he also has dressed international actresses Renee Zellwegger and Reese Witherspoon.

BOTTLENECKS

Imitation Risk

The brand faces risks of external copy-cats and ex-assistants with its extensive promotion strategy of product display. However, Sabyasachi is aware of it, embracing the fact that Indians would be quick to pile on a cash cow. In his opinion, it fuels more revenue for the Indian traditional art and craft industry. He views himself as an influencer for thousands of small factories and a stimulant for the growth of the Indian economy. There is no replacement for the original in the minds of the customer.

Lead production risk

The fashion industry predicts and forecasts customer requirements and fashion trends. However, Sabyasachi, relies on his belief, creating cost intensive jewellery and clothes that are prone to the risk of unsold excess inventory.

CONCLUSION

Sabyasachi Mukherjee is not just a designer, he is a visionary with business acumen and a strong understanding of economics, markets and customers. He says,

"The French are celebrated for being French. When you are who you are, people are attracted to you. The global audience wants to speak to you.”

Unlike others who abandoned their Indian roots, Sabyasachi restores India’s unique identity for the world. His authenticity and dedicated craftsmanship are what give him the dominant power in his transactions with every stakeholder. What’s most important is his accurate understanding of his customer. He gives to a woman what she yearns for – to be seen, to stand out, to feel like the only girl in the world. And he does this via exclusivity.