Adhitya Iyer, Founder, Annanymous - a runaway hit among the engineers of India

“Annanymous - unique brand in Engineers with their T-shirts”

Clothes maketh the man and indeed some forms of apparel have always represented certain working classes. Jeans before they became a cultural icon were the premise of workers and laborers in America, similarly overalls were for Painters and Plumbers before the runway discovered them. Now the Humble T-shirt may not have pretensions of becoming a runway fad but entrepreneur Aditya Iyer believes that they can represent Engineers like no other article of clothing can…

His startup venture “Annanymous” is a runaway hit among the engineers of India and is aiming at more. Aditya has achieved all this while still in his Final Year of Computer Engineering. Yourstory found out more from the Young Entrepreneur on how he manages his time and his future plans with Entrepreneurship…

How do you represent professions through your unique clothing ideas?

Like the Ramayan and Mahabharath, Medicine and Engineering have been epic professions in the Indian culture system. We speak the story of an Engineer, presently with the aid of T-shirts as medium in our own line of t-shirts called annanymous. Also, we design and manufacture T-shirts for various Festivals, Departments and other T-shirt requirements in an Engineering college.

Is there a set scope to who will or can wear your creations?

The scope although primarily limited to the Engineering sector, spans across a market of more than 30 Lakh students. Also, on an average around 50 Lakh T-shirts are made for various Engineering colleges spanning across just 4 states of this wonderful nation.

How did you make your T-shirt collection unique in your segment?

We created a unique brand in Engineers of the nation very incidentally popularized by Bollywood movies recently although Annanymous was launched a year prior to the release of the movie. We believe the brand Engineer can touch lives if spoken of well.

What made entrepreneurship appeal to you more than say an engineering job?

I have absolutely no dislike for a 9-5 job per se. However, entrepreneurship helps you speak a story of your choice in your own way. It simply helps one to bring a change in a desired manner and take the initiative. Not to forget there is team that may work 9-5 to help me speak my story.

Did you ever feel that Entrepreneurship might not be able to fulfill your dreams?

Yes. When peers were getting recruited during Campus placements for fat salaries. However the feeling receded soon.

How do you manage to make time for all your dreams and responsibilities?

The biggest challenge has been to create a balance between the ever occupying Engineering schedule and entrepreneurship dreams. We overcome it by sleeping an hour less and distributing work.

What according to you leads an entrepreneur to success?

Let money never be the primary motive. The rest will just follow.

What is the most amateurish mistake you have made as an entrepreneur?

I once did not bother counting the T-shirt supply from my dealer. It later turned out to be 50 units short.

What made you want to keep being an entrepreneur?

The want to speak a story… The want to make a change...Inspiring stories…

What is your vision for Annanymous as a brand?

To become synonymous with Engineers/Engineering.

What do you feel has been the high point for Annanymous?

An IIM Graduate also an Engineer once spoke about us-“Their website touches thousands of hearts directly. Main Bhi Ghanta Engineer (Me Ghanta Engineer being our flagship T-shirt)” .

We made it to the Front page of The Asian Age and NDTV India did story on us. Also, we have been invited to other Engineering colleges for Entrepreneurship talks.

Do you have any plans to create T-shirts based on other professions?

We wish to expand our wings to designing and manufacturing T-shirts for professions outside the Engineering sector. Also, we will extend our line of T-shirts to other Professions like CA and medicine.

Yourstory wishes Adhitya Iyer and Annanymous a great run with their concepts in the coming future. We wish him luck with his studies and his entrepreneurial aspirations. For those looking to grab a peek at his creations have a look at the website www.annanymous.in