'Make chikan chic, bring it on ramp'

LUCKNOW: From putting it on the ramp to appointing Barabanki-born and Lucknow-educated Naseeruddin Shah its brand ambassadors, ideas were raining as management gurus of the future matched wits to draft a unique promotional strategy for Chikankari. After much deliberation, the team from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade emerged best market strategist. A team from the host institution took the second slot.
Battling with the best and brightest of the country, four teams presented their marketing and sales skills to put down their competitors in the final round of UP Tourism Travel Trails’ with Directorate of UP Tourism, a case study competition at the Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow’s Manfest-Varchasava, aimed at global positioning of Chikan art of the state capital.
Connecting the three Cs—Connect, Communicate and Commerce—the IIFT team of Deepika Rastogi and Shweta Baravani presented solutions in a winning framework and outclassed IIM-L’s Navya Kulshreshtha and Divleen Talwar. In their presentation, IIFT team recommended a ‘thread with me’ training course to help local karigars (artisans) come up with better and youth oriented designs. Use of social media to make best Chikankari designs accessible to consumers and collaborating with online and offline players to generate three-fold revenue in the next four years were the prize clinching factors put forth by IIFT.
The IIM-L team focused on three aspects—developing an e-governance system, advertising and promotion through celebrity endorsement and quality control. The IIML girls recommended Chikankari be integrated with fashion shows and highlighted as modern and trendy.
It is said that a traveler taught Chikankari to a peasant in exchange of drinking water, a secret that became Lucknow/India’s heritage over centuries. Chikankari embroidery wowed Megasthenes in the 3rd century, charmed Noor Jahan in the 16th century and continues to rule ramps from Mumbai to Paris in the 21st century. “A fashion statement that designers and divas swear by, Chikankari by local karigars is indigenous to the city of nawabs. This event gave students opportunity to recommend to government authorities ways of boosting Chikankari and tourism,’’ said Karthick Nivas, event coordinator.