Fashion is always perishable. Even though fashion clothing looks appealing today, it turns stale within few days and in the next fortnight it is better to throw it away. This is the folklore of all fashion trends, whether domestic or international. Hence fashion is affordable to a large segment of consumers only if it is available at a low rate. Often big luxury fashion brands fail to meet fashion and affordability. Here lies the success story of Zara- managed by the Spanish retailer group Industria de Diseno Textile (Inditex) which caters to the yearning demand for apparels that are in fashion and low in price

Inditex sells disposable cheap trendy fashion through its retail chain stores ZARA.A decade ago, Inditex was just the mill focused largely on Spain, with sales of $1 billion and profit of $100 million. However, in past five years, Inditex grew leaps and bounds to become Europe’s leading retailer. In March 2006, the group overtook Sweden’s Hennes & Mauritz to become Europe’s largest fashion retailer. Today, Inditex sells on a global scale, with some 2,800 shops in 71 countries under eight sales formats: Zara, Oysho, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius,Zara Home and Kiddy’s Class.

Zara is the flagship chain store of Inditex. Founded by Amancio Ortega Gaona (Ortega) in 1975, the group is headquartered in Galicia, Spain. Zara had always positioned itself as a store selling “medium quality fashion clothing at affordable prices. Today, Zara is probably the world’s fastest growing retailer offering the latest trends in international fashion. Louis Vuitton, fashion director Daniel Piette, once described Zara as the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world.

Though Zara’s main products are women’s wear, it also focus on men’s wear, children wear, lingerie’s, cosmetics etc. They have a special section on home decorating items like curtains, bathroom linen, bed etc. Zara is innovative in designing all the products. Instead of setting new fashion trends, Zara follows or imitates the existing trends without compromising quality and elegance. Zara has competitive edge over its rivals Gap and Sweden’s Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) in terms of speed and responsiveness. None of the rivals can match Zara’s ability to react to the latest trends. While its rivals plan their lines on average nine months before they hit the shelves, Zara responds with new designs in just two weeks. Instead of predicting what women will want to wear, months before a season starts, Zara observes what is selling and what is not and accordingly adjusts the merchandise on continuous basis

All other giant retailers collaborate with renowned designers and spend millions of dollars on advertising campaigns but Zara avoids both. Instead, Zara emphasizes on strong public relations and word-of-mouth marketing. Zara is leading the fashion world as it has competitive advantage over its competitors in terms of cost and super fast delivery of new trends enabled by effective supply chain practices. Zara incorporates Bohemian romanticism, Gothic romanticism, eastern fashion and the latest rock trends in its apparels.

Hello kitty is indeed an amazing brand. Reportedly, as of early 2006, there were thousands of different Hello Kitty products available in over 40 countries around the world. The branded products under Hello Kitty include Diamond Jewelry, Fashion apparels, accessories, perfumes and computers to name a few. The Hello Kitty brand is popular among various countries in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas. In Southeast Asia, studies show that girls are fanatically addicted to the brand.

Initially in early 70s the brand was targeted only kids. But by mid 80s efforts were made to popularize the brand among fashion conscious teenage girls. Tomomi Kahara, a young Japanese singer also played a vital role in popularizing the brand among young girls.

Apparently, Hello Kitty’s popularity among celebrities was not restricted to Japan. The brand became a favorite with many celebrities in other Asian and western countries, especially in the US, during the late 1990s. Reportedly, celebrities in the US like singer Christina Aguilera, musician and TV personality Lisa Loeb (Loeb), supermodel Tyra Banks, and singer Mariah Carey (Carey) were big fans of Hello Kitty. Carey made headlines when she showed off her Hello Kitty hair dryer and boom box19 while appearing in an episode of a popular television show, MTV Cribs, in the early 2000s.

Becoming a “Hollywood favorite” helped Hello Kitty gain visibility worldwide. Designers Richie Rich and Traver Rains launched a new line of clothing featuring exclusive Hello Kitty designs. Swarovski offered a range of Hello Kitty merchandise like watches, jewelry, charms for mobile phones, etc. The items ranged from high-end products like a Hello Kitty watch by Swarovski to limited edition dolls like the Hello Kitty wedding collection by Sanrio.

Recently Hello Kitty has initiated to create a line of diamond jewelry- the “Hello Kitty Collection by Kimora Lee Simmons.” This was jointly produced with jewelry designer Kimora Lee Simmons’. Simmons’ jewelry line, which included pendants, rings, and diamond watches, was priced in the range of $350 to $3,5003, and was launched in March 2005. The diamond watches, which were reportedly the best selling items in the line, were priced between $1,875 and $3,250 and were available in eight different designs. All of Simmons’ jewelry was available exclusively at Neiman- Marcus outlets across the US.

The introduction of premium, stylish, exquisite, trendy, pure and low-priced jewelry has changed the perception of women towards jewelry as an exclusive item for parties and marriages. Instead jewelry became part of the daily life of working women. Today, branded jewelry segment plays a vital role in ever changing fashion market because exclusive patterns of dress will be complete only with matching set of earrings and necklaces. Among the few brands which have struck a chord in global market, Tanishq’s name is noteworthy.

Tanishq was introduced in India for the first time by the famous Tata group of industries. Since its inception in June 1995, as the first branded jewelry store in the India market, it had offered pure gold and elegant designs at transparent prices. At present, there are 84 Tanishq showrooms in 61cities. Unique finishes and different textures, as well as a contemporary touch gave a distinctive look to this jewelry and it also addressed the homemaker’s need for everyday-wear jewelry with low prices and unique designs.

Tanishq provides a wide range of different collections including the following:

Aria: This diamond jewelry collection that consisted of 80 designs of earrings, finger-rings, bangles and neckwear was introduced in 2001. The starting price of the collection is Rs.3,200. The Aria collection was inspired by the traditional seven-stone floral/petal arrangement, worn by women in India. The collection was unique as it used white gold.

Moham: Moham which implies desire is a collection of diamond jewelry decorated with motifs and themes taken from natural beauty. Here craftsmanship is used effectively to make unique designs of nature.

Hoopla: This collection is made in tune with international designs. The collection was available in 40 designs in circular hoops. The starting price was Rs.8,200. The products were launched to meet the demands of fashion conscious urban consumers with a western outlook and mindset.

Diva: Diva, a pearl and diamond collection targeted at modern women who look for a fusion of the traditional and the contemporary. The collection consisted of necklaces, earrings and rings of pearls and diamonds, mostly made of white gold. Bulk of the range was priced between Rs.10, 000 and Rs.20, 000.

Apart from these designs, recently Tanishq introduced new designs under the title of ‘Revitalizer of Tradition’. This is one of the latest collections from Tanishq. It was the part of an attempt to revitalize the tradition of ancient art, craft and pictures in the contemporary era. Colors of Royalty and Zoya are the two important brands under this theme. Colors of Royalty resemble Victorian age and Zoya represents Egyptian civilization.