India Fashion Forum is proud to present a virtual panel discussion ‘The Reformation of Luxury: A Fashion Intelligence Meet’ powered by Istituto Marangoni on June 19, 4:30-5:50 pm.
The virtual panel discussion will be moderated by Bijou Kurien, Strategy Board Member, L Catterton Asia Holdings.
Featured speakers include:
– Ganesh Subramaniam, Founder, Stylumia
– Abdullah Abo Mihim, Programme Leader, MA Fashion Business, Istituto Marangoni London
– Shirin Mann, Founder & Creative Head, Needledust
– Gitanjali Saxena, Business Head, Global Luxury, Tata Cliq Luxury
Crises such as COVID-19 pandemic present opportunities to think and act out-of-the box. Reports from across the world showcase numerous positive stories of brands that have done exceptionally well in reinventing themselves by introducing innovative categories for their customers and keeping them relevantly engaged during stressful times. Measures taken to offer products and services in-need by many of the luxury brands were hugely appreciated. Digitalization, go–green, go–phygital were other focus areas. But, overwhelmingly, global attention has been driven to a holistic approach to sustainability and how to make luxury more meaningful and purposeful.
The virtual panel discussion will cover:
– What are the learnings for the luxury industry and how are key players prepping to bounce back?
– Can travel bans and safety concerns tilt customer preferences towards local brands?
– In the absence of physical shows, what new platforms to showcase brand collections will emerge?
– How is the industry re-engineering for a new world order?
– What are the changes they foresee in the future, and what are the new models/ formats that need to be embraced for a triumphant revival?

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Bijou Kurien, Strategy Board Member, L Catterton Asia Holdings
Bijou Kurien has 34 years of experience in Indian industry. A post graduate in management from the prestigious Xavier Institute at Jamshedpur, India, he earned his spurs at Hindustan Lever Limited, which he joined as a management trainee and worked in product management, and sales.
He then joined the team which set up Titan Industries Limited, India’s leading manufacturer, marketer and retailer of watches, jewellery and accessories.
He launched brands such as Titan, Tanishq, Fastrack, Sonata etc and also helped create India’s largest chain of exclusive brand stores. In 2006, he moved to Reliance Retail, the largest private sector company in India, to help set up one of India’s most ambitious retail forays. He is at the forefront of the retail business at Reliance which reported a turnover of almost Rs 11,000 crore in 2012-13, across 1,465 cities.
He has recently joined private equity firm L Catterton Asia as a member of the strategic advisory board. L Catterton is the private equity arm of French luxury giant LVMH Moet Hennessy and chases essentially consumer sector deals in the region including India.
Abdullah Abo Mihim, Programme Leader, MA Fashion Business, Istituto Marangoni, London
Abdullah joined Istituto Marangoni London in 2010, and since then he has been lecturing and leading various units on BA in Fashion Business, MA in Fashion & Luxury Brand Management, MA in Fashion Promotion and MA in Fashion Buying. Some of the subjects taught include: Economics, Finance, Big Data, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Wealth Management, Strategy, Luxury Management, and Project Management. He has been involved in supervising Master Dissertations, and Undergraduate Business Plan projects.
He has taught in various UK Higher Education Institutions lecturing Corporate Finance on the Buying and Merchandising Programs in Westminster University and Wealth Management on the MBA in Luxury Brand Management in Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU). He has been lecturing on the Postgraduate programs and Executive MBA (EMBA) in the Fashion Business School (LCF) within the University of the Arts London for over five years.
Prior to teaching, he worked in the Investment Banking Financial services and Hedge funds working for Merrill Lynch, Bloomberg and MENA Capital.
He obtained a BSc in Financial Studies from BAU (Lebanon) in 2001, an MSc in Financial Management from the University of East London (2003), an MPhil Upgrade from SOAS-University of London (2005), and a PGCert in Academic Practice from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU).
He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) a member of the Chartered Institute of Financial Services (ISI), The Chartered Management Institute (CMI), and The National Skills Academy for Financial Services (NSAFS). His research Interests include Emerging markets, Microfinance in Retail, The interaction between Finance and Luxury, Wealth Management, Value chains, FinTech, Blockchain, and Big Data.
Ganesh Subramaniam, Founder, Stylumia
Ganesh Subramanian is the Founder & CEO at Stylumia, a deep technology venture solving real-world problems in fashion and lifestyle businesses using cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence. Stylumia is present in the USA, Europe, UK, Middle East, Brazil and India.
An experienced retail professional, he has had long stints in Supply Chain and P&L leadership roles with global and Indian leading fashion and general merchandise retailers. He was earlier the Chief Operating Officer of India’s largest fashion e-tailer Myntra taking the business from US$ 20 million to US$ 1 billion. During his stint at Myntra he built the world’s first AI-driven fashion brand, which is a global case study now.
Prior to this, he was head of fashion and softlines business at Walmart JV in India. He has also been in leadership roles with reputed fashion brands and retailers namely VF Corporation,Tommy Hilfiger, Reliance Trends, Arvind Brands, Indus League Clothing & Coats Viyella. He loves solving real-world problems using technology.
He is a thought leader in the industry globally and shares his points of view on a weekly basis with global reach. His weekly thought-starters are now running 185 weeks at a stretch.
Shirin Mann, Founder & Creative Head, Needledust
Shirin Mann Sangha is Founder & Creative Head of Needledust, a first ‘Born of India’ footwear label to ‘reinvent and redesign’ juttis and bring one of the best Indian handicrafts on the ever evolving international fashion grounds. It offers a line of fine leather juttis, which are handcrafted and hand-sewed by India’s finest artisans.
Needledust brings to you a line of bespoke fine leather juttis with hand embroidered designs, that speak the charm of a true old school artisan with a desire to recreate fashion for those that wear, admire, preserve its elegance, class and culture. With love for the handicraft and passion for revival of the jutti, amalgamating the finesse of old royal moulds with innovative design and embroidery patterns.
Recently, Needledust launched MULES, an alternative footwear that has the same unparalleled quality and craftsmanship of Needledust Juttis. 100 percent handcrafted and vegan, Needledust mules feature a variety of patterns across a stunning palette of colours.
Gitanjali Saxena, Business Head, Global Luxury, Tata Cliq
Gitanjali Saxena is an experienced Head of Retail with a demonstrated history of working in the internet industry. She is skilled in Digital Strategy, Corporate Communications, Market Research, Management, and Marketing Strategy.
She is a strong sales professional with a PGDBM focused in Marketing from Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad.