F ashion is something that reflects ones personality inside-out, Fashion symbolizes the feeling of advancement and transformation. Sonal Agarwal along with the Campus Sutra team are dedicated to provide the most stylish and modern merchandise to fashion enthusiasts. A hyper-fast-fashion D2C e-commerce business and India's largest and fastest-growing D2C brand, Campus Sutra was established with the idea to provide custombased merchandise to college students. In a heavily funded start-up environment where raising multiple rounds of funding is the norm, Sonal and her partners have created a successful bootstrapped brand. The firm has grown rapidly over the last few years and is currently operating in twenty-one countries and is available at over Five-hundred locations across India.

Sonal Agarwal, Co-Founder of Campus Sutra is a graduate of NIFT. She is the Head of Design of Campus Sutra managing a team of 30 designers and merchandisers In a recent interaction with Women Entrepreneur Magazine, Sonal shared more about her background, corporate journey and future plans. Here are the highlights from our discussion.

Tell Us About Your Educational Journey And Prior Industry Experience And What Motivated You To Enter The Online Fashion Industry?

Growing up in a small town, career options were limited to CA, Engineer, or Doctor, no one even considered that the field of fashion could be a profession. On a visit to Delhi I realized the importance and scope of the fashion Industry and found my calling as a designer. Following NIFT, I worked with Titan and Quetzel, as well as working as a freelance designer on various projects.

During a Goa trip, me and my co-founders came together to create Campus Sutra, recognizing an opportunity to enter and establish a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand in India's growing e-Commerce fashion market.

After my graduation I realized that the skill of design cannot exist in a vacuum; designers must pay attention to the demands of the client and the business. To fill this gap in my core skill sets, I pursued a Post-Graduation in Women Entrepreneurship at IIM Bangalore.

What Are Your Roles And Responsibilities As The Co-Founder And How Do You Face The Challenges Related To It? What Has Been The Most Significant Milestone That Have You Achieved And What Is Your Guiding Philosophy?

The most important duty is to ensure that the products we create are relevant to the client’s needs. To ensure this, I have to manage the process from sourcing to brand image management.

New challenges started to arise when Campus Sutra grew rapidly and beyond anyone’s expectations. We are proud to have built a strong team at Campus Sutra that was ready to take up any challenge the market threw at us. Being an outsider to the industry was our biggest challenge as well as our biggest advantage. Out of the box thinking and the courage to deviate form the existing standards provided us with an opportunity to stand out in a crowded industry.

"In the next five years, indian fashion brands will become global brands and that is exactly where campus sutra aims to be"

When it comes to professional milestones, only a handful of people were working at Campus Sutra during our early days and now we have almost a five-hundred-member strong team. Second, we were recently awarded the D2C Brand of the Year - Fashion Category at the India D2C Summit. My philosophy is that that no work is too big or too small and that ego has no place in this equation. I like to instill the same philosophy with everyone I work with.

What Trends Do You Foresee In The Fashion Industry? How Do You Align Yourself With The Latest Periodic Evolutions?

Since starting Campus Sutra we have witnessed an online fashion industry boom and we foresee that this trend will continue. In the next five years, Indian fashion brands will become global brands and that is exactly what Campus Sutra aims to be. We must have a thorough understanding of the industry to stay one step ahead of the competition.

How Do You Strike A Balance Between Personal And Professional Life? Are There Any Activities And Hobbies That You Like To Indulge If Time Permits?

To tell you the truth, sometimes it is a challenge to maintain a work-life balance while heading a growing start-up in a high involvement field. I try and ensure that I take enough time with my family and friends to unwind. Cooking dinner and eating together with my family is something I look forward to each evening.

I've always been drawn to activities that allow me to express myself creatively, and painting and interior decoration is one of my main interests. I am also passionate about travelling as it is the best stress buster for me and opens my mind to discover new ideas.

As A Successful Business Leader, What Advice Would You Like To Give To Young Women And Girls Who Want To Be Future Leaders?

My advice to young aspiring women is 'If not now, then when'. The Information age has enabled women to achieve things that earlier seemed like distant dreams. Women today should go out and grab their opportunities NOW.

Sonal Agarwal, Co-Founder, Campus Sutra

Sonal is a fashion designer and a graduate from NIFT spearheading the efforts to make Campus Sutra the leading fashion brand of tomorrow.

Educational Qualification: Bachelor in Accessories Design, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bangalore. Masters in Women Entrepreneurship, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Awards & Recognitions: India D2C Summit – D2C Brand of the Year – Fashion 2022 BW Disrupt 40u40 Awards – 2022 The Economic Times #ETRISE India’s Fastest Growing MSME.