Indian Men Fashion, the Price is too High, the Variety too Less and Life Styles too Poor!

In India, men seem less interested in the fashion trends going about. Simple cloths is what most men wear and simply dressed is what most men are. Considering the revival of men’s fashion industry since around a decade ago or less, it seems the fashion industry has not influenced men as much as one would like to assume. This idea is more particular to clothing. In our daily life activities we see men wear almost the same cloths, almost the same color and almost the same style.

On the flip side, we also see many fashion brand revealing newer collections for men’s clothing and almost all designs are fairly well made. From beautiful embroidery by HSY, Allen Solly to Mughal era influences by Junaid Jamshed, and the rising Madura Garments, fashion brands for men have indeed made attractive products. Products that make impressions, statements and intelligently designed to suit the men’s sense of choice. One wonders then, in a male dominated society such as ours, why are men not fashionable?

While many will come up with explanations, some cultural and others social, perhaps the issue lies within the fashion industry itself. With all the elegance and intellectual design making process, top notch quality claims and style statements men can make with what is being offered, the price, at the end of the day, is just too high!

A problem with men’s fashion clothing is the target audience being too rich, men who can spare enough to wear a kurta or a Sherwani once in their life and seldom wear it again are too few to find and seldom will they buy more than they need since, well, men’s fashion is not much of an international trend. With kurtas and Sherwani placed on the back foot, the rich will prefer suits and suits in men’s fashion are not really the centre of focus in India. Most of the focus is on Sherwanis and kurtas.

So what does a typical living modest earning Indian men wear?

The simple answer is kurta shalwaar, either white or grey in colour, probably loosely fit, made by a dress maker around the corner of the nearest market. He will wear such clothing because he will endure the pollution, the sweat, the noise and dirt around him, he will wear such also because it comes cheap. A typical man, earning a modest salary will wear the same on his wedding, on Eid, and probably will die wearing the same. He is too busy, too poor and too conservative to try out fashion.

Indian men fashion clothing designers seldom take into account the majority of men but the few chosen. And this is why the men’s clothing industry is not making the influence one would assume it does. The designer brands are great as they are, but they have left out the masses. This has isolated the majority of men who could have been potential consumers.

Fashion brands can make an influence, when it comes to men, they can change their outlook, they can make men feel better about themselves. Sadly, the strengths of such have not been realized, pretty much like the strengths of many other potentially great things in India.