Namrata Agrawal: Creating niche in the authentic ethnic wear segment

'Chinaya Banaras' is the brainchild of Namrata Agrawal, and her husband. Namrata Agarwal Co-Founder, 'Chinaya Banaras' and has been living in the timeless city of Banaras all her life. She understands what the city stands for – rich heritage and authenticity. She got married into a family that has been manufacturing premium Benarasi sarees and pure fabrics for the past 45 years. Namrata has completed her entire education in the city of Banaras and being from a business family, she has very competitive and aware business acumen. Her degree in finance and interest in marketing made her join the family business alongside her husband.

When the lockdown started in 2020, Namrata and her husband had the idea to bring their family business into the digital realm and 'Chinaya Banaras' was born. The online business which was born out of compulsion due to dwindling offline sales, has now become a well-known brand. 'Chinayas' journey was tough because of the timing of their venture. Namrata Agrawal, says, "We conceived the idea of 'Chinaya' in the first wave of the Covid pandemic, in July 2020. That was also the first lockdown the country was witnessing. Naturally, things were extra difficult at that time. It was very chaotic and there was strong fear in every one of the Covid-19 infections. Because they were unprecedented circumstances, we had to play it by ear. We didn't spend a lot of time on research and just went with it. First, it was just an idea, but gradually we became surer and decided to just start it. Somewhere around Sept/October 2020 we actually went live on Facebook. But that opened a new box of problems we never could understand. The time taken to execute was quite long for us and that was one of the biggest challenges."

Namrata Agarwal says, "I personally was ok with it because I was never in a hurry to start or scale the business. I was a new mom at the time, and I had to balance everything. I wanted it to be slow, gradual, and consistent. Because in my opinion, only something organic is sustainable. I want to give it time."

A Benarasi saree is an evergreen saree and a classic. "In that, the Kadhwa weave is my absolute favourite. It's such a graceful and rich design that you never have to think twice about wearing it," says Namrata.

Being a woman, what has it taken for you to be in a commanding position in the patriarchal world of karigars? She says, "I would say that I have been blessed to have a team that is really cooperative. My karigars work wonders for me. They really listen to me and value my inputs. In fact, there have been times when I have asked for changes many times and they have diligently made all changes till we land on that perfect design. Yes, some incidents happen but that can happen in any field and all karigars are not the same. Making a handcrafted saree is a very tedious process. It takes a lot of time and effort to design one saree. We all try to work as a team, and we respect each other's opinions."

About the challenges as an entrepreneur she says, "The first and biggest challenge that I faced was a lack of knowledge. When I started out, I had zero knowledge about the digital market and online business. We are still figuring out things and overcoming those challenges every day. There is also a big challenge in the market to find good people to work with. Resources that want to invest time and energy in a start-up are not easily found. All I can say from my experience is that one should research and know the domain well enough before starting a business in that domain. The market is very competitive, and you should know everything that you can learn before you start. Another lesson that I have learned is that not taking expert advice can be detrimental to your business. At least when you start out, having an expert on board to guide you will be really helpful. It might be expensive but treat it like an investment."

They would be focussing more on Indo-western in the upcoming collection. It is called BAAG- Wildlife, florals, and all things nature - the new collection draws inspiration from flora and fauna. Namrata says, "It will have lots of dresses and fusion wear. But as always, we will retain the traditional feel in all garments because that's at the heart of 'Chinaya'. Most of our buyers can be classified in the millennial category. The average age of our buyers is 30-35 years. Trends-wise, Benarasi silks sarees are the most loved item on our website, closely followed by Tussar sarees. And I have been getting a lot of queries for the hand painted Organza sarees as well.``

"We are big on traditional motifs. Majority of our designs are traditional, and we derive inspiration from the old weaves and handicrafts of India. That is how we think of motifs. I personally am a nature lover so a lot of floral, leaves or trees can be seen as motifs in 'Chinaya' garments. My favourite motif is the paisley motif," adds Namrata.

Their vision is to be a globally renowned brand. She says, "We want to be the chosen name when it comes to women's ethnic wear. I just want that if anyone thinks of buying traditional clothes online, they should think of our brand. We are very optimistic for the coming years. A lot of plans are there in the pipeline. One of the things that are on the near-term agenda is to launch kids' wear and add more variety to our product range, more lehengas and ready-to-wear items for the women. I also want to explore offline like opening a store or a try-and-buy but that is still just a thought and a few years away."