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BENARAS
I studied fashion design from a renowned french school, in Paris. Back then, I was sure, fashion was the path for me. I had the time of my life in Paris, truly. But by the end of those 2 years, something had changed. Fashion began to feel desolate, like a dead end. It wasn't about celebrating creativity anymore. It was two faced, under the shiny facade, the truth was ugly. It was too excessive, with endless desire and no responsibility for consequences. Corporations wanted to make money, people wanted to look good. A means to an end. The sparkling streets of Paris were to me, in stark contrast to my own country.
But why ? India had a rich cultural heritage with its diversity, colourful and vibrant. Then why was 80% of its population struggling ? what was happening to that rich culture in todays world ?
After my course ended, I decided to come back to India in 2017. I had a feeling there was something I could do, with whatever I had learnt. Young and restless, I was travelling intensely, became a certified yoga teacher, trying to enjoy my early 20's, but all the while looking for answers to why the world was the way it was, soul searching.
In late 2018, I made a radical decision, there were problems with the world. But I could solve one. Fashion.
I had grown up with my mom working for a government organisation that worked to protect and promote Artisanal crafts and textiles. While younger, in a quickly globalising world, all of that looked 'uncool' to say the least. But now that I knew how everything was working, Clearly the world had not come up with any solutions. Fashion was irresponsible and fake.
To my mind the answers lay in India.
And thats how Benaras was born.
A passion project
The Problem - fashion was unsustainable and broken
The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world just after the oil and gas industry. Thats right.
The fast fashion business model is unethical for several reasons; , no transparency in the supply chain, modern slavery, toxic dyes - world's second-largest polluter of water, unsustainable(read plastic) materials, over consumption, huge amount waste and pollution. 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year, and washing most kind of clothes, sends significant amount of micro plastics into the ocean, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles. A year.
So what was wrong with fashion ? Everything.
The Indian crafts sector — The Indian textile & Handicrafts industry is the largest employment generator after agriculture in India. They have a great potential to provide employment opportunities to millions of artisans spread over the length and breadth of the country. These products have a demand in the global marketplace. So what was the problem ?
In short, They required a professional touch, as per the demand of the market. The handicraft sector is mostly unorganised. There is a lack of education, low capital, poor exposure to new technologies, absence of market intelligence and a poor institutional framework. Not to mention, these artisans are deep inside of rural India, where most modern facilities do not penetrate.
The Solution - Addressing the market Gap
The need and demand in todays society for - 'slow fashion', 'sustainable fashion', 'fair pay', 'worker safety', 'organic fabrics' was growing. On the other end of the spectrum, was the handicrafts and handmade sector, which was declining, the younger generations, leaving their traditional craft heritage and caving in to factory made synthetic goods.
I knew fashion like the back of my hand. I knew about Indian cultural crafts and its amazing artisans. But why were the two somehow not related ? To my mind, there was an evident market gap. Both these sectors could fuel each other, as they always had, before the industrial revolution.
what good was the industrial revolution for the planet and its people anyway ? All uniqueness of handmade, traditional craft methods and the talented artisans, were lost in todays fast paced consumerist digital world.
I sort out artisans, to join my mission, to make fashion good again and to restore artisanal handmade crafts to its former glory.
The Idea
The Values behind Benaras were simple - Transparency, sustainability, promote the handmade revolution, Reinterpret these artisan crafts for the international market and lastly to promote slow conscious fashion. It was going to be about 'joining the loop', to bridge the gap between fashion and the desolate artisan community in India.
How difficult could that be ?
I was supported in my mission, with incredible investors, who believed in the value of the business.
Ex-walmart hotshots, they wanted to help me disrupt the global fashion market with Benaras.
We started out by laying out the foundation of the business. Benaras was the oldest city in the world, a reflection of Indian heritage. It was a name, that had a recall value to ancient mystical India. The India we wanted to share with the world.
We started deciding on the product mix, tam sam som and brand identity. It was truly an exciting time.
The Journey
While on the journey of creating Benaras's brand identity and subsequently selling, there were hurdles and learnings. We started the Business at the end of 2018. The business model was such that the company was officially registered in the United states. We had decided unanimously that we would export the products to the U.S. and sell through our online store, targeting U.S. and Europe. We had assumed that the Indian market was too young, too caught up as a developing country to appreciate the products of its own heritage, especially with the glorification of the west's culture. The trends and demands for slow fashion and conscious consumption, seemed more likely to be appreciated by these developed countries, simply because their learning curve had taught them, that not everything of the industrial revolution was actually right.
As we had hoped, our products were indeed popular in our target markets. For their excellent quality and heritage value, they were seen as collector's items. France was especially popular, in appreciating Benaras. We were loving the feedback and the ride.
Learnings in Business
Oh there were alot of hurdles and learnings. to start with, our target market was never India, so the question became - How to sell these heritage craft products to non - Indians ?
I had to study the markets, research on competitors, understand their product offerings. The brand identity and language had to be altered in such a way, so as to make sense to our target market. Another hurdle I faced, was how to modernise these products to fit in todays context ? handmade is great, but were the products cool ? After all, products that are trending, sell like hot cakes, while Benaras was more traditional and somber. I couldn't understand how to introduce the element of 'Fun' to the brand. I worked with the artisans, to create fresh market designs, But working with the artisans was not easy. They had limited resources and were a little rigid to trying new ideas.
We were also facing problems with our costing. The products were a little more expensive after shipping.
But these are all normal problems that any business would face. Until, the pandemic hit. Corona impacted us, since we could not get any products made, or ship them out. Shipping had become more expensive and taking much longer. The economy was also hit in the midst of talks of a recession. By march 2021, we made a unanimous decision, to end Benaras, at least until the world became normal again. I was heartbroken of course, since it was my brainchild. I decided, to upskill myself in the meantime. I was working in the capacity of a product manager, but I had never studied product management before. So I, joined a course and voila ! aced it, scored full marks on all my projects. I was driven, to never let failure come to another business of mine.
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