Kaun Banega Master Stylist: A unique competition from Raymond to celebrate World Tailor’s Day

With an extraordinary legacy of 90 years in the textile and apparel industry, Raymond endeavors to create a tailoring ecosystem with focused initiatives to positively impact 100000+ tailors within the next few years. Raymond has also taken many initiatives to revive the craft of tailoring through recognition of skilled Tailor Masters. In order to build and strengthen a community, Raymond has created many avenues to engage with the tailors in valuing their craft and restoring its glory. This forms a part of the larger strategy that comprises four pillars of growth or the 4Cs that include, Capability, Capacity, Connect and Consumer.

Raymond connects with the community through World Tailor’s Day

The third pillar Connect is all about giving back to the community of tailors. The celebration of World Tailor’s Day on 28th February is one of key initiatives in this regard. The day marks the birth anniversary of Elias Howe Jr who is the inventor of the sewing machine. Many activities are planned to celebrate the day across the country. Tailor Masters working are formally acknowledged by our senior management team as well as our colleagues from across the head office and regional offices. The day is celebrated by organising visits to the stores, meeting Tailor Masters, acknowledging their contributions, appreciating their work and complimenting them through a simple in store ceremony.

We also involve our customers in recognising the talented tailors by telling them to formally appreciate their favorite Tailor Master. Such gestures have also helped us in re-connecting with our customers while conveying the significant role played by these masters of the craft.

Kaun Banega Master Stylist (KBMS)

The importance of Tailor Master in the tailoring ecosystem is driven through another important event. Raymond established Kaun Banega Master Stylist (KBMS), a unique platform to bring together and identify the best Master Stylist from across the talent pool of Tailor Masters, Stylists and Designers in our country.

A national level competition, Kaun Banega Master Stylist, is organized to certify Tailor Masters on the basis of their skills and capability. Tailor Masters across the country, irrespective of them being a part of Raymond or not, take part in this competition. They are asked to make a self-designed garment in the men’s category, either from the Formal, Casual or Ceremonial range.

The process of Kaun Banega Master Stylist starts as early as July each year when Tailor Masters apply for the competition. This year the regional round of the competition was conducted in 8 centers across the country. In regional round, they display their best fabric design and are shortlisted by designers of repute on the basis of their submissions.

Through this process this year, 90 Master Tailors and 30 designer students from across the country have been shortlisted to attend the finale. The students are from Raymond’s own training institutes as well as from other designer schools. A total of 120 people have been shortlisted for the Finale that will take place on 27^th and 28^th February 2019.

The first day will have live competitions to challenge the participants. These include mannequin contest for Master Tailors as well as design illustration and garment making contest for students. Post their presentations, the 3 top stylists from the participating Master Stylists and top 3 student stylists will be identified by a senior jury panel. The winners will get attractive cash prices as well as an opportunity to showcase their talent and designs at key stores across the country as well as get nominations for other design events.

International recognition and awards at WFMT

The winning stylists from the shortlisted Master Tailors will get an opportunity to attend the biennial event conducted by World Federation of Master Tailors (WFMT) to be held at Verona, Italy during August 2019.

Last year’s KBMS winners, Shamshad Ansari and Aparna Mal, got an opportunity to represent the country and attend the 27^th Federation of Asian Master Tailors (FAMT) event at Daegu, South Korea. They took part in the event and interacted with senior Tailor Masters from across the globe. They also participated in the Golden Needle – Mannequin Competition in Business and Formal Wear categories and won Gold and Silver merit awards for participation.

Guest Author: Ajit Pattnaik, GM & Head Tailoring, Raymond