The not-so-secret history of Candour
AHMEDABAD: There is a sudden burst of lingerie brands including Candour London seeking to woo girls and women. How and why did your journey start?
Having lived in Central London for four years for graduation, I got acquainted with brands like Victoria's Secret, Agent Provocateur, M&S and GapBody. Like any other girl, lingerie was always a preference when it came to shopping. The fashion, range of colors, variety was something that kept me hooked.
However, back home in India, the excitement was missing. It was monotonous and boring. The need to improve and bring in a sense of youth fashion, fun and brilliance to Indian lingerie market triggered Candour London. The supremely beautiful and brilliant range of designs, colours I saw in London helped me identify the gap in the Indian market in terms of availability, excellence, exposure and workmanship.
What do you make of the surge of online lingerie? Are there gaps that your brand can fill?
The online market is based on products originated and designed in countries like China which do no cater to a particular target or customer needs.
Candour aspires to be the leading value premium lingerie brand for "youth" in the subcontinent. With increasing demand for fashion products in lingerie, we hope to provide youthful prints, colors, styles and silhouettes.
Considering India has a higher population on the heavier side, the fairer sex seek right size straps that do not dig in the shoulder and correct cup sizes rather than random patterns and styles. Candour will work on new innovation and research pertaining to bra technologies and to ease all discomfort.
Our business model is based on fast moving fashion which is seen in outerwear but lingerie hasn't seen it yet. We will be having a product drop every 2.5-3 months which will have variations in the prints, colors et al so that my customer always gets a different product each time she shops. This will end the habit of customers buying lingerie twice a year to buying lingerie at least 4-5 times a year.
How do you intend matching market requirements?
We have our own contracted factories in Sri Lanka and India with coordinated design studio to create concepts and merchandise like none other. Customisation of international styles and colors to the Indian context "Think global and act Local" is the underlining philosophy. We strongly believe that differentiation through innovation and technology is the way forward. Women's lingerie is highly technical to manufacture and needs skilled labour. We seek to open up our own unit in the next two years to accelerate manufacturing. On the retail front, I hope to more than double my presence to over 500 MBOs in 2017 in addition to company-owned outlets.
Having lived in Central London for four years for graduation, I got acquainted with brands like Victoria's Secret, Agent Provocateur, M&S and GapBody. Like any other girl, lingerie was always a preference when it came to shopping. The fashion, range of colors, variety was something that kept me hooked.
However, back home in India, the excitement was missing. It was monotonous and boring. The need to improve and bring in a sense of youth fashion, fun and brilliance to Indian lingerie market triggered Candour London. The supremely beautiful and brilliant range of designs, colours I saw in London helped me identify the gap in the Indian market in terms of availability, excellence, exposure and workmanship.
What do you make of the surge of online lingerie? Are there gaps that your brand can fill?
The online market is based on products originated and designed in countries like China which do no cater to a particular target or customer needs.
Candour aspires to be the leading value premium lingerie brand for "youth" in the subcontinent. With increasing demand for fashion products in lingerie, we hope to provide youthful prints, colors, styles and silhouettes.
Considering India has a higher population on the heavier side, the fairer sex seek right size straps that do not dig in the shoulder and correct cup sizes rather than random patterns and styles. Candour will work on new innovation and research pertaining to bra technologies and to ease all discomfort.
Our business model is based on fast moving fashion which is seen in outerwear but lingerie hasn't seen it yet. We will be having a product drop every 2.5-3 months which will have variations in the prints, colors et al so that my customer always gets a different product each time she shops. This will end the habit of customers buying lingerie twice a year to buying lingerie at least 4-5 times a year.
How do you intend matching market requirements?
We have our own contracted factories in Sri Lanka and India with coordinated design studio to create concepts and merchandise like none other. Customisation of international styles and colors to the Indian context "Think global and act Local" is the underlining philosophy. We strongly believe that differentiation through innovation and technology is the way forward. Women's lingerie is highly technical to manufacture and needs skilled labour. We seek to open up our own unit in the next two years to accelerate manufacturing. On the retail front, I hope to more than double my presence to over 500 MBOs in 2017 in addition to company-owned outlets.
