Very much Indian Brand
Very Much Indian brand is a treat for all Paithani saree lovers. Its appearance on Shark Tank India has played an important role in bringing the much-needed attention, popularity, and appreciation that this beautiful art rightly deserves.
The way its founder Slony Gambhir pitched the beautiful sarees of India totally captivated the interest of the sharks.
With a goal to organize the scattered and unorganized saree market of 38,000 crores into an e-commerce platform, she started the brand Very Much Indian. Her vision is to make it the most trusted traditional brand in India.
This exclusive online store sells traditional and authentic sarees ranging from Pure silks, Cotton, Cotton Silks, Linen, and Paithani to Banarasi, Kota, Kalamkari, Maheshwari, Chanderi, Bandhani, Kanjeevaram. You name it and they have it.
They source their sarees directly from the weavers and deliver them directly to your doorstep. In doing so, they get the opportunity to give the artisans fair pay for their skills, talent, and hard work.
Very Much an Indian Owner
Slony Gambhir the ambitious founder of Very Much Indian hails from the Yeola district of Maharashtra. Her family owned the textile business of Paithani Sarees.
As a child, she loved to sit in her father’s store and manage clients, and accounts. This is how she learned the nuances of managing the store.
She completed her education in Btech and secured a degree in MBA, following which she pursued a job for 10 years in the corporate world.
This was not what she wanted in her life. So in 2016 she quit her job and answered her true calling i.e., making the traditional weaves of India popular all over the world.
The one incident that left a deep mark on her, was when she was 14 years old. While managing the shop in the absence of her father. A customer walked in and she was in a hurry because she had a crying toddler in the car.
Slony offered to accompany the lady to the car so that she could give her a brief about what kind of saree she was looking for. While she pacified her baby. Within 15 minutes she understood what the customer wanted and closed the sale by selling her a beautiful Paithani saree worth 15,000/-.
She started her business by taking on a loan of 25 sarees from her father. He initially discouraged her stating that her corporate job provided her with professional as well as financial stability. Luckily her husband supported her. This gave her the courage to pursue her dreams.
Initially, she visited the known clients personally and in no time sold every one of those sarees. Since she was away from the business for so many years, It took her almost a year to re-learn the nuances of this business, after that there was no looking back.
Very much Indian Sarees
Their aim is to give a new life, to the already dying art of weaving traditional sarees in handloom.
The collection is not only limited to traditional weaves but they also have a beautiful collection of tie and dye sarees from Gujarat and Rajasthan.
You can also find beautifully Kalamkari printed sarees from Andhra Pradesh.
Choose from their subtle and understated collection for business meetings, bright and colorful sarees with traditional motifs for family weddings, Simple sarees for college farewells, or comfortable sarees to work in the kitchen. They have sarees for all occasions.
They have different collections suitable to be worn in different weather conditions. Be it the harsh, hot summers or the colder climatic conditions of north India. You will find a saree for every season.
The length of their saree varies from 3 to 9 yards depending on the origin of the length of a saree.
Their evergreen collection can be worn even after 5, 10, or 15 years and will never go out of style.
You can check out their entire collection here.
Very much Indian (Shark Tank) Paithani Sarees
Paithani weaving is an art that originated around 2000 years ago, but somehow it did not acquire as much fame as Kanjeevaram or Banarasi sarees.
With a dream to increase the awareness of the Paithani saree, the Very Much Indian brand was started and gradually other weaves from all over India were incorporated.
Coming from Yeola where there are 4000 to 5000 weavers who only weaves Paithani. The founder (Slony Gambhir) was raised amongst them and loved Paithani sarees from the bottom of her heart.
This love translated into starting this brand with 25 Paithani weavers and currently, they have more than 400 weavers. So it goes without saying that Paithani sarees are their USP and they have a wide range of them in a variety of designs and colors.
The seeds of this business were laid by the grandfather of the founder when had settled in Yeola after India Pakistan partition and now this legacy is being carried forward by his granddaughter.
You can check out their entire collection of Paithani sarees here.
Browse their new arrivals here.
Explore their sarees on sale here.
Social Media Accounts
Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin
Funding asked from the sharks:
₹50 lahks for 3% equity
Valuation of the company: ₹ 5 cr
The sales of the company:
2018-2019 were ₹16-17 lakhs.
2019-2020 were ₹ 20 lakhs.
During the pandemic, their sales boosted, and for the year 2020-2021, it was ₹65 lakhs.
For the years 2021-2022, it was ₹1.5 cr.
The forecast for this year is ₹2 cr.
Average ticket size– ₹10,000
Gross Margin– 35%
Shark’s offer to Very Much Indian
Namita Thapar wanted to be the solo investor and made the first offer of ₹50 lacks for 10% equity. Aman, who also found this business lucrative had to convince Namita to let him tag along.
He persuaded Namita by telling her that he will help her understand Genz, supply in Amazon and Flipkart, and also help with building the brand. To which she agreed.
The business pitcher made the counter offer of 75 lacks for 10% equity.
Finally, the deal was secured at Namita’s offer of ₹50 lacks for 10% equity
Concluding remarks
With Genz’s lack of interest in handloom sarees, we would like to know your thoughts on whether you think this category could make it big in the apparel industry.
We however wish them all the best in their endeavor to spread awareness about our traditional weaves. Hopefully, they gain success in giving fair remuneration to the long hours and hard work put in by the weavers of India.
You might also be interested in reading our reviews on:
- ‘Gear Head Motors‘ Electric Cycle Brand.
- ‘Recode Cosmetics‘ Premium quality cosmetics brand at an economical price.
- ‘Atmosphere Kombucha‘ Gut-healing probiotic drink.
- ‘GIRGIT‘ color-changing apparel brand.
