Over the past fifteen years, Masaba Gupta, founder, House of Masaba, has carved a niche for herself as a fashion designer. The entrepreneur and actor says, “I wouldn't have it any other way because I have found such a great creative outlet; to dress women, to put makeup on women, to give them products that they can use every day of their lives.”
Gupta, who announced the birth of her daughter on Saturday, calls House of Masaba her first child.
“I used to say to myself that until and unless I have the backing of a solid investor or a solid corporate like Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL), I had decided I would never start a family, even start planning for a family, until that's sorted, because that's my first baby. I have to make sure that there's somebody co-parenting with me,” she said in an interview on Forbes India Pathbreakers in August.
In the free-wheeling chat, Gupta talks about how she built her brand from the ground-up, new segments she is likely to enter in the coming year, and important trends shaping the industry. “Consumers have become much smarter and they are suddenly questioning the cost of designer brands,” she notes. Edited excerpts:
House of Masaba is what I've built over 15 years now. I also have a newer baby, which is Lovechild, which is two years old, this month. I wouldn't have it any other way because I have found such a great creative outlet; to dress women, to put makeup on women, to give them products that they can use every day of their lives. If you see all of our products, I take a lot of pride in the fact that there is more storytelling than design. There is a lot more emotion than just a kurta or a sari or something that you want to put on. I think it is a very empowering brand because we've built it on the back of a story.
Staying relevant: ‘Must bridge the gap between art and commerce’
I believe that the best businesses, the most successful ones, or the ones that have more of a shelf-life, are the ones that can bridge the gap between art and commerce, where there is a steady balance of the two. So, when I say that in my early years, I was focusing more on being a creative person that was needed of me then to build the story, to make sure I'm focusing heavily on what is this brand trying to say? Does it resonate with the people that we are dressing? It is not about a consumer survey or market data analytics. It is a very simple gut feeling as the founder of a brand.
Since 2018-19, I needed to actually turn the wheel around and become more of a business person. That balance has found itself because I've also been able to build a team that takes care of a large part of creative, along with me. I have been able to build a marketing leg of the label that is taking care of a large part of these things as well. And my job now is to be more of a leader, about getting the basics right and being a constant bridge between the commerce and the artistic teams.
I have had to learn pretty much everything and I still am learning everything about business. I don't take to numbers naturally. In the sense I get a bit like, no, I'll get to it next, the second-half of the day. First half is for all the creative juices to flow. But as a leader and as a founder, most importantly, you don't have any business to say you don't like doing something. Sure, you absolutely dislike doing most things, but it's the dirty stuff that has to get done first. I have incredible people in my organisation who teach me on a daily basis. More importantly, I'm a good delegator.
JV with ABFRL: ‘Put all our dreams on these wheels’
This is the greatest bridge that one could have built. I used to say to myself that until and unless I have the backing of a solid investor or a solid corporate like ABFRL (Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail), I had decided I would never start a family, even start planning for a family until that's sorted, because that that's my first baby. House of Masaba is my first baby. I have to make sure that there's somebody co-parenting with me. So, I think of these deals very differently from most creative people. [ABFRL bought 51% stake in House of Masaba in January 2022]
I think of it as putting your brand on wheels because what happens is there's just so much you can do as an individual founder; there's just so much you can do when you're going on raising money. Raising money is a constant journey, right? It requires a lot of time, effort, etc. So, I said, why not put all our dreams on these wheels, along with people who have a very similar set of ethical and moral values. I am okay with anything, but I just cannot work with somebody who isn't on the same page as me, morally and ethically. When I'm not looking, I trust that they will do the right thing for me.
I also had a lot more ambition for my brand than most designers do at that age. I wanted it to be a lifestyle brand. I thought of beauty in 2015. I said, look, I have all these dreams and this vision, I will need somebody to hold my hand through it, explain to me how the market works, because otherwise we would just be that boutique brand trying our hand at a little bit of everything, trying to make a quick buck so that we could then put that money into our other ambitions.
It's actually the perfect bridge, because on one end of the bridge you have people who understand everything about real estate, retail, sales, expansion, product, back-end, all of that stuff. Then you have one side, which is creative marketing, visual communication, product, brand building, storytelling. So, it's the perfect marriage. But you have to believe in the concept of marriage for it to work.
Also read: Lehengas in the boardroom: How Masaba, Manish Malhotra, others are wooing investors
Business growth: ‘Will launch fine jewellery and handbags next year’
We've had a very aggressive retail expansion at an offline level. We started [in] 2022, with maybe three-four odd stores. We're sitting at 20 as we speak with the 21st in the pipeline. We’ll be at 21 by the end of the year. The team has grown considerably. We were a thirty-member intimate team. Today we've over 350 people in the organisation.
Lovechild, to be honest, in the last one year has had a 4-5x growth. That's massive for a beauty brand in a heavily cluttered market. We can't share exact numbers but, like I said, that's seen a tremendous growth. Fashion continues to grow. Last year it grew at about 60 percent and this year, as we keep going, it continues to stay very steady. We launched our bridal collection in October 2023. At the end of this year, we'll have our first and largest bridal-only store in Mehrauli in Delhi. And we have two very strong product extensions. One is fine jewellery and the other is accessories and handbags. That's coming up early next year.
Industry trends: ‘The consumer is suddenly questioning everything’
The industry at its core is still very much what it was, but the consumer has changed. Actually, the consumers have become much smarter, they are suddenly questioning everything. So, if I talk about apparel, they're questioning the fabric, they're questioning where it's sourced from. Suddenly, sustainability is a big talking point across the world.
They're also questioning the cost. I don't think that was ever a concept. When you went to a designer brand, you said, I go with the notion that it is going to be something that is expensive, even though, I think expensive is a very subjective term, but that was the idea.
They also want to know the printing technique; they've become a lot more aware of the concept of how clothes are made. With Lovechild and with beauty, what we've noticed is that suddenly the consumer knows everything that's going on the back of the pack. They know ingredients. They know the chemical names for ingredients, they know everything. The consumers become sharper, smarter, they're much more well aware of what they're putting on their bodies and their faces. I would say that today you can't fool anyone.
Omnichannel to Q-Com: ‘We have to be very agile and fluid’
We're actually listing our lipsticks on Blinkit and Zepto. If we have to win in this category, we have to have the ability to make sure that this product, the lipstick, can reach you. Suddenly, you decide, I don't have this purple lipstick that I want today and I only want to wear purple lipstick. It should be able to be with you in 11 minutes, you know? I think these things matter and we have to keep up. We have to be very, very agile on the service end of things and we have to be very fluid.
The bulk of the sales come from Brand.com. We've built a strong website for the brand where we really see the volume of sales coming from. Of course, that's closely followed by Nykaa and Amazon, and all the other marketplaces. When you're present in an ecosystem like marketplaces you also have to find what fits a marketplace, you have to fit a certain price point because people are used to it.
All stores of House of Masaba carry Lovechild. In some stores, there's a larger offering and in some there's a smaller offering, but it's always there. We've just about entered the kiosk model. We are at the Shoppers Stop stores, which has been a great partner for us and we're at Nykaa offline as well. We're slowly building that. I think we're on the way to adding at least a dozen more as we speak.