CASE STUDY

Anita Dongre
Queen of Prêt
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Written by: Pooja Bhula

Cover Design: Carl Moebis
 Table of Contents
Anita Dongre. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Early Life: Inspirations & Lessons Learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
MASQUE to Mass: The 1st Entrepreneurial Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Growing Pains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
AND She Finds the Gap In Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Growth, Competition & Prudence-led Antifragility in Recession �� 17
Fusion: The Next Big Thing, Funding, Experimentation Frenzy ���� 20
Staying Ahead of Competition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Reflecting, Rebranding, Reviving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Dongre Enters International Hall of Fame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
HOAD Today, Tomorrow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Personal Attention, Quality & A Ear to the Ground. . . . . . . . . . . 35
Adaptability, Time Management & Velocity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Mentoring & Teaching by Example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Non-monetary Incentives & Leading by Example. . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Family Business & Thinking Long-term. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
 Anita Dongre
“My strength is in the fact that we work as one person.”
- Anita Dongre

Anita Dongre is not called the queen of prêt for nothing. In just two
decades she has graduated from a tiny B2B (business-to-business)
clothing supplier to having her own brands’ presence in 1,100 stores
across India. From a standing start, her business today generates sales
of Rs. 680 crore ($100 million). She has two stores in Mauritius and is
the only Indian designer to have a store in New York. Right from the
onset, she has been pushing the envelope and setting trends. At home
she was the first woman in her family to work, and then in the fashion
industry, she went against the tide by starting a ready-to-wear label
before her signature label.
From prices to sizes and experimental collections, she has been dis-
rupting the apparel scene since her entry in the 1990s. ‘Wearability’,
she says, is the name of her game and she dared to showcase not so
over-the-top, but wearable clothes even on the ramp.
Two decades on, her first apparel baby – AND and her second
fusion wear label - Global Desi, together beat most domestic brands
and boasted an estimated market share of 14% in India (FY16).
6 | Anita Dongre

Dongre’s brands are only bested by global brands like Zara (26%) and
Vero Moda (20%).
House of Anita Dongre (HOAD), co-founded by Anita Dongre
and her siblings, Mukesh Sawlani and Meena Sehra, is among the first
fashion houses to go for private equity funding. The company received
573 lakhs (~$800,000) in 2008 for a 22.8% equity stake from Future
Ventures. HOAD raised a further 100 crores (~$15 million) in 2013
from American private equity firm General Atlantic. That meant the
company’s post-money valuation grew at a 109% CAGR from 2008
to 2013.
Anita wears only her own creations, which she purchases from her
stores, and a tenacious woman, she dons several hats – that of a Chief
Creative Director at House of Anita Dongre, who oversees all brands;
designer of her signature brand having women, men, prêt, wedding
couture and jewellery labels; and member of Lakme Fashion Week’s
advisory board.
Lauded as much for her business acumen as her fashion sensibility,
Mrs. Dongre has won several awards. She was listed among 50 Most
Powerful Business Women in India by Fortune India magazine (2013)
and Most Powerful Women in Indian Business by Business Today
(2015). The trio turned vegetarian in college and in 2016 she bagged
the PeTA award for being The Most Compassionate Designer in 2016.
One of her labels ‘Grassroot’ is cruelty-free and uses natural fabrics.
A rare breed among designers, she boasts a following among roy-
als, first women, movie stars and the masses alike. Kate Middleton
wore her signature label in 2016, Queen Mathilde of Belgium in 2017,
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau and Hillary Clinton in 2018.
 7 | Anita Dongre

Early Life: Inspirations and Lessons

Learned
Mrs. Dongre’s family lived in Sindh (now Pakistan) before India’s par-
tition. Like most Hindu families in Pakistan, during the brutal era,
her father Kishanchand Sawlani fled his hometown to settle across the
border. Sindhis spread to different pockets of India and the Sawlanis
found a new home in Rajasthan. And like most families who made the
move, he went from prosperous to penniless overnight. Yet, with hard
work and shrewdness in equal doses, Sindhis established themselves as
a dominant business community. While Kishanchand’s siblings later
branched out to foreign shores, he saw an opportunity in Bombay,
where he set up a business in textiles. The city is also where he had six
children (three girls followed by three boys, all born at two-year inter-
vals) with his wife Hari.
Anita, the second, born in Oct 1963, turned out to have the most
creative streak coupled with an adamant determination to pursue it.
Often, those with a creative bent are said to be driven more by
passion and emotion than economic considerations. But Anita had a
creative-commercial balance right from the beginning. At her school
she enjoyed Math and History as much as Performing Arts. By the
end of school, she knew she wanted to be a designer, but unaware of
design schools, she enrolled into Narsee Monjee College of Commerce
Economics, because her best friend in school was going there. Eventually,
alongside B.Com she pursued a 2.5 year diploma in Fashion Designing
from Premlila Vithaldas Polytechnic SNDT (Mumbai), one of India’s
oldest institutes to set up a department for fashion design.
There she was mentored by Kaushal Pantakhy and acclaimed
designer Hemant Trivedi, known to have dressed models and some
of India’s most celebrated beauty pageant queens including Aishwarya
Rai (Bachchan) and Priyanka Chopra. Of her SNDT days, what Anita
8 | Anita Dongre

cherishes most is that “they encouraged me to pursue my own sense of

style (which was quite minimalistic). All good teachers should do that.”
Her mother used to stitch frocks and dresses for the girls but later
stopped. Anita mentioned it jokingly, but her middle brother, Mukesh,
who’s also part of the business, explained, “Our youngest brother,
Rajesh, was born mentally challenged; his special education and care
required a lot of mom’s time. She may have stopped stitching because of
that. Watching him suffer and grow brought us all closer and brought
out the empathy in us.” This empathy, like her innate fashion and busi-
ness sense, also went on to become part of the organizational culture.
“As both my maternal and paternal grandparents lived in Jaipur, all
our holidays were spent in Rajasthan. Each time, I would return with
lac bangles and colourful fabrics from which I’d make dresses, kurtas,
jumpsuits, dhoti pants…whatever was in vogue,” said Anita about her
early inspirations. But conservative and worried about what society
would think, her parents were not at all keen to have Anita pursue a
career. “It wasn’t common for women to work at the time, there was
lots of opposition, but I remained firm. Now everyone (in the family)
works, but I broke that barrier and because I succeeded, it became
easier for others too,” recalled Anita.
Right after SNDT, with Hemant Trivedi’s help Anita bagged an
internship with the erstwhile royal family of Dhrangadhra, Gujarat,
which ran a small high-fashion business. “Bapa Dhrangadhra was a
great mentor. From their large apartment in Carmicheal road, we made
exquisite, handmade couture pieces for the US market. The scale was
small, but evening wear, cocktail ensembles or dresses for formal events
were very high end. I started out assisting them and then worked full-
time,” said Anita. After a year, she joined Melco Buying Agencies, one
of India’s leading exporters whose production unlike the Dhrangadhra’s
was “50,000 to 100,000”. Melco catered to several American brands
and today its website boasts clients such as Abercrombie and Fitch,
 9 | Anita Dongre

Zara, H&M, Dorothy Perkins, and other global brands. The exposure
to contrasting experiences of couture quality and finery, followed by
scale and mass-mindset would make Anita a force to reckon with in
the years to come as she’d wow people with quality and style at very
tempting prices.
Taking her practical lessons back to school, Anita spent the next
two years teaching at SNDT. But the entrepreneur in her couldn’t wait
to be unleashed, so once her sister Meena finished studying fashion
from the same institute, they got into business together.
10 | Anita Dongre

From MASQUE to MASS: The 1st

Entrepreneurial Journey
The label the sisters started was MASQUE, inspired by their initials and
family name (Meena, Anita and Sawlani). With seed capital borrowed
from their father and two sewing machines at home, the duo began
with embroidered Indian wear for small boutiques in Linking Road,
a popular shopping hub in Bandra. In those days, networking with
buyers (in-house merchandisers responsible for procuring for stores)
happened at annual garment fairs and buyer-seller meets. “Department
stores were forever looking out for new manufacturers and through
word-of-mouth they would come to us as well,” said Mukesh.
Around 1989/90, Anita’s now 27-year-old son, Yash, would have
been born. But far from slowing her down, it’s also the time around
which she began supplying to large, reputed stores like Sheetal, Roopam
and Benzer in Mumbai and Big Jo’s in Delhi. “I returned to work when
Yash was 40-days old. My mother-in-law and mom played a pivotal
role. We’re very fortunate in India to have such a great family support
system and luckily for me, they both live in Bandra; otherwise, com-
bining work and parenting can be very challenging,” said Anita.
While Anita’s forte lay in designing, Meena proved to be great
at management and purchase. Mukesh said, “In our business, we’re
always designing keeping the commercial angle in mind, so you need
a smart product person who’ll tell you what will sell and what won’t.”
An equal stakeholder in HOAD alongside Anita and Meena,
Mukesh entered the picture in 1994. “After graduating in B.Com,
while on a holiday to Dubai, I interviewed with Standard Chartered
and got the job. Going from an intern to playing different roles over
three years, I got a great training ground. It set in a lot of discipline.
But I never wanted to continue in banking. Therefore, when Anita
called saying ‘listen we can expand the business’, I thought, yes, we
 11 | Anita Dongre

can do a lot together.” Never really creative, he planned to bring to the

table his banking experience and business sense, and look into money,
expansion and strategy. Yet that didn’t excuse him from having to first
understand fashion – he learnt about textiles, fabric, everything. “Anita
was keen that I pick up fast. Working together, learning happened
every day. But she didn’t say go and learn by yourself, she explained
and made efforts to ensure I understood,” Mukesh recalled. Soon he
was overseeing manufacturing and even store tie-ups.
Anita’s style of mentorship besides guidance included giving people
responsibilities to learn on-the-job. Early on, she ensured Mukesh car-
ried the same values and shared the same vision, and by delegating,
allowed him a sense of ownership. In the years to come, Anita reaped
the benefits of her management style -- today the trio “work as one”.
Besides supplying to stores, Anita and Meena also participated
in the popular exhibitions then. Exhibitions allowed MASQUE to
directly interact with customers, which was otherwise not possible as
they supplied to stores and the feedback was used to improve, a trait
that remains HOAD’s strength even today. Another advantage of exhi-
bitions was selling under the MASQUE label because stores they sup-
plied to would sell garments only under the store’s name. Finally, exhi-
bitions helped build a database of customers that they could engage
with for future events and invitations.
As business grew, so did the number of sewing machines--from
two at home to six in a rented garage, then 20 in Dharavi (Asia’s largest
slum) and finally, 40 sewing machines in an industrial unit.
12 | Anita Dongre

Growing Pains
“Purchase was always outright, but payments often took one to three
months to come, and those who didn’t pay on time, would take even
longer,” recalled Anita. Their father ultimately closed down his chil-
dren’s wear manufacturing unit for similar reasons. “He would supply
to small stores across India, especially Tier 2 and 3 cities. But after
incurring a lot of bad debts, 15 – 20 years into the business, he wound
it down. He’d go for long trips to recover money, but many wouldn’t
pay,” shared Mukesh. “Yet, his background was of great help. He had
good connections in the entire textile market and introduced me to
suppliers,” added Anita.
In the garments industry, defaulting on payments is still common-
place. Even some of the top stores then tended to default on payments.
Therefore, instead of supplying to all and sundry, the Sawlani siblings
chose to work only with a few of the largest retailers in the country,
and if news reports from the time are to be believed, a good number of
international stores too. They could have continued in their comfort
zone, but didn’t want to be “just another manufacturer” and began
searching for a “gap in the market to set up our own brand”.
 13 | Anita Dongre

AND She Finds the Gap In the Market:

Burning Bridges, Frugality & Work
Liberalisation in 1991 created a lot of new jobs, and gradually women
entering the workforce began moving away from traditional formal
wear like sarees and salwar. But in the early 1990s, India didn’t really
have western apparel brands for women. These were largely stocked
by standalone, mom-and-pop shops that imported these garments.
Among the big players were department store Shopper’s Stop, who had
just opened, and Tarun Tahiliani’s Ensemble and Munira Chudasama’s
Golden Thimble offered some options.
Recognising the pulse of the market, something Anita is reputed
for (especially the Indian mass market), she put together “a modern,
simple, clean line of blacks, whites and beiges – women like us, my
friends and I had started dressing like that. But when I showed it stores
we were supplying to, they found it too plain and rejected it.”
We often hear that every end is a new beginning and that’s exactly
how Anita saw it. Undaunted by rejection, Anita, Meena and Mukesh
incorporated AND Designs India Ltd. (ADIL) in 1995.
To focus solely on the new brand, they decided to completely stop
supplying ethnic wear to stores. “With MASQUE earning us revenues
in the range of Rs. 1 crore per annum, it was a risk that took lots
of guts,” recalled Mukesh. And that’s how they went from MASQUE
to their first ‘mass’ label AND, an acronym of Mrs. Dongre’s marital
name Anita Dongre. Her visionary approach is evident from the fact
that most other big designers have started their prêt lines only in the
past five years and even Ritu Kumar, who can boast an early start,
launched her prêt line LABEL in 2002.
Penny wise and pound wise too, after a year or two of fully concep-
tualizing AND, the first brand shoot was done with Sushama Reddy,
one of the 1990s top models and a VJ-turned actress. In 1997/98 AND
14 | Anita Dongre

was launched with a pop-up shop in Bandra. “The collection just sold
out. It was our first break,” reminisced Anita. But the dream was to set
up a store.
The next two years also saw the opening of department stores such
as Lifestyle, Globus and Westside, which among other wares, offered
western formals, casuals and party wear. Future Group had also entered
with an 8,000 sq.ft. Pantaloons store. So modern retail was opening up
and as luck would have it, India’s first modern mall was in the making.
After Spencer Plaza, India’s first shopping mall built in Chennai in the
1800s, the country didn’t get another for over a century. When Ajay
Piramal’s plan to promote Crossroads came out, AND had the fore-
sight to grab the opportunity. “We knew the mall would change the
face of retail. At first the mall owners were reluctant to rent out space to
us (an unknown brand), but agreed after some convincing. The brand
handbook also paid off,” said Mukesh.
The state-of-the-art mall was much anticipated and welcomed with
traffic-jam causing enthusiasm. Matching the mall’s modern look and
feel, the AND store was tastefully designed with a chic minimalism
matching its clothes. Anita said, “I always wanted my own store, to
offer a certain shopping experience.” To date, AND’s changing rooms,
the entrance to which is flanked by French windows, makes the brand’s
stores standout from the rest. Mukesh recalled, “A lot of people mistook
us for an Italian brand because of the décor.” The only other women’s
wear brand Crossroads had then was Ensemble.
Rent, for the 300 sq. ft. space at Crossroads was around Rs. 200,000
($3,000). Despite the exorbitant rent and other overheads, they broke-
even within two years. It helped that the mall was doing well, but per-
sonal involvement, frugality and presence in varied retail formats made
a difference too. Though there was a senior manager, for the first year,
Mukesh was present at the store day in and day out. Like Anita and
Meena would previously do during exhibitions, Mukesh would also
 15 | Anita Dongre

now tune into experiences of customers for learning as well as opera-

tional issues such as theft, pilferage, soiling, etc. and take corrective
action. Then, to keep costs down, Mukesh shared, “We didn’t have a
fancy office, didn’t employ too many people and did many things our-
selves…” Frugality is a trait they inherited from their father. Mukesh
added, “Having started the business from scratch, we understand the
value of every rupee. Prudence is part of our culture. It was also our
upbringing. Though my grandparents and father were wealthy while in
Sindh, they restarted life here with nothing, so growing up we were a
humble family and taught to value money.”
And another smart strategy they adopted was simultaneously sell-
ing AND apparels from shop-in-shops of the newly opened and open-
ing departmental stores like Shoppers Stop, where you don’t have to
pay rent, but just focus on sales.
While most department stores offered sizable space to external
brands, Westside right from the beginning has focused on its in-house
private labels. Yet, Anita Dongre’s prêt collection was one of the few
and possibly the first around 2003 to be retailed at Westside’s chain of
stores under its own label.
And deservedly so. Anita had a lot going for herself.
First, always keen on the overseas market, in 2000, Dongre was
the only Indian designer invited to represent the country at Germany’s
CPD Dusseldorf garment fair, where she launched her signature label,
Anita Dongre. Her launch collection - often described by various
reports as an exemplary combination of Indian crafts and clean cuts
– was later available in India at her signature store in Kemps Corner.
Then in time, reports reveal that the label offered a cache of luxury
western wear and dressed an elite and loyal clientele including the likes
of Anuradha Mahindra, Nita Ambani, Shabana Azmi, Maureen Wadia,
Juhi Chawla and many more. Fetching such clientele may have also
been a result of the little known fact that though ADIL had stopped
16 | Anita Dongre

supplying ethnic wear to stores like Benzer, it continued catering to its

high-end clients like “industrialists and others for whom we’d do a lot
of occasion wear, some bridal wear…whatever they wanted,” recalled
Mukesh.
Finally, ADIL was designing uniforms for some of the biggest
corporate giants and schools. Following her mentor Hemant Trivedi’s
footsteps, that year, Anita provided the entire casual wardrobe for all
Femina Miss India contestants. She also designed the pageant gown
and evening wear for Indian representatives to Miss Earth and Miss
International contests. What better way to publicise your label?
A year later, the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India pre-
sented her the She received 2001-02 ‘Best Prêt Designer’.
 17 | Anita Dongre

Growth, Competition and Prudence-led

Antifragility in Recession
ADIL had a manufacturing unit in Santacruz, but as volume increased,
they began outsourcing production to job-working units and only did
samples in-house. The family understood that to grow, you have to
prioritize. They spent more time on design and quality. And to meet
capital requirements of the growing business, two years after opening
the Crossroads store, ADIL began borrowing from banks.
Around the early 2000s, Pantaloons came to Mumbai, Spanish
brand Mango opened up at Crossroads, and Marks and Spencer (high-
lighted in our first book Intelligent Fanatics: How Great Leaders Build
Sustainable Businesses) made its India entry too. It’s biggest and only
Indian rival at the time was Remanika. Started by designer Seema
Kakkar in 1996 out of 150 sq. ft. shop at Kemp Corner, now it shared
the shop floor with AND at Pantaloons.
If AND had a contemporary-but-classic approach and appeal,
Remanika was bold. Shivkumar Divakar, Group Manager External
Brands, Divakar recalled, “Remanika was very young, high in fashion
with Page 3-type silhouettes–mini-skirts, hot pants, etc. Kakkar would
say she wants the girls to look ‘sexy’. Her thought process was different;
she was way ahead in fashion. There’s no one like that today.” Both had
a firebrand start, but whom would you bet on to rule?
In 2004, Sunil Jhangiani launched Chemistry, and in 2006, two
more entrants followed: Sepia by Anita’s ex-employer Melco and 109°
by leading exporter Creative Lifestyles Pvt. Ltd, another rival for AND
to watch carefully.
After having forayed into the north (2001), now ADIL began look-
ing south. Apart from expanding and improving itself constantly, ADIL
was a proactive thought leader in the ecosystem. Mukesh recalled:
“In the early days, stores like Pantaloons would insist on
18 | Anita Dongre

buying stock, thinking they knew what they were selling.

Slowly, we realized they were making lots of mistakes. As tal-
ent was scarce, store buyers would leave in two years and
new buyers wouldn’t have background knowledge; the other
issue was that they’d buy based on their budget and wouldn’t
take risks. Therefore, even if there was potential to sell more,
owing to their lack of budgets, we’d lose out on sale. Fashion
is all about trial and error, and risk. So we convinced them
‘you do what you’re best at, make a great store, give us the
space and drive footfalls; we’ll do the buying. We were one
of the few who initiated it, asking Pantaloons to test it out. The
sales jumped dramatically, changing the whole game. Then
the whole industry followed it and soon it became the norm.”
A trait we love in the way our fanatics run their businesses is antifra-
gility. This characterized HOAD well in their journey. In 2007, when
the Great Recession struck, it was bad news for most businesses, but for
AND it was a very good time. Mukesh said, “Between 1999 and 2007,
a lot of brands had overleveraged due to the boom in malls, boasting
100 stores, etc. but began shutting many down during recession. The
whole retail industry crashed. We didn’t shut a single store because we
hadn’t opened so many. As the mall business went down, owners were
desperate for tenants; that’s when we struck great deals. Rentals dipped
by 20 – 25%. We signed 15 properties that year.” Strengthening of the
business at a time of pain is the very definition of antifragility.
Prudence they’d shown with measured growth reflected in ADIL’s
marketing efforts too. With not much money to splurge on publicity,
Anita was smartly aggressive with PR on the ground-level—ensuring
brand visibility not only among the elite, but also the working women
walking the street. “We did extensive PR and word-of-mouth mar-
keting – trend stories, getting customers to speak about the brand….
Anita would meet influencers, people following fashion, clients and
create awareness about fashion by speaking at a lot of events like college
 19 | Anita Dongre

fashion shows, FICCI, etc.” Though she was no more teaching, news
reports from 2000s indicated that, at the time, she was an external
mentor to leading fashion institutes such as S.N.D.T., NIFT and G.D.
Somani.
20 | Anita Dongre

Fusion: The Next Big Thing, Funding,

Experimentation in Frenzy
Their prudence and ability to grab the opportunity at the right time
not only helped them expand at lower cost, but where businesses were
shelving several plans, in 2007, ADIL launched its new label ‘Global
Desi’, introducing the concept of fusion. Often called Indo-Western,
Anita likes to call it ‘boho chic’, a style that had reached its peak just
before recession. The closest at the time to fusion wear would have been
the outfits by 60-year-old Fab India, 32-year-old Biba and 17-year-old
W. Though Global Desi is often lumped with them in the ethnic wear
category, it has a distinct vibe that’s much younger, more playful and
colourful with a very Western feel, offering jumpsuits, maxi dresses,
etc. alongside salwar and kurta like the others.
Anita reminisced:
“That’s how the younger me used to dress, with stuff
picked up from Jaipur. Gypsy. Vibrant. We were the pioneers.
Everyone began emulating us. Competitors would pick 100
pieces as samples, take it to their staff and tell them ‘make
something like this.’ In fact, our line actually began earlier;
I was doing block prints, etc. in AND, but I didn’t like how
it looked next to the Western silhouettes and started the
new label.”
This previous fusion-spirited line Anita refers to was called ‘AND
East’ before it got rebranded as ‘Global Desi’. Tapping into the Indian
woman’s emerging needs, Anita once again created a solid concept that
remains relevant. She always says her clothes are all about wearability
and creating a separate label for fusion, allowing it to shine on its own,
was a masterstroke too.
In August of 2007, Anita launched yet another label ‘Grassroot’
as ‘a new distinctive line of organic clothing’ comprising dresses, tops,
 21 | Anita Dongre

tunics and jackets; it encouraged the use of textiles made from tech-
niques and procedures that do not harm the environment and pro-
moted the use of organic cotton and vegetable dyes, thereby making
fabrics that are purer and softer. ‘Grassroot’ was expected to be the
highlight of Wills India Fashion Week that year.
Once again, Anita was thinking global -- “Grassroot is more for
the international market than the Indian one. Most top-end retailers
and departmental stores like Barneys are dedicating separate sections
to eco-friendly ranges”. Worldwide fashion capitals were re-reiterating
the go green mantra -- with Ethical Fashion Week in Paris, a tradeshow
called ‘Fashion Is in My Nature’ on the anvil and the launch of London
College of Fashion’s ‘Is Green the New Black’ campaign. However, in
India, Anita was ahead of her times, again. Ethical fashion hadn’t really
caught up. A year later, she launched a haute couture extension of the
collection, featuring unique clothes like bamboo jackets.
Anita was in an experimental frenzy. By Nov 2007, she launched
her luxury Indian label called Anita Dongre Indian Soul, which used
traditional weaves and silks from master weavers across India. With one
more label up her sleeve, in 2008, Anita launched Inter Prêt. According
to Anita it mostly included tunics, kurta tops, dresses, linen shirts,
dhoti pants - for the contemporary Indian woman. “It has no bling,
but is full of colour...the cuts are straight and minimalist to suit my
spring-summer styles.” It had a mix and match concept and the mate-
rial used was such that you could crush a dress, stuff it into a duffel bag,
unpack it and wear it again without ironing. A vision for wearability
again? Priced between Rs.3,000 ($45) and Rs.10,000 ($140), it was
positioned as a bridge-to-luxury line.
In 2008, ADIL became one of the first design houses to get exter-
nal funding. Future Ventures bought a 22.86 % stake for 573.15 lakhs.
That put ADIL’s full valuation at 25 crores (~$4.5 million). Rearing to
grow, Mukesh said, “We were looking for funding and Future Group
22 | Anita
 Dongre

was interested. Even if we didn’t get funding, we would have found

ways to open more stores.” At this juncture, rival Remanika too had
grown with 400 staff, 10 self-owned stores and overall presence in
80 outlets through the shop-in-shops route. Yet, ADIL was leading
with 28 exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) and 113 multi-brand outlets
(MBOs), boasting 22 crores (~$4 million) in revenues.
The year following, was equally big for ADIL. Anita launched her
first bespoke label Anita Dongre Timeless comprising bridal and occa-
sion wear. It was also her debut year at Lakme Fashion Week.
One would think, due to her largely mass market, ready-to-wear
brands background, acceptance in the couture space wouldn’t be easy.
But Anita said it wasn’t tough. Fashion columnist Namrata Zakaria
shared, “She started out as such a huge success story. Everyone knew
there’s a giant in the room, coming to do something small and bespoke.
Anita came in with a lot of people envying her for sure…here was
a phenomenally successful woman who made Rs.300 crores a year; I
don’t know any fashion designer who makes that much money.”
Mukesh, too, agrees that their reverse route had served them well:
“Fashion houses usually do luxury lines and then ready-
to-wear. But today, for a brand to get into prêt and be in 1,100
stores (HOAD’s current reach) it would take a lot of years. It’s
virtually impossible. In those days there was a huge scope
and few brands. We latched on and got first mover advan-
tage. Today, a lot of luxury designers I’ve spoken to can’t
imagine how we do something in a few thousands and on
such a scale because they do very small volumes with ensem-
bles costing lakhs of rupees.”
 23 | Anita Dongre

Staying Ahead of Competition

In 2010, Anita opened her first flagship and concept store (in Bandra)
and her prêt lines began expanding to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. But
the better the western and fusion spaces got, the more contenders it
attracted – among them Danish apparel conglomerate Bestsellers
entered India with its hugely popular brands, ONLY and Vero Moda
that year -- keeping Anita on her toes.
Yet, especially among domestic brands, ADIL’s mass ones stayed
ahead of competition.
That year, Creative Designs, which had previously launched 109F,
launched its Indo-Western label, Fusion Beats. Both brands are doing
well, but neither has been able to beat AND and Global Desi.
Divakar said:
“109F has always been very good. Quality fabric and
small, but clean prints are Creative’s forte. Even so, since the
early days, AND has given them stiff competition. It’s always
one step ahead – in terms of material, silhouettes, designs,
everything. Colour stories AND started really make you
look; even the standard black and white collection is a hit
and doesn’t feel monotonous; they understood the market
dynamics better.”
AND’s colour stories have also been a draw for Shriya Aggarwal, a
garment industry insider, who’s related to a competitor. Among other
things, adapting to fabrics, she feels has been important to AND’s suc-
cess. “Anita would make shirts, wovens, etc. all in cotton, but over
the years, the cotton has dropped. Anita now uses polyester, China
fabrics, etc.” Generally, these are cheaper and enable competitive pric-
ing. “They can irritate the skin, but because her fabrics are of a slightly
superior quality, they still work,” adds Aggarwal.
As for Fusion Beats, which competes with Global Desi, Divakar
24 | Anita Dongre

believes “it started out well, but somewhere it overlapped a bit with
109F, which got hit in the process.” Anita may have anticipated exactly
this when she rebranded AND East to Global Desi. Internationally
too, that’s how most successful apparel brands work.
Mukesh attributes ADIL’s leadership to Anita’s “design DNA. In
fashion you need a design DNA and vision – without that you can’t
survive. She has got it and retained it.” Moreover, PE firms generally
bring with them certain efficiencies and expertise too. Venture funding
gave ADIL courage to take more risks and expand as funds were avail-
able; the numbers speak for themselves. From 2008 to 2010, ADIL’s
EBOs had increased to 44, MBOs to 158, revenues increased at a
CAGR of 57% and profits at a 157% CAGR. In 2012, the fashion
house launched its menswear label, AD Man.
Future Group, which was in a lot of debt at the time, decided to
monetize its stake in ADIL. Subsequently, in Nov 2013, Future Group
sold their 22.8% stake to General Atlantic. ADIL raised a further Rs.
100 crores (~$15 million) from General Atlantic for an additional
10% stake. That funding round put ADIL’s total valuation at 1,000
crores (~$150 million) up from 25 crores in 2008. Total return over the
5-year period was 109% compounded annually.
Those watching ADIL keenly, knew it was ripe for the opportunity.
A year earlier, when Pradeep Hirani’s Kimaya got Rs.60 crore fund-
ing from Franklin Templeton’s Indian arm, Economic Times (ET) had
observed that, “To play the bigger game…corporatising is inevitable.”
ADIL had already begun that process and today has “a team of a com-
petent CFO, CMO, retail president and CHRO. Most of them have
come from companies much larger than ours, something we wanted so
they could bring with them the experience of having built profession-
ally run companies.” Anita believes you should hire people better than
yourself.
Furthermore, in keeping with times, around 2013/14, ADIL began
 25 | Anita Dongre

retailing its ready-to-wear labels on its own website as well as other

ecommerce portals. Joseph Sam, CEO, Wrap Art & Design, who in
the past had headed Rohit Bal’s efforts to go “professional” had pre-
dicted while speaking with ET that “Ritu Kumar and Anita Dongre
today are the two fashion brands that can leverage their business mod-
els to attract private equity as they have professional structures in place
and growth roadmaps that are close to emulating international design
house labels.” Well, Sam was proven right in just a year when General
Atlantic funded ADIL. It didn’t hurt that they’d reached revenues of
260 cr (~$40 million) and had a strong distribution network -- “She
(Anita) might not have the news value of a Rohit Bal or high-soci-
ety appeal of a Tarun Tahiliani, but has 75 standalone stores and 300
shop-in-shops employing 300 people — something no Indian fashion
designer can claim to have,” added ET, while comparing Anita with
other top Indian couture designers.
Though “a lot of funds approached us,” explained Mukesh, “we
chose General Atlantic because they too invest selectively, their India
office has a very smart set of people with a keen interest in fashion and
the firm’s international experience we thought would help us whenever
we decide venture outside the country.”
ADIL didn’t waste any time in going international. The very same
year, it launched Global Desi at Bagatelle Mall, in Mauritius, on a
franchise model. “The largest retailer in Mauritius approached us and
said it will do well, so we opened up.” The response to their fusion-
wear was such that two years on ADIL opened a flagship store in the
beach country’s Trianon Shopping Park, which houses AND, Global
Desi and Anita’s signature label. Spreading her international presence
further, in Dec 2014, the signature label saw a tie up with Toronto’s
online Indianwear boutique JivaCouture.com, which retails wedding
outfits, bridal wear, anarkalis and gowns.
While Anita’s prêt lines were making the waves, Remanika, a major
26 | Anita Dongre

competitor, which was previously expanding aggressively, seemed to be

winding down by 2013. How is it that Remanika, which had bolder,
edgier and more exciting designs, met such a fate? To start with, its
designs attracted a smaller niche and possibly, not even everyone who
may have liked it would have necessarily been able to carry it off.
Whereas, AND due to its simple style managed to cater to a wider
audience. In terms of sizes too, Anita was inclusive. She shared, “I took
UK sizes and adapted them to offer sizes from 8 to 18, sometimes
even 20. I made fashion more accessible.” That said, lots of niche busi-
nesses also do well. But the key is remaining true to the niche and the
brand identity; not following the market out of fear or impatience.
Pantaloons’ Divakar recalled, “Overtime, Remanika changed. While
expanding, to cater to a wider market, it began including slightly con-
servative clothes, Indianising them, subduing their sex appeal, going
for European earthy tones…all of which was not Remanika. In the
process, while they got acceptance where they weren’t previously, they
lost out on their original patrons, who liked Remanika for its bold
style.”
There are several reasons why ADIL’s brands didn’t meet such a
fate despite having its share of trials and errors. An important trait that
has kept them ahead of the game is listening to customers and acting
quickly. Mukesh cites instances like “when we opened in the North, we
realized we were missing on winter wear and in the South, especially
Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, we realized that sleeveless will not sell. There
are always learnings in the first six-nine months; we take a lot of feed-
back from the stores, hear our customers and translate it to the back-
end. We make mistakes, but have a quick fix model. Initially, when we
set up our men’s wear store, it didn’t do very well. We realized that we
didn’t understand the men’s psyche as well as we did women’s and that
we can’t do everything the world wants. We decided to focus and just
do what we’re doing better.” For Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, they figured
 27 | Anita Dongre

customers aspire to have the same trends and designs as metros, but at
more competitive rates. Therefore, for these cities, besides its regular
collections, ADIL started adding some well-priced outfits too.
ADIL’s management doesn’t only listen to external customers.
They also listen to their own people. Recalling one such instance,
ADIL’s apparel manager, who handles Anita Dongre Prêt, Namrata
Shirodkar, said, “When the Kolkata store wasn’t doing well in between,
we changed the products a bit and gave them better prices. And once
we did, it began doing triple the business. If there’s a serious issue, we
all sit together and discuss internally; we take suggestions from each
other and then wait and watch. Further small changes can be made
if necessary.”
Finally, in addition to sticking to brand identity, Anita also
remained true to herself. She did dabble in designing for Bollywood
starting with movies of Mukesh’s director-friend Onir and subse-
quently “got lots of offers for movies”, but Anita, said Mukesh, “didn’t
have the temperament for it – you had to spend a lot of time with sets,
stars and their egos. It’s a different business altogether.” Instead, Anita
catered to the personal wardrobes of Bollywood celebrities rather than
designing clothes for their sets and kept the door open to stylists. With
in-store marketing too, ADIL didn’t follow the herd. Divakar recalled,
“ADIL never took back much stock to their warehouse and believed
in liquidating inventory. They’d sell it off at 60 – 70% discount! But it
saved them a lot of holding/operations cost and effort, which involves
processing, refurbishing and stacking. It was unheard of in those days
and they still do it. It’s one thing I used to like about them.” Unlike
some brands, who create separate lines for SALE period to show high
turnover, at the cost of revenue, ADIL doesn’t.
28 | Anita Dongre

Reflecting, Rebranding, Reviving

Anita’s experimentation frenzy was far from dying down. She had
already begun selling accessories at AND and Global Desi and in
Aug 2013, launched her signature jewellery line Pink City, which was
designed by her and handcrafted by Jet Gems. Inspired by Jaipur’s
jadau work, the line was for men as well women. Again focusing on
wearability, her jaali-inspired buttons for men came in exchangeable
colours, the kind of feature you would previously only see with wom-
en’s jewellery. The year ended on an even higher note, when Lakme
Fashion Week (LFW), while rejigging its committee, selected Anita to
join the advisory board.
Namrata Zakaria, who also joined the LFW board the same year,
frankly says, “In terms of design (Anita’s signature label), I don’t think
she has had a great aesthetic or signature look that one can point and
say, that’s an Anita Dongre. She makes half-decent fashion, but it’s not
particularly significant in terms of design or style. I remember Malika
Sherawat’s lehenga from her at Cannes, the first big celebrity who wore
her, it was this lehenga skirt and lehenga blouse, and no dupatta, it
looked incomplete.” Yet Zakaria likes what Anita brings to the table at
Lakme Fashion Week. She adds, “Anita is a great value addition to the
advisory board. We miss her when she’s not there. She’s very linear in
her thinking, very clean and decisive. She works and speaks like a pro-
fessional, which is rare for a designer because most designers are very
emotional, and so sentimental about their craft. Anita is practical and
forward-looking. I really appreciate her for that.”
And forward-looking she surely is. Early on, she demonstrated that
“I believe in hiring people who are better than me” by inviting her
siblings to join her, recognising their strong capabilities, distinct from
hers and the value they’d add to the business. Then in 2013, they did it
again by joining hands with General Atlantic for the latter’s knowledge
 29 | Anita Dongre

of international markets, yet their success thereafter didn’t end their

thirst for mentorship. In March 2015, ADIL brought on-board former
Marico Group CFO Milind Sarwate as an Independent Director, fol-
lowed by former MD of Godrej Consumer Products, Dalip Sehgal, in
Sep 2016. “We got them to mentor us as they’ve managed very large
businesses. They provide us with ideas on strategy, branding, growth,
corporate governance,” said Mukesh.
And with its foresight, the organisation made two other crucial
changes in 2015. One was rebranding ADIL to House of Anita Dongre
Ltd (HOAD) to fairly represent the different brands under it and clear
the clutter created by numerous labels like Inter Prêt, Indian Soul and
Timeless that overlapped and became confusing. Distilling them to
keep it simple, HOAD renamed the signature labels: Anita Dongre
Woman, Man, Prêt, Wedding Couture and Fine Jewellery (previously
Pink City).
The second move was shifting headquarters to Rabale in Navi
Mumbai. Spread over 100,000 sq. ft., the three-storeyed building has
brought under one roof all its teams. Designed by Percy Kutar of 4.4
Designs it reflects Anita’s aesthetic sense as well as frugality and envi-
ronment consciousness reflected in the natural ventilation and light-
ing that reduce dependence on electricity, waste-reuse processes (even
block-printing blocks are used as door knobs and for its decorative
panel) and other eco-friendly features.
Meanwhile, Creative Lifestyle also got funding in 2015 and had
grown to 366 retail outlets, including 35 EBOs and 331 LFS for 109F,
and 10 EBOs and 200 LFOs for Fusion Beats. Yet, Shriya Aggarwal
believes Anita’s brands are ahead. She said, “They’re leading because
they’ve changed with time, every time. Design, fabric, look…Anita is
quick to grab it all. She was one of the first to use the rayon fabric Liva,
which became a rage…it’s so soft.” Liva’s beauty though lies not alone
in its softness, but also the fact that it’s ‘a new-age 100% natural fabric.
30 | Anita Dongre

How does Anita pull it off? “We’re in fashion, it’s always changing.
Early on, it was about what’s (fabrics) in vogue and what suited the
designs, but now for me it’s about sustainability.”
In the decade after launch of Grassroot, while Anita continued to
tie-up with likes of Birla Cellulose and NGOs creating organic fabrics,
she “did just a few odd collections” for Grassroot because managing
multiple labels made it difficult to devote this line the due time. With
sustainability catching on worldwide, believing the time to be right,
she revived and relaunched Grassroot in 2015. While even this time
around the western line would see vegetable dyes and fabrics that don’t
harm the environment, she has added to the original vision for the
brand with animal-friendly/cruelty-free products comprising bags and
accessories.
A few years ago, Anita began creating employment in villages so
people don’t have to migrate to cities. Her first such initiative was in
Charoti with politician Poonam Mahajan, who has adopted the village.
The women trained there work for Global Desi and recently, Anita has
tied up with SEWA to adopt Jawhar, which will cater to Grassroots. As
Zakaria points out these initiatives are not new, for years several Indian
designers have been doing great work in these spheres, but we’re hop-
ing Anita’s scale will lead to impact. In the next three years, Anita plans
to adopt 30 villages.
 31 | Anita Dongre

Dongre Enters International Hall of

Fame
Anita, who’d traded Bollywood sets for supporting celebrities
through stylists to retain her peace of mind, couldn’t have predicted
that someday it would lead to Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton,
wearing her outfit. On Middleton’s visit to India that summer, she
wore Dongre’s Gulrukh design selected and then tweaked by her
PA-turned-stylist Natasha Archer. When Middleton was spotted in it,
Anita became a global senstation overnight.
Armed with the global fame courtesy Duchess Middleton, Anita
decided to get herself a slice of Big Apple’s pie, opening up a Grassroot
store in downtown Manhattan in August 2017. And early this year, she
has turned it into a flagship store adding her signature bridal, prêt and
menswear labels too. There’s no denying the role of recognition, but
the decision has also been demand-based. Mukesh said:
“Because of our online business, we had a lot of people
writing in saying, you have stores in India, we can’t come
down every time. Grassroot is for the white woman. Not that
Indian/Asian diaspora wouldn’t buy, but there’s huge fascina-
tion among the white Americans to wear Indian embroider-
ies and crafts. Whereas, the bridal wear is largely for the Asian
diaspora, but white brides, especially those marrying Indian
men, also buy it. Anita Dongre tunics are liked for being con-
temporary, so we’ve done a prêt range that’s global and do
gowns with embroidery too.”
32 | Anita Dongre

HOAD Today, Tomorrow

Today Anita’s signature label is a small part of the business; the main
revenue generators continue to be AND and Global Desi. Several
brands have entered both the western wear and fusion segments mak-
ing it challenging for PE-funded HOAD.
As per a report Avendus, in terms of market share, AND beats
UCB, Van Huesen and Allen Solly; 109F and Chemistry are a minis-
cule presence in comparison. Brands such as Latin Quarters and Zink
London, which are its competitors in Pantaloons that has a slightly
bigger pie of the market, so far don’t even feature among key players.
But Global Desi has it tough. Monika Gala, Assistant Manager,
Ladies and Kids, who handles external brands at Pantaloons, explains,
“W comes first, then Biba and then Global Desi. Global Desi is ahead
in terms of designs and silhouettes, but W’s supply chain and market-
ing is much better. On the floor too W is very aggressive and employs
almost double the staff of GD. W does a lot of branding outside with
standees, etc. as well as social media marketing on Facebook and
Instagram. Since the last three seasons, we have to push HOAD, to
send more stock and achieve targets; it’s possibly because they’re under-
going software changes.”
The changes Gala is referring to is HOAD’s decision to use data
processing software--SAP. This has led to a temporary weakening in
their numbers and is reflected in ICRA’s June 2017 report that revised
its outlook of HOAD to ‘stable’ from ‘positive’ owing to increase in
working capital intensity and sharp decline in operating profitability
during 9M FY2017. At the same time, the report takes into account
HOAD’s above-average-financial risk profile as reflected in operating
profitability track record, adequate liquidity maintained by the com-
pany in the form of liquid investments, positive operating cash flows
and net debt-free balance sheet, lending HOAD adequate financial
 33 | Anita Dongre

flexibility. The company’s revenues grew at a CAGR of 37% between

FY2012 and FY2016, and as of Jun 2018, HOAD had 199 self-owned
EBOs, 93 franchised ones, 693 LFS points of sale and 86 in MBOs.
Meanwhile, though its marketing may need more fervour, its exist-
ing communication is different and engaging. Aggarwal shared, “They
send messages saying, ‘We haven’t seen you for very long, do drop by.
Other than doing promotions like all retailers do, they just message,
which can be exciting. They issued me a voucher for my birthday and
it pulled me in. Who does it in this day and age?”
HOAD is tracking big data and sends out messages when some-
one hasn’t visited in three months. Their top 100 clients, which their
managers track, are also sent surveys. As for digital presence, HOAD’s
brands are available on Myntra, Jabong and Amazon. They’re constantly
adding value through their services. For instance, an interesting feature
they’ve introduced at stores is that if you like an outfit, but can’t find it
in a particular store, they have the technological infrastructure to check
the nearest one it’s available in and could ship it to your place in two
days. They’ve recently tied up with DHL to improve their delivery.
A year on, Gala said, “Since Spring Summer 2018, I am seeing a
revival. Global Desi and AND have begun utilising social media too.”
Today HOAD is present in 117 cities in 1071 stores. Of these,
AND is in 521, Global Desi in 535, Anita Dongre in 12 and Grassroot
in three. Only AND and Global Desi are in Tier 2 and 3 cities, which
contribute 49.57% and 45.30% of HOADs revenues respectively. As
per Gala, AND has the strongest footprint in western apparel and
along with Global Desi it sets the industry standards in terms of design
and forecasting of the season’s colours.
Paradoxically, despite presence in fewer stores and having arrived in
the country much later, international brands enjoy greater revenue and
market share than domestic brands in India. Vero Moda’s website (last
updated in 2017) claims 67 EBOs, 163 shop-in-shops and counting.
34 | Anita Dongre

Zara’s until recently had only 20 stores. And as per Avendus’s FY16
report, Vero Moda and Zara between them capture close to 50% of
India’s western apparel market share.
Shweta Jain, executive team member of Aurum Equity Partners
LLP, addressed this question in an ET column, and among other things
attributed the paradox to the miniscule presence of Indian brands
internationally, something she believes is a result of Indian designers
focusing largely on Indians in India or Indian diaspora outside whilst
designing rather than going for universal appeal. Moreover, interna-
tional brands hold centre stage in fashion magazines, whereas Indian
designers don’t advertise much, their presence is conspicuous. And like
they say, out of sight, out of mind. The reason wide presence and inter-
national appeal become important, she explains, is that fashion is aspi-
rational, and if Indian brands can’t captivate global shoppers, in India
too, their brand is likely to take a beating, slowly affecting sales figures.
Giving us a historical lowdown on fashion Zakaria shared, “We
aped what the princesses wore. Like in France, the fashion was set in
the courts of kings and nobles. It’s a very trickle-down effect, what
very few wore. Even from England, we follow the Duchesses, Kate
Middleton and now Meghan Markle. We want to dress like them.
We are still aping what the royals do; so much of the bridal finery or
trousseau dressing comes from the fact that, that is how the princesses
dressed. We dress like princesses on our wedding day with lots of gold
and jewellery. Much of it comes from our aspiration. Historically, that’s
how fashion began everywhere in the world.”
Well, if fashion is all about aspiration with Grassroot catering to an
international audience first (and later Indians) and with everyone from
Bollywood celebrities to the world’s first women (Queen Mathilde
of Belgium, Sophie Gregorie Trudeau and Hillary Clinton) donning
Anita Dongre following Middleton’s suit, will our desi designer be able
to overcome Indian brands’ lack of adequate global appeal?
 35 | Anita Dongre

Behind the Scenes

Personal Attention, Quality &
Convenience, A Ear to the Ground
An insider said:
“There’s great focus on the product, its quality and design.
Anita herself gets involved. We differentiate ourselves by
paying attention to every minute detail -- the piping, that
extra something, ½ inch more or less of another thing and so
on, to make the design look more premium.”
Anita sits through all the meetings, takes everyone’s inputs, shares
ideas and themes. Shirodkar adds, “While we try to play it safe even
if something’s trendy, if Anita has a gut feeling, she’ll just go with it.”
The gut feel Shirodkar referred to, comes not only from design
DNA and pure instinct, but also trained instinct resulting from years
of listening to customers. Store staff say that even today the siblings
visit the Mumbai flagship store a couple of times a week, and Anita
admits to dropping by at other stores whenever and wherever she’s trav-
elling. “It’s most important in the fashion business where trends change
so fast,” adds Mukesh.
For example, five years ago a bride complained about the incon-
venience of carrying her phone in her hand through the wedding day
because ghagras don’t have pockets, Anita was quick to add the feature
36 | Anita Dongre

to her ensembles thereon and also makes lighter ghagras as traditional

ones weigh you down, making it tough to walk.
Quality is not merely expected of products. For example, their
senior customer care manager, Saumhil Parikh (42), Senior Manager,
who’s been at the company for two years, said:
“In customer service apart from speedy intervention,
there’s a lot emphasis on addressing queries or issues holis-
tically and in a personalised manner. If it’s going to take us
more than the usual time to revert, we update the customer.
For deliveries, we share the courier company’s information
and airway bill number so they can track the status.”
Over the years, listening has been systemised too. From physical
feedback books, they’re now going to digitalised tabs that collect infor-
mation on customers’ age, city, shopping day, time preference, etc.
Reports from stores are reviewed weekly for immediate and long-term
interventions. Shirodkar said:
“The retail knowledge you get here, you don’t get else-
where (especially if you’re a designer). For our signature
labels, like the retail ones, we have reports, targets, and check
the base stock, earnings/sq ft in each store, sell-through, etc.
If designers show us 100 designs, we decide what works and
doesn’t based on the previous year’s sales.”
But they don’t follow anything blindly. She adds,
“If there’s an issue with a previous report and someone
comes up with a new solution, we adopt it. Earlier for mer-
chandising, the sales, style numbers and pictures had to be
checked separately, then came PDFs and PPTs, and now our
MIS provides styles with pictures. Every year, as we grow and
realise new needs, our MIS keeps developing.”
HOAD doesn’t merely listen to its external customers, but also
internal ones. “When I was working as ma’am’s (Anita) assistant, I
was a size 10 and so designers would try out all the sample pieces for
 37 | Anita Dongre

fashion shows or stores on me. My point of view was always taken,”

said Shirodkar. Parikh too likes that “here higher-ups listen to you,
they respect that you come from a certain area of experience.”
This reflects also in how Anita involves others in reaching resolu-
tions. “Suppose a buyer doesn’t like a particular style, Anita ma’am will
listen to both sides. If you’re confused, she’ll ask you to take the store
manager’s feedback. She won’t force. If a designer is very confident
something will work, ma’am will suggest to the store manager, ‘Why
don’t you book a smaller lot, watch closely, and do a quick repeat if it
works?’”
Mukesh, like Anita, is all about giving a free hand to someone
better. He shared, “I feel, if you can do my job better, come forward
and do it. There’s no ego. For me the business and brands are far
more important.”
38 | Anita Dongre

Adaptability, Time Management &

Velocity
In our research paper here, we outlined the importance of velocity in
business. Fashion is an industry where velocity matters a lot.
According to Mukesh:
“Pantaloons has very a strong buying department that
watches what’s selling and what’s not and gives us data
reflecting trends. A good brand will react to it faster, an aver-
age one will be slow. Agility and speed is the only thing in
any fashion business. Today, we look at Zara. Why? Because
it’s the fastest fashion retailer in the world.”
Well, then how does HOAD manage its velocity? For top man-
agement that likes perfection and is also hands-on, it begins with
time management and using time optimally. Shirodkar said, “Anita
assigns a day for each brand -- Monday is for Grassroots, Tuesday –
Anita Dongre Couture, Wednesday – AND, Thursday – Global Desi.
Fridays are for review meetings. In the morning, she sits with designers
on their sketches for the next season and checks samples to show the
buying team. In the second half, she reviews what all’s going on social
media with the marketing team.” If someone from one brand needs her
on a day allotted to another brand, “depending on the urgency, she’ll
excuse herself briefly and return.” Knowing her schedule, the team also
works accordingly.
She’s organised and thinks quickly. How she conducts buyer meet-
ings shows how she avoids wasting time. Shirodkar said: “Designers are
expected to be ready with samples, send her pictures a day prior and be
present at the meeting so we don’t have to repeat ourselves. She’ll get to
the bottom of issues, call the master immediately, explain and ensure
that the error is rectified. She’s that particular, and takes decisions there
and then. Next day, she’ll check the progress” Anita has a reputation of
 39 | Anita Dongre

being punctual and the insider adds that unlike other places “meetings
here don’t start late and are point to point. Here, people management
is also very good.” Parikh, who has worked in customer care across sec-
tors (telecom, broadband, digital media, etc.) for a decade has a similar
experience that “decisions are taken quickly” when he escalates matters.
This kind of attitude is built into the organisational culture. Parikh
adds, “Speed and efficiency are also the organisation’s objectives to
query resolution. We have a 24-hour turnaround time for it, but usu-
ally resolve it the same day.” And to aid velocity, technology is being
harnessed. “Our phone line doesn’t have an IVR system where you
keep punching numbers; a direct mobile number is provided to save
customers time and frustration.”
For over two years, on Anita’s recommendation, a WhatsApp num-
ber has also been added. She said, “Everyone’s on it and sometimes,
you don’t want to talk; you can just leave a message and be done.”
Parikh hasn’t seen it “anywhere else”, but said, “it very helpful. If a
bespoke customer is looking for a particular style or dress, or wants to
customize something, we can request them to WhatsApp images and
the designer will revert with price, delivery, etc.”
WhatsApp helps Mukesh in speedier internal communication and
issue resolution. Mukesh described:
“It’s big in India. Students to farmers, everyone has it
(WhatsApp). So it was a logical move. We have an all-India
managers group, giving us feedback. For fitting issues or
manufacturing defects, earlier, people would call or mail me,
which takes much longer. Once it’s on the group, everyone’s
aware at one go; other managers check their stocks for the
issues too. It also tells us, which manager is smart, alert and
prompt.”
40 | Anita Dongre

Mentoring & Teaching By Example

“Recently, HUL’s HR head said, ‘CEOs should spend 50% of their
time on people and not just business.’ That’s a very important state-
ment. It’s a learning again. Here, business is so fast, people don’t have
time. But we’re pushing senior leadership to spend time on mentoring
and development,” Mukesh told the author.
Shirodkar, who joined HOAD straight out of college 11 years ago,
recalled:
“She (Anita) said I’ll teach you, and was so calm and
patient in handling a newcomer like me. She’d go into every-
thing, including how to punch a paper in a file, explaining
clearly, with logic. She invested in me despite how busy she
was and without any guarantee that I’ll stick around. Over
time, I realized she just likes to give her 100% to whatever
she does.”
Likewise, if Shirodkar changed certain processes, but had a valid
reasoning, it was highly appreciated. Later when she switched to mer-
chandising and reported to Mukesh mainly for numbers and taking
approval or advice for budgets to book, she found that “his style is sim-
ilar to ma’ams. Before buying, he would make me study the previous
year’s reports and take my opinion about how much we should buy.”
The organization has grown a lot from when Shirodkar joined,
but Anita, who’s very particular about her brand identity, still sits with
designers to ensure they’re not going on the wrong track. She’ll leave
them on their own after two-three seasons, once she’s confident of
the person.
Watching the family, the employees have also developed values
like troubleshooting and mentoring. Shirodhkar says, “If ma’am sees
a sample, she’ll think of it till it goes to the store and gives us lots of
solutions for any problem, now we also anticipate issues and think
 41 | Anita Dongre

through different solutions for one problem. She has never asked us
to teach a new comer, but because she mentors a lot, we also feel like
helping and mentor new comers a lot.” For store staff, they’ve launched
a new buddy app that offers training tools and keeps them posted when
celebs walk in at different stores. What a great way to teach, inspire,
keep the buzz up and generate word-of-mouth publicity.
As there’s more structure now, initiation for Parikh, who joined at
a senior level, has been more formal and process driven, yet carrying
the spirit of Anita’s mentorship style. Like Mukesh, who despite tak-
ing charge of non-creative aspects of business had to learn everything
regarding design, Parikh too had to familiarize himself with everything.
He recalled:
“Post a three-day induction meant for all recruits, you’re
made to understand fabrics, organic and inorganic parts and
industry basics. Every aspect is covered. Then I was intro-
duced to all HODs to be able to approach the right person
for different queries; I learnt a lot about business and the
organization’s objectives through interactions with them. Last
year, GST implemented across India, was new for us all; to be
able to answer knowledgeable customers about tax slabs I
reached out to the finance head and legal team. This kind of
liberty to approach anyone, including Anita ma’am, you’ll find
only here. She’s quick at giving resolutions; I just keep her in
the loop.”
42 | Anita Dongre

Non-Monetary Incentives and Leading

by Example
Attrition in the apparel industry is high, especially at the shop floor
level. Given the low salaries of store staff, even a hike of Rs. 500 (<$10)
is enough for them to hop. While HOAD is expected (owing to their
financial success) to pay staff as much if not more than other domestic
players, they too don’t match salaries of international brands and can’t
beat large-format or multi-brand stores that offer financial incentives
both when their department achieves target as well as when the whole
store does. Yet, much of the staff who’ve have been around anywhere
between five and 11 years; some back/main-office employees, for even
more years.
Staff at one of the stores shared:
“Many brands, especially international ones, pick up a
lot of retail staff during sale period and put so much pres-
sure on them that they leave. That’s not case with any of our
brands, and most Indian brands. If you unreasonably pres-
surize people, they’ll leave or won’t give their best to custom-
ers; but give people a good atmosphere and employees will
do wonders.”
Even at the backend, we’re told, there’s no undue pressure or
abusiveness.
“All of them (Anita, Mukesh and Meena) are very down to earth
and similar. They like to lead a simple life. Anita speaks to everyone with
respect; they won’t entertain if anyone treats anyone unfairly. For them
everyone is the same be it the CEO or housekeeping,” said Shirodkar.
Besides lack of undue pressure, what does HOAD’s good environ-
ment involve? At the store level, there are clear shifts for staff and at the
back/main office, unlike most corporate offices that often get employ-
ees to stay back, 90% of HOAD’s head office employees leave by 6pm.
 43 | Anita Dongre

Moreover, there’s a lot of flexibility. Employees say you can finish

your job and leave. “You’re supposed to clock nine hours a day, the
core timings are 9 pm – 5pm, but if you come in late or early, you can
complete the required hours and leave”, said Parikh. HR also allows
them late coming allowances for certain number of days a month and
be it store or office staff, they understand if people want to work from
proximity to their homes.
Commuting to Rabale caused a problem for many, therefore
recently, an employee suggested a five-day week, instead of their norma-
tive alternate working Saturdays. HOAD took a survey to see whether
employees were willing to make up for it by reaching office an hour
early every day. Following a positive response, since a few months, the
suggestion has been implemented.
For Parikh, approachability is the biggest incentive. He said, “The
organization has a very friendly culture, you can approach anyone from
the retail president to the founders.” What the insider also appreci-
ates is that people are entrusted with roles and responsibilities and not
monitored all the time and adds, “So you have peace of mind and can
carry things out in a manner you find most suitable.” Due to this kind
of freedom of expression and work culture many decide to stick on for
longer.
Finally, the empathy born out of watching their youngest brother
suffer, is possibly why, at an organizational level, they are open to
employing special people though Mukesh frankly admits they haven’t
gone out of their way for it. “We came across applications from a few
people with partial disabilities and hired them based on their talent
4 – 5 years ago. We’ve had some very successful cases, doing really well
in their limited field.”
And this hasn’t been missed by employees, who respect the found-
ers their inclusive approach. Shirodkar noted, “They have a soft corner
for these kinds of people. One girl can’t hear or speak properly. But they
44 | Anita Dongre

have so much patience in dealing with them. We also have stray dogs
in office; they were here since the time we started making the build-
ing, so a separate section has been created for them.” Many appreciate
that their business decisions arise from personal ethos of empathy; an
example is their decision to keep products cruelty free – a journey that
started with the siblings having turned vegetarian in college though
their community loves its meat. This January Anita turned vegan.
A rather ambitious store head joined HOAD after a lot of due
diligence on discovering its reputation for good work environment
and growth opportunities. An insider shared that a hardworking peon
has now risen to the rank of a warehouse manager for distribution of
AND and Global Desi. Shirodkar herself, who had joined 11 years
ago, straight out of college after completing her BA, started out as a
telephone operator during her internship. Eight months on, while she
was still confused about what to do with her career, Anita took her on
as a personal assistant. Having learnt various aspects of the business
in those five years, Shirodkar realized her interest lay in merchandis-
ing and decided to do a course in it. When she went to Anita, she
recalls, “Ma’am said, ‘I was thinking of where to put you; I see more
potential in you. You can be a buyer.’” Again, she offered to teach
Shirodkar everything. “Though she didn’t have another personal assis-
tant, the very next day, she put me on the new role. I now handle Anita
Dongre Prêt.” They’ve started a rewards and recognitions program too.
Parikh, who himself has been promoted in less than two years, says,
“Performance is gauged on willingness to take more responsibilities
and taking ownership.”
For greater bonding, an initiative Mukesh is trying to encourage is
bringing families to the office. He said:
“I’d gone to meet a colleague from our ecommerce
department who had fractured his leg. When I asked his son,
‘Why don’t you come to office sometime?’ He said, ‘I keep
 45 | Anita Dongre

saying papa take me, take me, but he says no.’ Often my
cousins or friends say their kids want to see our office and I
say yes to them, so why not employees? It’s natural for their
families to want to see where and on what their kin is spend-
ing so much time. Kids are especially curious and like playing
with our dogs. We started this a year ago, but it didn’t pick
up. Now I’m personally driving it with targets -- once a month,
on certain days, certain number of employees have to bring
their families. It will increase bonding.”
46 | Anita Dongre

Family Business & Thinking Long-term

These siblings are among the rare breed of young Indian entrepreneurs
today, who believe that a family business is an asset. Fashion is not an
easy industry to be in. Anita said, “Having family in the fashion busi-
ness has been very useful, it’s great to have people you can trust, who
share the same values and goals, and have complementing skill sets.”
What makes them even more interesting is that it’s not a family busi-
ness that they inherited, but created. Mukesh added:
“India is 90% family-business run, and I don’t see why you
shouldn’t see that as an asset. The US and Europe have very
few of them, but studies have shown that even there, family
businesses are the most successful. They add more wealth
and value. But yes, family business that become so big, need
to modernize and be professionally run. What needs to be
seen is how professional do promotors themselves become.
It’s difficult; it’s a learning experience for the family, too. But
there should be a clear balance between where they can
interfere and can’t.”
Thinking long term, to that end, in 2015, HOAD began profes-
sionalising its set up. They’ve now reached a stage, where Mukesh said,:
“Apart from design, professionals we’ve hired manage
everything. We just mentor them with the right principles and
have set a framework for brands – for instance, as we’re pro-
vegan, we won’t do anything with leather. We’ve set the path
to professionalize the company so that in the next the 10 - 20
years, the brands to outlive us.”
A couple of years ago, Anita’s son Yash and nephew Deepikesh Hira
have also joined HOAD as Business Head and Head (Special Projects),
respectively.
SAP, which temporarily reduced HOAD’s profitability, was also
introduced for long-term benefits. Mukesh admits that “it requires
 47 | Anita Dongre

a lot of investment and reorganisation of the organisation mindset,

and the input is strenuous. But SAP’s worth it because it’s very logical,
methodical and efficient. It produces far more sophisticated than other
software and gives you a lot more analytics.” You can’t undermine the
importance of big data today. Employees find it time saving and SAP
reports easy to read but Mukesh is pushing to glean more. He said,
“We’ve only harnessed half the potential; benefits take time to accrue.
We’re learning something new and harnessing every quarter.”
He signed off saying:
“Life is not about today or tomorrow, but forever. We
believe that to build something long-term, it has to be solid.
We don’t take too many shortcuts. Do your best and outcome
is automatic; therefore, we prefer to focus on what we’re
doing and not looking at outcome first.”
48 | Anita Dongre

Sources
Interviews:
• Anita Dongre, Founder, Chief Creative Director and Director,
HOAD
• Mukesh Sawlani, Founder, Managing Director and Director,
HOAD
• Namrata Shirodkar, Manager, Apparel, Anita Dongre Prêt, HOAD
• Saumhil Parikh, Senior Manager, Customer Care, HOAD
• Fashion columnist, Namrata Zakaria
• Shivkumar Divakar, Group Manager External Brands, Pantaloons
• Monika Gala, Assistant Manager, Ladies and Kids (External
brands), Pantaloons
• Shriya Aggarwal, customer and garment industry insider
• Staff at several stores, insiders and customers

Extra Sources:
VCCircle, Avendus Report, ICRA Report, Future Ventures prospectus
and Brand websites

News Reports:
• The new faces of fashion (LWF Board)
• Corporate clients, pageants, high-end clientele: HT, Bharat
Textiles LWF
• Remanika 2008 figures - YourStory.com
• Launch of Grassroot (first time), Inter Prêt, Indian Soul, Timeless:
1. http://anita-dongre-fashion.blogspot.com/
2. https://www.indiatoday.in/latest-headlines/story/anita-don-
gre-goes-back-to-the-grassroots-for-wifw-31771-2008-10-17
3. h t t p : / / w w w . d n a i n d i a . c o m / e n t e r t a i n m e n t /
report-anita-dongre-goes-green-1118781
 49 | Anita Dongre

4. https://www.hindustantimes.com/fashion-and-trends/fash-
ion-for-the-janta/story-uKRxH6qgeilMzhCVQRqHPM.
html
5. https://photogallery.indiatimes.com/events/mumbai/
anitas-store-launch/Anita-Dongres-Store-Launch/article-
show/2508668.cms
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnt8k8lPFbQ
7. h t t p s : / / w w w. l i v e m i n t . c o m / C o n s u m e r / g d Y 0 J -
2clqE1PQlnlKCnn8N/Design-preview-on-eve-of-marriage-
season.html
8. https://www.franchiseindia.com/brands/Anita-Dongre.11253
• Grassroots relaunch collection
• PETA India
• Corporatisation and international competition