Trouser-Saris Have Arrived

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The New York Sun

Sanjay Kapoor, managing director and CEO of India’s largest fashion company, Satya Paul, is ready to do business in America. And he’s starting with New York.


“What better place to put on a show?” he said yesterday.


His gala and fashion show – which take place Saturday evening at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square – will feature Indian beauty queens and runway models displaying apparel created by Mr. Kapoor’s designers. The audience will be studded with Indian film stars and corporate tycoons who have flown over for the event, which doubles as a benefit for Pratham, an Indian humanitarian organization. Present, too, will be Indians who populate the top ranks of American corporations, the sort who can write out $25,000 checks for a table at Mr. Kapoor’s show.


With his lean, angular looks, tailored suit, and turquoise tie, Mr. Kapoor could easily walk in his own show. But he’s here to seek customers in the country that is India’s biggest trading partner, with imports of more than $10 billion in textiles and clothes alone. After President Bush’s recent moves to strengthen bilateral ties with India, entrepreneurs such as Mr. Kapoor are anticipating a dramatic growth in business ties as well.


There’s also the fact that Indian culture seems to have seized the popular imagination in America. “India has become ‘hot’ in America – just look around you,” Mr. Kapoor said. “Indian restaurants, Indian authors, Indian software, Indians making fortunes on Wall Street. India isn’t some distant place any longer – it has arrived.”


Mr. Kapoor wants to make Satya Paul the first truly international brand to come out of India. He hopes to open boutiques here and in San Francisco, where he will stage a fashion show next week, to complement the 16 stores he has in India. And while his annual sales of $25 million may seem modest by American standards, that is a formidable figure in India, where the domestic economy has been opened up only recently to wider private entrepreneurship.


This isn’t Mr. Kapoor’s first venture overseas, however. A decade ago, he sold ties to European fashion houses, which then sold the cravats under their label. His tenure with Citigroup involved a stint in Singapore, and Mr. Kapoor has dabbled in real estate and investments.


“I am a serial entrepreneur,” he said.”I’m as motivated as anyone else to succeed – but I need to have fun in what I do.”


It’s hard to discern how much fun Mr. Kapoor – who earned his MBA at the University of Rochester – had when he acquired Satya Paul in late 2001. The company, which was founded in 1985, was stagnant. There was virtually no marketing, and other fashion houses were cashing in on the rising incomes and broadening tastes of the growing Indian middle class of 400 million people.


Mr. Kapoor’s turn-around strategy was anchored in the recognition that this middle class, while favoring Western attire at work, inevitably reverted to traditional clothes during the evening hours of socializing. He sharpened traditional saris by injecting a couture touch into his designs. He also invigorated his retail operations, applying the acumen he picked up in Rochester and at Citigroup. Now Satya Paul’s revenues are growing at nearly 100% annually.


And what gives him the confidence that his business will be successful in America, a brutal market for fashion designers?


“The Japanese came here but retained their cultural look in the clothes they sold,” Mr. Kapoor said, noting that already 50% of his Web-based sales have originated in America. “We’re giving Americans the Indian experience. I think Americans are ready for that.”


His big event is likely to be a riot of colors, as well as a fusion of music and style. And his new trouser-sari is more than likely to be a hit with the ladies.


The New York Sun

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