NOT JUST A LABEL
Fashion · March 2012 From the Ninu Nina archive
Not Just a Label goes to India How Stefan Siegel's London platform for emerging designers set out to find India's next generation of talent, and what it grew into.
East London's Not Just a Label (NJAL), the online platform showcasing today's avant-garde fashion designers and nurturing tomorrow's, has set off on a journey: to discover new talent, connect East and West, and explore everything India has to offer.
The biggest challenge, and perhaps the most interesting part of the trip, is dropping Western ideas of what high fashion is. India is unique because fashion there is still deeply shaped by cultural heritage, something the West has flattened almost everywhere else. Traditional dress is held in high regard and often mixed with modern design, producing garments that are colourful, unexpected and out of this world.
The trip starts at Lakmé Fashion Week, where NJAL is hosting a workshop to help young Indian designers reach the widest possible audience through international media. From there, the team heads to Delhi and Ahmedabad to scout new talent for a Western market hungry for the vibrancy of Indian fashion.
Schools are hotbeds for young talent. It's during a designer's education that a whole world of possibilities opens up.
So NJAL is going straight to the universities. Founder Stefan Siegel will lecture at NIFT, Pearl Academy and NID, encouraging gifted students to think globally, keep creating, and use the platform to get their work seen. He's also keeping a daily diary of the people he meets and the wonders he finds along the way.
The itinerary
The trip was supported by the British Council, with special thanks to Vogue. Here's how the ten days were planned, from the original poster.
- 1–6 MarchLakmé Fashion Week, MumbaiGrand Hyatt
- 5 MarchNJAL workshop at Lakmé Fashion Week, Mumbai
- 6 MarchNIFT & NJAL workshop, DelhiNational Institute of Fashion Technology
- 7 MarchPearl Academy & NJAL interactive session, Delhi
- 9 MarchNID lecture, AhmedabadNational Institute of Design, Gandhinagar campus
Who is Stefan Siegel?
Stefan grew up in South Tyrol, the German-speaking corner of northern Italy, surrounded by the workshops that define "Made in Italy." He went to Venice's Francesco Morosini naval school, then studied economics in Vienna, where he started working with design houses and advertising agencies.
A modelling career took him across five continents before he finished his MBA in 2004. Then came finance: Ernst & Young and Sal. Oppenheim in Switzerland, and Merrill Lynch's M&A investment banking group in New York and London, advising listed fashion companies.
In 2008 he took everything he'd seen from both sides of the industry, the runway and the balance sheet, and launched NJAL on a shoestring. Today, according to his own bio, he also advises city and national governments on growing their creative industries, and has served on a European Commission panel for the creative sector.
- South Tyrol
- Venice
- Vienna
- Model, five continents
- Investment banking
- NJAL, 2008
What NJAL became
The idea in 2012 was simple: help talented designers skip the traditional gatekeepers and reach the world directly. That's still the model.
Every designer on NJAL gets a virtual showroom to archive collections and connect with stylists, press and buyers, and can sell straight to customers, keeping most of the revenue. The platform also pushes made-to-order and local, artisanal production to cut waste.
Figures as reported by NJAL. Offices in London and Los Angeles.
Quick answers
What is Not Just a Label?
An online platform, virtual showroom and marketplace for independent and emerging fashion designers, founded in London in 2008 by Stefan Siegel. Designers get their own showroom page and can sell directly to customers.
Who founded NJAL?
Stefan Siegel, who grew up in South Tyrol, studied economics in Vienna, worked as a model and in investment banking, and launched NJAL in 2008.
What did NJAL do in India in 2012?
With support from the British Council, it ran a workshop at Lakmé Fashion Week in Mumbai and held sessions and lectures for students at NIFT and Pearl Academy in Delhi and NID in Ahmedabad, scouting emerging designers for an international audience.
