Webinar on opportunities in start-up business in fashion at UIFT and VD, PU 

Chandigarh: University Institute of Fashion Technology & Vocational Development, (UIFT & VD), Panjab University, Chandigarh, organized a webinar titled “Opportunities in the business of Fashion and Prerequisites of a Start-up business in Fashion”,today.
 
Dr Anu H. Gupta, Chairperson  introduced and welcomed the speaker- Mr. Gurmeet Singh, CEO, G.S. International Garment Export House, Ludhiana.
 
With an intensive experience of more than 20 years in Garment Manufacturing and skilled in Merchandising, Marketing, and Setting up Apparel Business, Mr Gurmeet dwelled upon the basics as well as advanced details of setting up of a Garment Business. He emphasized that ‘Fashion Business is a Science and there is a logic behind each and every operation and process.
 
The speaker categorized fashion business as self-employed with a high action driven approach and another as a system driven approach. He said that it is very important to have skills and knowledge about apparel, textiles, and fashion in order to set up a business in this creative and technical field. One needs to study all functional areas of an apparel house. Two things are important in this business- one is operation and another is sales. Operations in the apparel industry deals with purchase, manufacturing, quality control, accounts and human resource; whereas sales take care of Product Market and Interaction with customers.In order to execute an order, one needs to have departments like merchandising, production, quality control, accounts, data management etc. As an entrepreneur or business head one needs to understand the details and the requirements and deliverables by each department.He discussed the importance of a supplier, how to work with supplier taking care of time and action plan. He also discussed that there are three key stakeholders in an apparel business- Business owner, Team members, Customers. All three have to be happy and in a win-win situation for the success of a business.
 
Mr Gurmeet elaborated about business modelling and how to approach customers in the local market as well on a global platform. He also touched upon an important area of a business ‘profitability’ and its importance in running the business. Further discussion on Time management, Personnel productivity tools, job opportunities in a retail business and in an export house was very engaging. The speaker gave live examples to support his lecture. He also elaborated how he is managing with his buyers, customers and how he takes care of the efficiency of his team to run a successful business.
 
Dr Rita Kant, senior faculty member of UIFT& VD thanked the speaker for his valuable inputs and guidance to the students which will help them in setting up and further shaping their start-ups. The webinar concluded with the participant’s queries and discussions on different facets of Setting up of a Fashion Business and Opportunities in the Apparel Sector. More than 80 participants including the Faculty of various Colleges, Universities, research scholars and students and faculty of Fashion Technology attended the webinar.