Being fashion forward is the name of the game. Everyone wants to look good, and why not? The city’s fashion e-retail market is sprouting a galaxy of start-up stars that are beginning to shine and glitter. It’s not important what these entrepreneurs are bringing but how they are bringing it.
Axilor, a start-up hub in JP Nagar has already paved way for many start-ups to get their own footing and many more are learning the ropes. Two such lifestyle startups, Storewalk and Fashion Barn, are already making waves. We find out what is unique about these start-ups and these entrepreneurs.
The Fashion Barn: It is the country’s first wholesale marketplace founded by Namrata Soni and Vinay Saini, who wanted to solve the pertinent problem of putting Indian fashion on a global retail map. Now she’s giving young fashion labels a platform to get on the global map. After an undergraduate degree from Mount Carmel College she completed her MBA from California and worked as a digital product manager with a few multinational firms that helped her gain knowledge of physical retail, eCommerce and online payments.
“There was a need for a platform that would help resolve the issues that brands face in connecting and doing wholesale business with retailers. That’s why I created the country’s first marketplace for brands to do wholesale business with multi-brand retailers across the world. We have weekly sessions at Axilor that help us learn about branding, product building, hiring and connecting with mentors and giving us tips on how to scale up,” shares Namrata.
Storewalk: With a vision to simplify shopping, young IIITH alumni Aashit Verma, Ateendra Singh, Sachin Kumar and Prashant Kashyap founded Storewalk to connect shoppers with the best stores in the city to give them a personalised shopping experience. With this mobile shopping app you can shop at any store in India within your budget.
Aashit says, “My family was in garment retailing and I was always passionate to use that learning to create a business around fashion retail. When I met Ateendra we found a common passion for solving the challenge around discovering fashion in retail stores.”
Sachin and Prashant faced this problem as shoppers and decided that through their startup they would help shoppers find the right fashion stores that offer collections matching their style and budget expectations in their vicinity to save them time.
Sachin adds, “With the help of technology, shoppers can locate ideal stores and vice versa. Veterans like SD Shibulal, Kris Gopalkrishnan and Srinath Batni have shown faith in our idea.”
