While the 2000s was significantly gaga over Bollywood and Eastern-inspired fashion, the trend is making a comeback and seemingly one that will stay. This was the case with Amit Dev Chopra who has brought India to South Africa's keen buyers.
What brought the Made in India market to South Africa?
It's been popular in 25 other countries with a few shows in Africa in Botswana, Malawi and Lesotho, among others. South Africa is one of the biggest nations Indian people call home. Thanks to social media, the world has become smaller, so fashion, food and more is catching everyone's attention. Everyone is into Indian cuisine, culture and cinema.
With that demand, there have been a lot of knock-offs. How can one tell the difference and find good quality clothing or food?
All of these products are from India. The exhibitors are the manufacturers in India and they are also responsible for exporting. If you come to the exhibition you will see the latest trends because we do research and development on what people are buying. We also do this through orders because a lot of South Africans like to tell us what they like. For example, they'll say they have a wedding in three months, so we will send it to them once it's ready.
From the trendy food people love, what can they look forward to?
We have chefs who come from around India. They can try our mutton curry, chicken curry and veggie options such as the paneer curry. The big trend is the panipuri. In English “pani” means water and “puri” means ball, so it's a water ball. We've got savoury and sweet [versions].
The event will be running until the 17th.
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