Manish Arora became the shining star of the Indian design scene. His vivid colour schemes and textured prints had him dubbed the “John Galliano of India”.
However, since the last three years, the designer’s brand has been in the spotlight for business deals gone bad, unpaid wages lawsuits and vendor disputes.
Manish Arora announced that he is creating a pop-up restaurant in Paris, and is actually up for a high-profile colab with Amazon Fashion alongside JJ Valaya, Ashish Soni and Suneet Varma. But the closer you look, the sooner you realise that these are the designer’s attempts to save his business.
In 2020, Manish parted ways with his long-time business partner Deepak Bhagwani, who shared with NYT that the brand’s French holding company went into liquidation in July. And now, his website is shut for maintenance.
Manish’s last fashion show was a year ago and the pieces are available at heavily discounted prices. From Fish Fry to collaborations with Reebok, Swarovski, Amrapali and showcasing at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Hong Kong Fashion Week and Miami Fashion Week – Manish Arora has done it all but it wasn’t enough.
Fingers continue to be raised at what Manish’s liquidation means to the karigars (artisans) who are often overlooked by designers. Added to this mix are also middle-class management workers who haven’t been paid their dues. One of them who decided to sue Manish for unpaid wages, stated that they often went 18-hour days without overtime pay. And apart from him – vendors, couriers and partners also stopped receiving timely payments. This began in 2017 and only got worse over time.
Modelling agencies whose models walked the ramps were left unpaid, as were other workers while Manish shared Instagram stories of parties at Goa beach houses. As the fashion industry awaits the international designer’s next step, so do those who haven’t been paid their fair share for months.
Modelling agencies whose models walked the ramps were left unpaid, as were other workers while Manish shared Instagram stories of parties at Goa beach houses. As the fashion industry awaits the international designer’s next step, so do those who haven’t been paid their fair share for months.