The Curators of Indian Couture

Anurag Singh Khangarot,Co-founder &Rimjhim Hada, Founder & Creative Director, Aachho

At her wedding in 2015, Rimjhim Hada, Founder & Creative Director, "Aachho', fused an heirloom gold-zari Rajputi poshak with a new fabric for a contemporary touch. She was already designing ethnic attires with contemporary silhouettes from her mom's bandhej/lehriya sari collection during her college days. Anurag Singh Khangarot, Co-founder, Aachho, was deeply passionate about digital and e-tailing. So, when his previous employer changed their business model from e-couponing to Ecommerce, he pursued a Digital Marketing course from XLRI.

Hada is more into the creative and software side, while Khangarot has business and digital expertise, ethnicity being common to the two entrepreneurs. The two came together and founded "Aachho' in 2018, a fusion fashion label showcasing the designs and colours of Royal Rajasthan. The ensemble, which is a special tribute to their homeland, also brings beautiful Indian ethnic and handcrafted products on a single platform, by offering a rich, cultural diversity of traditional colours and hand block prints. Initially, the boot-strapped start-up was fraught with hiccups. Khangarot says, "But over time, we were truly blessed to have loyal and repeat customers - the biggest investors in our company. We have a good rapport with our suppliers also, who often help us with credit."

Their major clientele within India hails from tier II and metros, with customers in the USA, UK, UAE, Canada and Australia too. Within just a little over three years after launch, the brand has clocked an impressive growth. Sharing the brand's online growth story, Khangarot says, "Our 2019-20 turnover was Rs.3.5 crore. We closed FY 2020-21 with Rs. 19 crore."

We are looking to add menswear, kidswear, jewellery and bags.

Reminiscing on the initial days, he says, we registered our domain "aachho" on 14th Aug 2016, "Till we went live with our website in 2018, we were strengthening our social media platform. Social media (SM) is an integral part of our business. We get to know our customers closely and can track how they are interacting with our content. SM helps us garner the influencers and prominent personalities from our industries. Our customers have been our great marketers, we have grown so far through word-of-mouth." On retail outlets, says Khangarot, "Through online presence, we are reaching 26,000+ pin codes in India and 220+ countries and territories worldwide. Physical locations will have a limited reach. However, we are planning premium stores to create real-life experiences for consumers and allow shoppers to have more meaningful interactions with our products."

About future plans, says Khangarot, "Our plan is to scale up categories and brands so that we can widen the number of SKUs. We will strengthen our strategic partnerships with marketplaces like Nykaa Fashion Online Store and the plan is to contribute a significance share into their revenues." Adds Hada, "We are looking to add menswear, kidswear, jewellery and bags."

FACTSHEET

•Launchedin 2018

•Closed FY 2021 withRs. 19 crore turnover