In a culture where gender stereotypes are pervasive, six Indian fashion brands founded by women have a significant impact on the retail fashion industry and are essential to the growth of lucrative enterprises.
When you live in a nation like ours where celebrations and festivities are perpetually in full swing, it's impossible to resist donning too many ethnic outfits. We presumably always have our eyes on shopping for that reason. Anyway, if you're just looking to discover and snag the greatest festive attire or have a special occasion coming up, here's a list of our favourite Indian brands led by women, such as Biba, who we believe have nailed the formula.
BIBA
Meena Bindra, a designer-turned-entrepreneur, founded BIBA as a brand in 1988. In the early 1990s, after years of wholesale distribution to conventional shops, it built its first exclusive store in Mumbai's Inorbit Mall.
One of the first few companies to use the shop-in-shop format was BIBA.
It received this honour in 2012 from Images and the CMAI Apex Awards as the Most Admired Women's Indian Wear Brand of the Year. The Best Women's Ethnic Wear Brand of the Year award went to BIBA.
BIBA's distinctively North Indian sense of design has drawn customers from all throughout India. It has produced the children's line BIBA Girls.
With 192 exclusive brand locations and more than 250 multi-brand retailers, BIBA is now present in 76 Indian cities, and Biba Apparels' annual sales are anticipated to be close to Rs. 600 crores.
IMARA
Anjana Reddy, the CEO and founder of USPL, also established IMARA in 2015, and it immediately caught the attention of young urban women who are interested in fashion. The company started out by selling its products in Shoppers' Stop stores, and today it can be found on websites for fashion, like Jabong and Myntra. IMARA is pursuing an omnichannel strategy by creating exclusive brand sites across the nation.
The brand provides young people with a variety of affordable styles and experiments to select from. Kareena Kapoor Khan has served as the IMARA brand spokeswoman since February 2020. The organization's previous brand ambassador was Jacqueline Fernandez.
IMARA currently operates 210 points of sale across India, and in the following two years, it hopes to double that number.
INDYA
Indya is an omnichannel quick fashion company that Shivani Poddar and Tanvi Malik started in 2016. The brand focuses on modern silhouettes with vintage embroidery, patterns, and motifs.
Over 300 retail sites for the brand exist now across the nation. Indya has started its offline journey with 25 own-stores spread across India, with many more to come.
The parent company of Indya, HSE, has positioned itself as a one-stop shop for all the fashion needs of urban, twenty-something women. HSE also owns Curve, a plus-size Western wear brand, and FabAlley, a fast-fashion Western wear company featuring globally current clothing and accessories. All three businesses are geared toward today's women and each has its own own style identity.
VAJOR
Natasha AR Kumar founded the women's fashion and lifestyle e-commerce business Vajor in September 2014.
It opened its first retail outlet in Delhi on April 17th, 2018. Ten to twelve more stores have been opened by the company in Goa, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Pune, and Jaipur.
To reach a wider audience, Vajor has also chosen to diversify its product line by getting into the ethnic and masculine clothing markets. There are now women's clothes, shoes, purses, jewellery, accessories, and home decor options.
Okhai
The Okhai Centre for Empowerment was founded by the Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development in 2008. A TAS participant named Kirti Poonia recognised the value of Okhai's goods. She turned the non-profit organisation into a full-fledged e-commerce business in 2015.
One of the things made in Okhai is clothing, along with accessories and handicrafts. In Mithapur and Ahemdabad, there are retail showrooms where you may buy these things. The products combine the traditional art form of the Tribal Women with the creator's designs. The Okhai website was launched by Kirti in 2015. Products were progressively uploaded to websites like Tata Cliq, Amazon, Nykaa, and others.
The company aspires to make Rs. 50 crore in sales by 2025, employing 1 lakh craftspeople in India, advocating for fair wages for these workers, and providing customers with affordable and environmentally friendly design.
With the staff on board, Okhai hopes to advance the project more quickly. In addition to growing online and into allied industries, they also intend to open ten physical retail stores.
Additionally, they plan to expand their offerings in maternity wear, environmentally friendly children's clothes, Diwali and Holi-themed products, emotional collections, and theme-based apparel.
KESSA
Three ladies made the decision to support the local artisan community by launching a line of reasonably priced apparel, and that was the start of everything. With no prior experience in managing a business or knowing what tasks to take on, they took on the challenge at a quaint store in the foothills of Dehradun. With the affection and gratitude they have got from the customers throughout the course of our service to the fashion industry since 2008, what began as an idea has sprouted into a massive manifest.
Given that Kessa has always been led by and led for women, it is simpler to access an Indian woman's nuanced morality. The trio, who are related by blood who are also connected by fashion, have continuously been a source of inspiration for one another and their ever-supportive families. Anuradha Maheshwari is in charge of administration, Mrs. Pallavi Rathi is in charge of design, and Mrs. Anamika Yadav is in charge of marketing after years of sacrificial labour by the women.
