Indian fashion's enfant terrible Rohit Bal is on a high. And it's not his "Scotch on the Rocks" that has his mind whirring. The haute couturier has sold out almost all his pret-a-porter collection of his winter line at Raymond's Be store in Mumbai and is planning to retail it at Kimaya, Ensemble and his own store in Delhi. Bal, who was in Mumbai recently scouting for property to set up his own store, is ecstatic: "This is madness. People are buying clothes without any apologies." Known for his extravagance with yards of cloth as also his exquisite bridal lehngas priced at Rs 50,000 and above, Bal has succumbed to the challenge of designing ready-to-wear clothes priced between Rs 600 and Rs 2,000. "I've done shirts in khadi for Rs 250 and am working on bringing down price points further," he says.

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE: A customised outfit from Satya Paul's Scribble collection (left) and the pret version

A Rohit Bal shirt for Rs 250? Well, that's pret-the cheaper version of clothes with the designer label. Bal has already set up a separate 10,000-sq-ft manufacturing unit with staff in Delhi to take care of the needs of his pret line labelled Balance. "This madness is just a tip of the iceberg and many Titanics will succumb to it," he says. And they already have. One can get a Ritu Beri jeans for Rs 1,900 or a Raghavendra Rathore skirt costing Rs 850 or even a Rajesh Pratap Singh shirt at Rs 1,600 at exclusive designer pret stores. Newcomers and stars of the Lakme India Fashion Week like Puja Nayyar, Anshu Arora Sen and Manish Arora have also quickly cashed in and displayed wares between Rs 600 and Rs 4,000.

The trend of cheap being chic has been visible in spurts: Krishna Mehta launched K2, her label of ready-to-wear garments, in 1998 retailing via Shopper's Stop, Satya Paul launched his pret label U in 2001 and Wendell Rodricks designed a pret label exclusively for Westside last year. By then, unknown designers like Anita Dongre and Linarika Tipnis, both from Mumbai, were also making inroads into the supposedly non-existent pret market. Their labels AND and Linarika selling off major departmental stores across metros also acquired a faithful fan following.

A year ago, as recession, competition and only a few months of the buying season began defining the couture segment, the discussion in the fashion world had turned weighty. The fraternity gravely wondered where its future income would come from. Shunned for long, pret-a-porter was the answer. Today it's the buzzword in the fashion industry with big names crossing over.

The past eight months have seen Ritu Kumar retailing pret. Her value-for-money line called Label is targeted at younger customers. Designer Tarun Tahiliani who has admitted to "usually not designing an outfit below Rs 35,000" has followed suit and tried to package his creative juices between Rs 7,000 and Rs 14,000 as Zero Gravity. Couturiers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla have also begun retailing their ready-to-wear ensembles between Rs 3,000 and Rs 15,000 under their new label Jashn. Says Bal: "My mission statement this year is pret with a vengeance and I intend to compete with brands like Allen Solly and ColorPlus."

What has also changed the way the pret game is being played is the entry of corporates into the market. While departmental stores dealt with smaller designers, Raymond's has reined in the chaos and disorganised designers into smelling the money. On the first day of its opening in Mumbai, Be did business worth Rs 3.7 lakh. Says Chairman Gautam Singhania who planned the concept of exclusive pret stores two years ago: "Initially we spent a lot of time convincing the designers to join us. Now that they know we are serious about having 15 stores across the country by March next year and have already helped them earn the moolah, designers are bending backwards to join us."

The economics have already begun to justify their decision. In two seasons, 30 per cent of Bal's revenues have already come from pret. "By next year, 70 per cent of my money will come from pret and the rest from couture." Delhi-based designer Ashish Soni, for instance, has increased manpower by about 50 per cent in one year devoted just to his pret label AS. He has the all-important reason: "If there is anything that will make me rich, it is my pret line." Trousseau specialist J.J. Vallaya who plans to venture into it soon, says, "If you are not into pret, you cannot survive."

CHEAP CHIC: Mehta's pret kurta (right) costs Rs 7,810; the couture one, Rs 38,300

What differentiates couture from pret? Definitions vary according to convenience. A school of designers defines pret-a-porter as clothes available at accessible price points, traditionally between Rs 600 and Rs 2,000. The other technical interpretation is of ready-to-wear available in multiples and not defined by price. "For me, price is not the distinguishing factor," says designer Suneet Verma. "Abroad Calvin Klien does ready-to-wear at $300 whereas Armani starts his line at $12. Pret is anything, which is not customised to my client's needs and figure limitations. But if pret means mass wear and multiples beginning at a certain price point, then I am not equipped and ready to dabble in it." Verma, however, does admit that two of his colleagues-Rina Dhaka and Malini Ramani-have got the formula right of designing "clothes with a lot of dash and for less cash".

In fashionspeak, the high-flung and hard-to-produce ideas are delivered ahead of time at the top end of the design cycle. Later it percolates down to the ready-to-wear lines, and finally to the mass consumers in the casual lines. Puneet Sethi, design head at Satya Paul, puts it neatly: "A customised ghaghra outfit from our Scribble collection, for example, is made of different silk-woven textures, each in different colour tones, bias cut, aged to patina, hand embroidered, and then stitched." On the other hand, the pret outfit from the same collection is on a complimentary line. It may be a print or machine embroidered on cotton or mixed georgette that is ready to be machine washed and available at a particular price point, says Sethi.

PRET POINT: Inspiration and hues are similar in Rathore's kurtas

But designers are also quick to point out that pret is not a compromise on quality or fabric. Kumar believes pret fabrics are completely different from the ones used in couture and so are the embroidery and design styles. "The inspiration may be the same, but the treatment is different. There are three very essential components for pret-sizing, pricing and being able to interpret a design to create a great product." In fact Mumbai-based designer Priyadarshini Rao insists that "pret garments may be more trendy and stylish than regular couture following the dictates of the season. But I have no pretence that you could wear my outfits to a wedding. Pret usually moves from day wear to evening wear and yet looks stylish."

"Survival of the fittest", the rule of the jungle, could well apply to the pret industry as the competition between the homegrown pret designer and the couturier turning towards pret hots up. For well-known labels, the going is admittedly easier. Rathore finds his years of hard work paying off when people ask for his pret clothes even while his is displayed alongside 10 competitors. "I am finally encashing on my name."

While Soni marks his creations and others of his ilk "a notch higher" than those retailing in departmental stores, Tipnis feels the errors and lessons in the past three years have given her an edge over the designers and new entrants. "I am about to introduce a mass label that is cheaper than my Rs 1,600-plus garments," she says. Going a step further, Dongre who first ventured into pret and has now begun her own couture line, says, "Earlier, designers only designed to one size. After much research, I came up with different sizes that would work for the urban Indian woman."

Fashion experts admit that the urban Indian woman's wardrobe is growing to accommodate the pret labels of top designers, even if they are a touch pricey compared to the homegrown ones. Clients sold on exclusivity too have begun showing their preferences. Avid couture shopper Tanya Dubash says, "I don't care if someone else is wearing the same shirt. I've bought four Manish Arora shirts and they look stunning." And that's the bottom line for pret.