'My Mission is to Establish My Brand Globally' - Designer Rashmi Modi

Designer Rashmi Modi offers contemporary high quality, skilfully handcrafted and luxe leather bags. In an interaction with BW Disrupt, Rashmi Modi shares her entrepreneurial journey as well as future plans.

How did you come up with the idea?

So, it was in London when I was a freelance handbag designer for a buying house and was doing my Masters simultaneously, that I felt it very unjustified that we Indians design and manufacture for International brands and they get all the recognition and money. Karigar’s the real hero earn nothing and we as designers are not respected. That’s when I decided that I want a brand of my own, Made in India and take it internationally.

How different are your designs?

The designs are original, romantic and still utilitarian. We essentially do 5 major things – focus on the quality, respect the karigars, customisation, proudly Made In India, affordable designer products.

What are your future plans?

My mission is to establish my brand globally.

How was it started?

I started with a very small workshop in Kolkata last year with one freelance master and one karigar. It was very experimental to create a few designs and test their feasibility. There was no major set up and no major investment. With just Facebook as my marketing channel and myself as the naïve marketing person, I started to get a few orders. It was great to see that women were ready to shop from a new premium designer with premium prices just from pictures on Facebook. My clients loved the originality of the designs and good quality at such affordable price.

What is the funding status?

It’s a completely self-funded venture as of now.

What are your marketing plans?

For now it’s my own website and some curated online retailers. However, in future I will be opening our studio soon.

What were the challenges faced initially?

The major challenge is to win customer confidence as for an Indian brand, especially in the handbag industry, it becomes difficult to compete with the international brands.

What is the market size and opportunity you are presently looking at?

Having mentioned handbag as the symbol of social status, there are still many intelligent customers who have developed palate for luxury. Also, there is a wide gap to target in between the high street products and the premium international brands like Michael Kors and Tory Burch. For now these are my two target audience.