Saree is undisputably, the most beautiful Indian attire worn by any woman, agrees Pallavi Patodi, the co-founder of Yellowfashion.in, an online store that provides you with latest collection of sarees and ethnic wear.
“I watched my father working hard in his little bicycle shop and that’s how I knew I wanted to come up with something of my own”, tells Pallavi Patodi.
The Idea
The idea to come up with a platform to bring a fresh style of wearing sarees incepted in the mind of Pallavi, when her husband was recovering from a surgery. But why sarees and ethnic wear? Pallavi answers, “Growing up in an environment where witnessing the women folks always in sarees, plus our family & friends used to take me along for buying sarees, my opinion and guidance was taken for different draping styles, not to mention I can drape 10 different ways. And so it was natural to me to pursue it further with full heart.” Also, the market of ethnic wear was utterly disorganized and so, Yellowfashion was started as an effort to bring fresh fashion and with an aim to satisfy its customers.
Prospering at the hub of Indian fashion, Mumbai, Yellowfashion, is a self funded venture, bootstrapped with 20 lakhs after withdrawal of deposits and savings. It stresses on quality friendly fabric and also double checks all sarees for manufacturing defects and variations in order to keep the buyers happy and satisfied.
“We try and serve this need for Fresh Fashion across India. Our customers – explore our site frequently because hundreds of hand-picked – new designs in Sarees go live on Yellowfashion every week. They don’t see all these new designs in their neighbourhood store,” tells an overwhelmed Pallavi.
The Journey
Born in a small town of Hatpiptiliya, near Indore, Pallavi always wanted to come up with something of her own and with a strong support from her family and husband; Pallavi took the entrepreneur world by storm. Since she was a little girl, Pallavi loved spending time at her father’s bicycle shop and watch him work hard all day. Pallavi reckons that her father was the inspiration behind her mindset of building a career for herself.
“Unknowingly I picked up my business acumen from him. The day he heard, he was overjoyed with pride. Not only because I was planning to start something of my own, but looking at our background coming from a backward place a girl is going to make big is something he endorsed with all his heart”, claims Pallavi.
Going back in time, Pallavi reminisces the time when her team was small and she became a pro at multi-tasking to get the work done. She tells, “I remember forwarding the customer care number to my mobile phone and attending customers calls during vendor meetings, in between children’s studies, and even while cooking.”
She further adds, “We personally delivered products to customers in Mumbai. We still do it sometimes now, try at least couple of times every month. That adds to the pleasure and also getting to know your customers better. The personal touch has become a phenomenon for us.”
Today, Yellowfashion.in, has a customer base of around 1 lakh spreading across India and Sri Lanka, and with a net revenue of 8 crore in financial year 2014-15, this ethnic fashion portal surely is expected to touch INR 15 crores in the upcoming year.
She is very thankful to her family who, even though were a part of a conservative society, yet they were always supportive in terms of studies and allowing her to do her own things. “Not having a single good school, never stopped my parents to pursue us for further studies, that’s why both me and my sister could manage to finish our post-graduation.” Her family is surely an inspiration for all of us. Also, her mother is one woman Pallavi looks up to as she inspired her to follow her heart and never forced her to follow the traditions.
The Road Ahead
Pallavi says, we would like to start our own saree brand specially designed and crafted for women who are incredibly stylish and love to wear class. Also, she wishes to introduce customized sarees and increase her PAN base in India, within 3 years from now.
What keeps Pallavi going is her determination and passion to keep moving forward, to fight with each and every obstacle, every day and to put in best efforts. “Also, inclusion of a good team is what takes the dream to become a reality. You will see things start aligning,” adds Pallavi.
