Why are branded Clothes Costly in India ?

Have always wondered by Brands price their clothes at disproportionately high prices , but never cared to look into the reasons why. 

Thank you Dhivya Sabapathy for asking this question for it actually pushed me to seek answers. And here I would like to add that , am writing this answer based on what I see and it is certainly open to revision , if its wrong. So comments and suggestions are always welcome. 

And getting back to this question, 

Here are the factors which I believe is the reason why branded clothes are costly in India . They include 

1. Psychology : Here, am making a claim which is open to discussion. Wish people can come in to debate on this. Branded clothes are usually kept at higher prices in order to safeguard the 'Aspiration' value of the brand itself. I generally feel that the higher prices of the brand act as class differentiation and hence evolve as a status symbol. Once the price is reduced that value vanishes so the differentiation would be just quality. So my claim is Higher prices translate itself into status value associated with the brand and hence position itself as a brand that people aspire to be associated with. Its indeed a Win-Win situation for both Brands and the people who choose to wear them. 

2. The value that the brand command : Irrespective of what the brand is , the clothes usually get produced in sweat shops in India, Bangladesh and other low cost apparel production centers. So here the brand-tag that they sew in the cloth carries more value than the cloth material itself. Along withe inherent vale of the brand, the marketing that goes into the brand also gets added up in the MRP we pay.

3. Logistics : The global apparel production facilities have become polarized geographically. The apparel need for the whole world is now being managed by production facilities in handful of countries. With the brands being MNCs they add these logistics costs across regions to earn a profit. The logistics that's involved is usually high and its costs increasingly would get higher.

4. Local Taxes and Tariffs : With the demand for the branded clothes increasing year on year, Governments in general find it enticing to tax them. In India, this has resulted in 20-45% rise in MRP of branded clothing. On the downside this has resulted in lower product uptake and hence the inventory stock is increasing. This should result in lowering of prices to clear the stock. 

Branded clothing may stay expensive this year


This McKinsey Report should give us an idea of why our Branded clothes market  are structured in the way it is : India’s fast-growing apparel market . They quote that our prices are 20- 30 % higher due to the inefficient Supply chain and also due to limited competition . 

This Infographic by an Online shopping firm Everlane would explain why the branded clothes are priced the way they are.

Here, you need to take into account that the cost we pay includes a margin that covers for the clothes that don't sell and make up the inventory. In showrooms this is an appreciable component for they have to always maintain an inventory for the customers to pick and choose. And moreover much investment goes towards the development of factory outlets of specific brands. So all those costs gets covered in the MRP they fix. 

Full article with views from Designers : Why Clothes Cost What They Do

This answer is open to debate and editing. So please express your views and quote facts.

Happy Reading !!!

Psychology, Stalin and Surnames

Psychology, Stalin and Surname may seem unrelated to the untrained eye (pun intended, for it's me putting the funda and not you, the reader ). 

But they do share some common grounds and here am starting off by showcasing 3 pictures of great importance in the World History. 

Am sure, you would have guessed the commonality , with the last being the iconic image of the century, Pulling down of Berlin Wall. 

So here are the answers. The last was pulling down of Berlin Wall .The second image is the Head of Statue of Stalin on the streets of Budapest just after the October Revolution of 1950's in Hungary. And the first is pulling down of Statue of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Interestingly the first operation is categorized as PSYOPS (Psychological Operations (United States) ) 

Yes indeed, these images and actions have transformed a whole generation for they questioned or shattered the prevailing ideologies or beliefs or conditioning that a population had received.

Now coming back to the surname problem, Government of Tamil Nadu ( A state in India ) has a clearly defined policy of discouraging usage of surnames in names of roads, streets and public utilities. In fact there are three generation of people from 1950's who stayed away from having a surname in their name. And thus now a population of nearly 70 million has done away with the prevailing practice of having surnames. 

You may ask, who is going to benefit, by removing surnames from everything that roads, streets etc. The answer is the Society itself. Here let me explain , with a bit of History.

Dravidian parties, which rose during 1940's were of opinion that having caste based and social status based surnames are a vestige of the past and hence were hell bent on removing that practice, for it propagated discrimination. This action was part of the empowerment of Backward castes which had lesser opportunities in Education and work due to the discrimination which was meted out. 

They questioned the then existing set up of top down control of society by elite set of people , used this plank to forward social equality and to mobilize masses for their cause from 1940's. They had Aryan - Dravidian theory in their hand to elicit empathy among the masses who were anguished by the caste system which propagated discrimination and conditioned people mentally about their abilities to empower themselves.

So when they came to power in 1960's , a mandate was passed to remove surnames from roads/Streets and Public Utilities. In fact they went a step ahead and discouraged use of surnames in Names too , for in Tamil Nadu, Surnames are closely linked to the Caste they belong to. 

You may ask, what's the use of such an action on part of government. My view is people get conditioned and may develop a sort of complex when they see names with surnames for public utilities. And with most of the utilities named after people from economically and educationally forward set of people, it may impede people imagination by thinking that only people of certain set can reach hallowed status. It also eliminates chest thumping by people who claim superior status just because they inherit a certain surname. 

So you can call this action as a defiance of established authority. It is similar to bringing down Stalin statues in Communist states once USSR was broken down. Similar to bringing down Berlin Wall. Though a simple act of demolition , it has a huge psychological significance.

Understanding of  socio-economic situation in Tamil Nadu during  pre-independence era and post Dravidian parties take over would be helpful in appreciating the impact of this action.

And in  villages of Tamil Nadu, every major caste have their own street. So to eliminate that practice which promotes social stratification, such an action was needed in first place. Elimination of century old habits needs much time and it certainly needs actions like these to start a churn.

So in short, you can call this action as a Psychological Operation or Psychological Operations (United States) ( as in terminologies of U.S. ) to question the prevailing mentality , usher confidence and bring about a society of Equality and Social Justice.

Curious Case of 'NO' surnames - Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - a state in India where three things differ from main stream India.

1. We don't acknowledge Hindi , as National language ( An easiest way to annoy your Tamil friends is to quote , " Don't you know Hindi, it's your National language ".

2. We receive rains in October and November , when rest of India drenches itself during June to August.

3. And the final one is , we don't use our surnames in regular Indian sense of showing off the caste we belong to.

And here comes the curious case of no surnames.

We, Tamilians ( People who believe that their ancestry is Tamil Nadu ) often receive 'shock' as a reaction when we tell our name to a Non-Tamilian. 

The first question would be " Surname nahin hae kyaa ? " ( Don't you have a surname ). Their shock is understandable for rest of India has an ingrained thought process which uses surnames to profile people's capabilities and seek allegiance. 

And usually I reply them with a smile for I can't explain the long history of Dravidian Politics, socio-economic situation of Tamil Nadu during 1900's and the counter-social revolution which emerged in response to the dominant Hindi majority which all played a major role in why nearly 70 million Tamilians don't have a surname.

By the way, for people who want to know my surname or last name , it is Karunanithi.

Here, let me elaborate. 

Am born in an Indian State , Tamil Nadu and we have an entirely different naming convention , thanks to the Dravidian parties that had ruled our state for more than 40 years and still ruling.

The naming syntax encouraged by them is [Given Name] [ Father's name] in place of [Native Village] [Father Name] [Given Name] [Caste Name/Title associated with the Caste you belong/ Title that Signifies your Social Status] and the order may vary . 

But there is a catch. Acquiring such fancy long names require social status in the feudal society which was prevalent . 

Coming back , my Official name is Jeyan Nathann Karunanithiwhere Jeyan Nathann is my given name and Karunanithi is my Father's name. So we usually write our name as [First letter of your last Name] . [Your given Name]. So my name now becomes K.Jeyan Nathann.

My given name , 'Jeyan Nathann' , generally confuses people for it is very SriLankan sounding. Srilankans have this love affair with the name 'Jeya-' and some popular names include Jeyawardane , Jeyasooriya , Jeyasinghe , Jayamina, Jayamini . And here, let me clarify that my ancestral place is Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu , which was the seat of Chola Empire , Thanjavur Nayaks and Thanjavur Marathas at various points in a long timeline.

Jeyan - Means Victor and Nathan means 'Son of God' in both Hebrew and Sanskrit so that technically makes me , Son of God who is a Victor .

Karunanithi - has a root word 'Karuna-' which means compassion in Sanskrit . So the meaning comes as , He who has compassion and kind heart.

Pillai - points that am a man from landed gentry

If I were born before 1930's , my name would have been Jeyan Nathann Karunanithi Pillai . Here Pillai refers to the title that my family has and it is loosely related to the caste I am from.

Pillai is a title which is generally taken by people who were land owning gentry in the feudal system that existed then and its usage as a last name is spread across quite a few castes in Tamil Nadu. In Kerala, it is used by Nair community. And as time progressed, many started to adopt surnames at their will as they became  upwardly mobile both socially and economically. 

Castes and Tribes of Southern India by Edgar Thurston and works by Andre Béteille  reveal on how the caste titles were adopted at people's will and hence doesn't signify the supposed status that they claim to profess by having one . 

Dravidian parties, which rose during 1940's were of opinion that having caste based and social status based surnames are a vestige of the past and hence were hell bent on removing that practice, for it propagated discrimination. This action was part of the empowerment of Backward castes which had lesser opportunities in Education and work due to the discrimination which was meted out. 

And hence forth people who were born after 1950's effectively didn't have caste based titles as last names and adopted the current style of [Given Name][Father's Name]. 

This also reflects the changed political and social environment inTamil Nadu , which has always been at odds in comparison to rest of India.

And the best part is even roads and streets in  Tamil Nadu is surname-neutral . 

So hail Equality and Social Justice .

http://www.quora.com/Survey-Ques...

Be it conflicting or appreciatory, would love to have views from you - To the Random reader .

http://thusspokechola.quora.com/Curious-case-of-No-surnames-Tamil-Nadu