I Wear Me: To expand its organic product basket

Ashwin & Hina’s love for nature, art and design led them to experiment with art and ethical fashion. This ultimately led to the launch of brand ‘I Wear Me’. The idea was to create an ethical T-shirt brand and combine it with the power of art and design to deliver creative, unique and green fashion.

Taking baby-steps to expand the brand across India through the online and offline route, I Wear Me will now increase its product basket for men.

Sharing details, Ashwin, Director, I Wear Me, says, “Apart from creating a line for new born children, we plan to extend our men’s line by introducing new products variants like sweat-shirts, pullovers, accessories, and formal wear. These will be launched step by step.”

Enriching ethnic product basket

I Wear Me offers unisex organic T-shirts based on graphic concepts and is cued towards bringing out the wearers personality in design. The range starts at Rs 699. “We are excited with the new line up that we are working on. Other than increasing our styles for men, we are also bringing out some concepts for newborns. We are looking at a colorful range for our target audience. For women, we plan to launch woven tops and dresses. It’s still in the development stage,” says Ashwin.

He points out that T-shirts are the fastest selling category globally and people are looking for a variety of things in graphics, cuts, patterns, etc. “Although our market reach is limited now, we are expecting major change once we launch our country-wide online campaign. This campaign should work both towards educating consumers about the concept of organic, and drive revenues for the brand,” Ashwin adds.

Establishing retail presence

The brand retails through independent boutiques across the country. It’s available in Mumbai, Bangalore, Gangtok, Chennai, Pune, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. “We are planning to work with large retail formats and are keen on pop store formats, which are friendlier to start-ups and with easy access to walk in customers,” avers Ashwin.

Deciding to go slow on expansion for the moment, the company is constantly working on innovative ways to reach out to new markets within India. Ashwin explains, “We are focusing on Tier II, III cities as there is good opportunity there.”

Apart from brick and mortar stores the focus is on online sales. The brand has a tie up with Flipkart and Snapdeal and will also soon join Jabong and Amazon. “We have strategic online tie up with Tadpole store that focuses on art and design led products and has been doing well for us. Our association with these marketplaces will give us the necessary reach and a wider audience,” says Ashwin.

The brand is pushing its B2B offerings with good response. In the B2B space with customized merchandise for corporates, media houses and institutions the brand has seen a lot of demand both within India and Europe, UK and US.

Summing up, Ashwin says, “Our vision is to help conserve the environment, support ethical and fair-trade practices and promote artistic talent through the I Wear Me clothing line. Our commitment towards eco-fashion helps us to bind our team, the factories we work with, farmer organizations we partner, designers and artists we engage with, and most importantly our consumers.”