29 June, 2006

Levis Commercial


Levis commercial,United Kingdom,funny...

27 June, 2006

Takeovers, Mergers and FDI

"When European steel maker Arcelor bowed to an improved 25.6 billion euro ($32.2 billion) takeover offer from Mittal Steel on Sunday, it went on to create a world giant three times larger than its nearest rival." -The Economic Times, New Delhi, 26th Jun'06

Another day, another morning and more news. The Economic Times of today carried news about two bigshots of economy. One was making news for the past few months and the other was just another news.

Finally the news of Mittal Steel Co. taking over the Arcelor arrived and Arcelor merged into Mittal Steel. This made the Group not only bigger but also reinstated its monopoly as it has become three times its nearest rival. This not only made Mittal happy, but Indians are also taking pride in it. Indians have emerged as a global economy players and will continue to influence world economy in near future.

On the other side, TATA group acquired Eight O'Clock Coffee, based in US. According to the newspaper,
"Tata Coffee, a 51% owned subsidiary of Tata Tea, on Sunday announced that it had acquired the US-based Eight O’Clock Coffee Company (EOC), from Gryphon Investors for Rs 1,015 crore ($220m)." - The Economic Times, New Delhi, 26th Jun'06

Eight O'Clock coffee is third largest brand of US when it comes to volume. The Indian companies are going places collaborating and acquiring foreign companies. This is the just the opposite of what we used to see let say five - eight years back.

But can we hope to see the same happening with Indian fashion industry??? Willl ever an Indian design house be able to buy out houses like Dior, Chanel, Gucci or so??? We don't know. We can just hope. Indian fashion industry is in its nascent stage getting its work ethics, design values and marketing right on its path. Designers have started venturing into products other than clothes to give themselves status of 'House' rather than 'Label'. This looks promising. Here's a short article on this www.channelnewsasia.com
But giving to Indian scenario and international appeal, not many designers have potential to grow that big and I dont think we can see that happen in near future.

In other news, after so much hulla and discussion FDI in retail has finally marked off. With numbers of collaborations and direct setups, Indian retail scenario will no longer be the same. We will soon see worlds biggest designer and retail brands Gucci, Armani and Versace all making their space on the shelves of nearby stores. This will definitely infuse fresh competition in Indian market and provide consumer with wide array of choices and price options.
You can read the whole story here - www.fibre2fashion.com



25 June, 2006

Right to Copy


"Some do it smartly, some do it shabbily. And they all call it inspiration. It is actually plagiarism — copying blatantly from the West. And it is not just musicians, filmmakers or authors, even photographers are lifting ideas from across the Atlantic." - HT City, Hindustan Times, Delhi, 25 Jun, 2006.

The front page of today's HT City edition carried an article titled "SAME TO SHAME". It featured photogrpahs of Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra (Both Indian model & actresses) alongwith J'Lo and Britney's. The similarities in the images are striking to such an sxtent that you can't label it as an inspiration. Right from the pose and props to the details like out-fit, make up and hairstyling, every bit was copied. Instead of admitting it as a rip-off , photogrpahers in question - Daboo Ratnani and Rakesh Shrestha - call these as their original creation. These are few of the top-notch name in the industry and this is the example they are setting.

Every second flick released recently had ideas, plots or entire sequences lifted from western movies. Everyone knows about music, so no need to talk about that. And barring few fashion designers, no one seems to be original enough. With no stringent copyright laws and enforcement in practice, this goes on at all levels.

It is not at all right to copy, but they feel it's their right to copy.