This Delhi-based brand offers its customers minimalist clothing

Hailing from the small town of Bikaner, childhood friends Nilesh Karnani and Ashish Baheti had grown up around business and trade. Their families were involved in traditional businesses such as textile dyeing, bracelet making and trading.

The duo always wanted to build something unique, new and different.

While doing their Bachelor of Commerce in Delhi and Bikaner, respectively, Nilesh and Ashish identified a number of issues with men’s everyday clothing. They observed that big brands claiming to provide comfortable clothing usually charge more than what they usually offer in terms of fabric.

The duo also wanted to spread the idea of ​​minimalism through their product. Minimalism is a movement that advocates getting rid of useless objects and keeping only what is necessary. This means having a limited number of basic and versatile outfits that can be worn every day.

With these ideas in mind, they launched the direct-to-consumer menswear brand. Beyours in 2019. The local Delhi-based minimalist fashion brand aims to provide comfortable clothing at the right price.

It aims to help customers declutter their wardrobes by offering timeless products. They create meaningful clothing essentials designed for all seasons and occasions, and those one wouldn’t want to give up just to keep up with fashion trends.

Research-based foundation

Before launching the products, the co-founders conducted extensive market research on customer issues. The teams conducted fieldwork and surveys to learn more about the fabric and fit issues the consumer is facing.

Nilesh says the fabric of sweatpants becomes baggy and loose over time. And everyday pants are made of polyester, which is not skin-friendly. They studied these issues and searched for a better fabric.

The team decided to source the yarns from distributors in Delhi, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. They mixed different yarns, sampled them, and reworked the fabric until they reached the desired quality. No other brand offers the same fabric and fit as us, says Ashish. The brand uses high quality cotton for its products. Spandex is also used for durability.

“We don’t have a machine setup. We outsource everything,” says Nilesh. “Fabric is cut in the company’s warehouse and there’s an in-house design team. in Noida, Faridabad and Gurugram.

There are currently 18 people working in the internal teams, which include design, brand development, packaging and shipping, operations and marketing teams.

Products

Currently, Beyours only offers men’s clothing such as shirts, t-shirts, pants, joggers, sweatpants and summer shorts. The prices of the products are between Rs 1,199 and Rs 2,999.

Besides quality and fit, what makes Beyours different are the colors it offers. The classic shirt, which is one of its best-selling products, is available in German Grey, Iron Grey, Fair Pink, Mineral Blue, Pearl White and others that are hard to find in mainstream brands.

Men no longer just wear black, white and blue. We also wear baby pink. Color theory is changing and brands are changing that. We are one of those brands, says Nilesh.

Another top-selling product from the brand is its softest T-shirt. The founders claim that no other t-shirt brand on the market is so gentle on the skin. The company also tries to make its products based on utility. For example, providing zippers in all possible categories.

Beyours finds that the majority of sales come from South India. Its target market is the upper and upper middle class. We strive to provide the best fabric in the price range, says Ashish.

Travel Milestones

The founders started the brand with a capital of Rs 50,000 and a limited inventory. To their surprise, the brand received a massive response within the first month itself, and most categories sold out within a month and a half. They achieved sales of Rs 1 lakh in January 2019. They had to take a two-month break to restock and they finally started selling again from April 2019.

In FY20, Beyours achieved sales of Rs 65 lakh, followed by Rs 2.2 crore and Rs 3.2 crore in FY21 and FY22, respectively. It achieved sales of Rs 5.5 crore for FY23 and expects that figure to rise to Rs 6.5 crore by the end of the fiscal year.

During its Diwali sale in 2022, the sales figure reached Rs 50 lakh in two days. The founders consider it a major achievement for the brand.

The company credits the brand’s initial success to social media marketing. It has an in-house social media team that strives to creatively showcase products to customers and uses Facebook, Instagram, Google and YouTube Ads to market its products. About 70% of customers go through Instagram, and the brand sells primarily through its own website.

Speaking of competitors, the founders say they don’t directly compete with any brand because their fabric and color are unique. Brands like ZARA, H&M, Souled Store and Bewakoof are a few brands that offer similar designs, they say.

Speaking of challenges, they say they haven’t encountered any major challenges so far. The pandemic had little impact on them as they had a small team of four to five people at the time. Following the pandemic, competition has intensified as many D2C brands have entered the market. However, the high quality of their products and social media marketing have allowed them to differentiate and grow.

Upcoming plans

The brand intends to expand its categories while adhering to its vision of creating a minimalist fashion brand. She intends to expand her product lines to include underwear, wallets, belts and fragrances.

Speaking of opening physical outlets, Nilesh says they are looking at ways where fixed costs are low. The fixed costs of a store include rent, maintenance, utility bills, salaries, etc. that a person has to pay regardless of how much they sell.

The brand plans to enter the female segment, for which research is underway. It intends to launch 10-12 categories in this segment, with a focus on making well-fitting and utilitarian products.

Beyours’ sales target for the coming financial year is around Rs 15 crore.