Best foot forward

When Nayantara Sood decided to enrol for London College of Fashion after quitting a well-secured job as a brand communication head a lot was riding on her passion for designing. “Designing was always at the back of my mind and London College of Fashion made me realise what all I could do. However, after finishing college, I didn’t want to take the beaten track,” says Nayantara who finally found her calling in shoe designing.

“Unfortunately, our fashion industry is very inward looking. Designers here only think about Indian consumer and never really focus on international buyers. This has surely restricted our reach outside the country. Indian designers are too comfortable with local market and their products lack global appeal,” says Nayantara.

While she tries to focus on global consumers Nayantara believes that the growth of online retail market back home will surely change things. “I have some regular customers from abroad among other countries. The online retail is fast growing in India and I have noticed a very interesting phenomena. We get more online queries from 2-tier cities than metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru,” says Nayantara.

The young entrepreneur recently launched her fashion line, Taramay. Nayantara adds that designing shoe is all about striking a balance between comfort and style. She travels all over to meet leather suppliers.