STARTUP#FABALLEY

FABALLEY

In the world of e-commerce, we all know names like Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong, Amazon, Snapdeal. Manufacturers sell products under private labels on these websites. FabAlley.com is a private brand whose products can be found across all online marketplaces.

FabAlley was started by Tanvi Malik and Shivani Poddar, who quit their high-paying jobs in Titan Industries, Unilever and Avendus Capital to follow their dream of entrepreneurship. “We were both working in the corporate sector and we found a huge gap in terms of fast fashion which was not available in India at affordable prices."

Indian women normally prefer buying things for regular wear in the price range Rs 900 to Rs 1000, and Malik says there was a gap there. Nothing was available in that space, either online or offline.

Besides their personal experience, the duo also conducted a market survey with 500 women whom they spoke to either directly or surveyed through a questionnaire. And 60% women agreed with the gap that they had found in the market. The only brand that had some play in the space was Forever 21that had a handful of stores across the country.

However, before embarking on this path, the original plan of the founders was to be an accessory-only store. They started on the same premise and sold jewellery, shoes and bags for the first four months. However, along the way they quickly realized the market for a pure accessory brand was not that high, and decided to add clothes to the lineup.

FabAlley, says Malik, is all about fast fashion – something that is trendy, new and fast moving. So the FabAlley team starts work for new releases two to three months in advance. Their cues come from trends around the world, fashion trends on global high street and past fashion trends that have found favour in India and abroad.

Women between ages 22 and 30 are predominant shoppers on FabAlley, and a bulk of them come from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

The founders bootstrapped to start FabAlley and have also received angel funding from an investor of the Indian Angel Network. Today the startup has a team of 32 people managing affairs, and most of the team members like its customers are under the age of 30.

Talking about the future, Poddar says they will continue their focus on women – at least for the medium term because there are still many areas within women dressing that they have not touched. And as for plans to get men and children's clothing into the fold – that will be for sometime later, she says.