Designer Priyadarshini Rao’s women’s wear brand maybe just 16-week-old, but it has a sound retail strategy in place for speedy expansion. In fact, the brand aims to achieve a turnover of Rs 7-8 crore by the year end. “We started out slow,
finding our feet in a fairly crowded marketplace. We did not follow trends or do any research and got down to doing great clothes that was our only objective. We were in partnership with the Solar Group, a highly franchise and retail company from Mumbai which helped us access high quality real estate,” says Jaydeep Shetty, Founder and CEO, Mineral Fashion. The name Mineral was chosen because it signifies natural and authentic and simplicity is at the core of the brand. Mineral evokes visions of purity and nature.
Aimed
primarily at women between 22 to 35 years, who are sensible and aware of their personality, the brand offers a range of tops, tunics, piquet tees, trousers, jeans and dresses. The collection includes clothing, handbags, fashion jewelry. Shetty says, “Our line of jeans have just three fits and three washes. It’s been launched in our stores this week.” The brand launches key pieces, a line of premium clothing only at their Bandra store. These are signature pieces priced between Rs 2,999 to Rs 5,000. “We make only 10 pieces in each. We also have Mineral Girls which is long dresses for girls up to 12 years. They have a special flavor that’s different from the typical ‘Cinderella-type’ dresses available in the market,” Shetty explains.
He says they are not really bothered about what percentage share of the market they get rather their focus is on being seen as a leader in what they do. “We seek appreciation for creating meaningful fashion for an evolved consumer, because there are brands in ethnic and traditional women’s clothing but western wear lacks presence of good brand names. So if we succeed in penetrating the un-tapped markets, others would get an inspiration,” opines Shetty.
Working with just two designers, the brand has a flagship with 1,800 sq. ft. in Bandra and another one spread across 900 sq. ft. in Infiniti Mall, Malad. Their collections are also retailed through Shoppers Stop, Central and Lifestyle. The company plans to venture into Bangalore soon.
