Nikhaar hopes make a splash through online retail

Homegrown women’s wear brand Nikhaar has been dressing up women in latest and trendiest clothes. Its collections are meant for the smart, fashion savvy woman who has travelled across the world. Out with its latest collection for the festive season, Nikhaar continues to drape women in the trendy fashion. And it hopes to take the collection overseas. The aim is to take Indian fusion wear to fashion savvy women. Also, it hopes to maintain its growth rate similar to previous fiscal year.

The brand provides formal, semi-formal and casual wear. India has two wedding seasons. So, formal and semi-formal cater to the wedding season. The other range includes anarkalis, churidars, kurtas, and indo western fusion outfits. For tops, there are kurtas. Bottom wear includes dhoti, patialas, salwars, palazzos and trousers.

Nothing traditional about ethnic wear

Since typical salwar kameez have become boring most brands now provide a twist. Nikhaar believes in creating collections that are exclusive. Ethnic wear is given a twist in terms of style, fashion and cuts. In colours, bright tones are used. The idea is to make the clothes look smart and fashionable. So, Nikhaar has anarkalis, with pants, Bollywood film Bajirao Mastani inspired anarkali with palazzos, and so on. Most of the outfits are in silk, georgette, chiffon, crepes, and the colours includes a few typical Indian shades. For embroidery a lot of American, European type of embroidery has been used. Also, pearls are used a lot.

Research is the key to staying in trend

Nikhaar spends a lot of time and money on researching colours and trends. Internet and social media are the main tools of research. Through these it invents colours and keeps experimenting. It has to keep up with the latest trends and styles because people are very fashion conscious today. Most people are aware of latest styles. So, they prefer brands which are different and innovative. Earlier people used to go and buy stuff without reasearching but no longer. Nadeem Tetiwala, Creative Director, says, “We used to have 90 percent sales from retail and 10 percent from e-commerce. This was seven-eight years ago. But now it is 90 percent online and 10 percent brick and mortar retail.”

Nikhaar has reduced its offline business and concentrating on online. The main reason being: money market has become tight. Nikhaar is available on Amazon, Snapdeal and hopes to be big online soon. Says Tetiwala, “Everything has changed. Now, people are moving away from touch and feel buying. Instead they are buying online where it is more convenient. Retail too is undergoing major changes in India at the moment.”