Opportunity in personal need

Nisha Somaia,36

Education: BA (Sociology), Miranda House, Delhi Worked with: Mesco,Triburg, Li & Fung Time spent as employee: 8 years Age at starting business: 28 years Initial investment: Rs 2 lakh Sources of fund: Savings Company: Revolution Clothings Turnover: Rs 12 crore No. of employees: 150

1. Learning the business:

Nisha Somaia started working in 1992 when she was 20. Over the next eight years or so, she discovered and developed skills in garment retailing, merchandising and accounting. Working for a retail project of Mesco’s Shoes, she picked up coordinating skills. She soon moved on to Triburg, sole agents of US-based clothes range GAP. Being part of the merchandising department introduced her to marketing, purchasing and accounting in the field of garment retail. Two years later, she moved to Li & Fung, a Hong Kong-based buying house, to liaise with French buyers in Delhi.

By the time she had been three years in the field, she was sure that her career lay in the field of fashion. Wondering if she should be a fashion journalist, Somaia quit her job in 1999, and signed up for a course in fashion journalism at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and studied photography as well. “My husband was working with Benetton and supported my decision,” she says. However, she soon realised that journalism was not all glamour and decided to go back to her previous career.

2. The idea:

Reluctant to reenter the field as an employee, Somaia and her husband spent a lot of time thinking about her starting a business in the garments industry. “I knew I had to focus on a niche segment to survive, I couldn’t take on the established players in readymade garments,” she says.

She initially considered making and selling sensuous nightwear, but her market study told her that this was not a lucrative business in 2000. Her husband came up with the idea that made the most sense—making and selling ready-to-wear garments in large sizes. For years, he had seen the trouble she had shopping for the trendy Western wear that she craved. But since there were few Indian retailers who offered plus-sized garments, she had to get her clothes tailored or get them from abroad. “He told me to translate my clothes shopping experience into a viable business model,” says Somaia.

The idea obviously appealed to her on many levels, and so she decided to give it a shot. Digging into her savings, she hired a young NIFT graduate and began designing outfits. They made 1,000 garments, not one of which was in a waist size of less than 34”. “I collected size samples from pieces that are exported to Europe,” says Somaia. By February 2001, she was ready to test the market. She rented a hall for five days and advertised an exclusive exhibition of plussized clothing under the label Revolution. The response was phenomenal.

“Just my mother and I were manning the hall and we had planned no help. It was chaotic but fun,” she says. The five-day exhibition extended to nine days and she recorded sales of Rs 2.81 lakh. “I had invested Rs 2 lakh [of personal savings] in the project,” says Somaia.

3. Setting up shop:

he frenzied welcome given to Revolution did not die down. People were asking for more, and Somaia decided that the best way to meet this demand was to set up a retail outlet. But to act was not as easy as to think of the idea. She had to consider location, and more important, investment. Neither she nor her husband wanted to take on the interest burden of a loan.

By July 2001, she had located a small shop in Shahpur Jat village, a residential-cum-shopping area in Delhi, at a rent of around Rs 16,000. Some 400 pieces left over from the exhibition made for the initial stock. “Once again I was salesperson, cashier and peon all in one,” laughs Somaia.

But things improved by October. “We hired help and got a friend from a previous organisation to join as head designer. And Pranay [her husband] quit his job at Benetton and joined me,” she says. By March 2002, Revolution had recorded a turnover of Rs 18 lakh.

She planned to open more stores over the long term, depending on the response from customers. She set up her second store in Mumbai. Somaia spent three months setting up the store and hiring people. Around that time, she took a clear decision not to go the franchising route.

“It is an easy way to increase the bottom line, but if there’s a vision mismatch, the brand suffers,” she says. Strong brand consciousness was one of the main reasons that Revolution turned down Westside, which wanted to source garments from her but market them under its own label. “We did not want to give up on our brand name and refused the offer,” she says.

4. Consolidating business:

By December 2002, she opened her third showroom, this one in Delhi’s popular Greater Kailash M2 market. The shop took around six months to start showing some profit. “We decided to pay the best salaries to our employees and open a new store whenever there was a surplus,” says Somaia. By the end of 2003, Revolution’s turnover had touched Rs 2.8 crore and she opened another store in a mall in Gurgaon.

“We even organised a fashion show where our customers walked the ramp,” she says. The year 2004 was spent consolidating the business, installing a production tracking system and getting designs updated. “We expanded our range by including regular sizes also,” adds Somaia.

With all stores having paid for themselves, the couple set up stores in Bangalore and another in Delhi in 2005. “We compromised on the location at most of these places as we couldn’t pay the hefty deposits and rent,” says Somaia, whose focus was on brand building. In 2006, a Dubai-based company wanted her to supply the clothes for its showroom. “But we were not comfortable with the terms,” says Somaia. The couple decided to open a store in Dubai themselves. “We jumped the gun. Everything went wrong. The mall is not doing well and the store is yet to pay for itself,” she says.

5. Planning for the future:

By the end of 2007, Revolution stores were opened in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. The couple ended the year by launching a website [to enable e-commerce]. “This will help us reach a much wider audience,” adds Somaia. It is too early to judge its success but many non-resident Indians have welcomed the idea, she says. What now? Even after seven years, Somaia remains fascinated with the industry and her business.

“I create what I can wear. The experience is personal,” says Somaia, who took a loan for the first time for their foray into the lingerie segment and to purchase a manufacturing unit last year. Checking out fashion shows in India and abroad, strict quality checks and introducing over 250 styles every year, are some of the reasons for the brand’s success, says Somaia. More than being profitable, the entrepreneurial journey has also been therapeutic for her. “I had spent a lot of time hating my shape. Now I counsel my clients,” she says.