Mohita Indrayan plugs the demand-supply gap in tweens apparel segment with 612 League
Mohita Indrayan’s family went on a holiday to the US when her daughters were two and six. The trip made her realise the huge difference in the apparel segment between US and India. “There is a separate category for tweens there. Their clothing is designed entirely keeping them in mind,” she says.
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The trip proved to be an eye-opener for Mohita whose shopping was limited to whatever was available in the Indian market. “What I would do most times is get an outfit that would fit both my daughters. There was nothing designed keeping children in the six-12 age group in mind,” she says. Therefore, along with her husband, she decided to address the gap in the apparel segment with 612 League.
An economics graduate from Lady Shri Ram College, Mohita went on to pursue her post graduation in Apparel Marketing and Merchandising from National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi. She started her career as a visual merchandiser by taking up retail consultancy and sales training projects.
Designing for the six-12 age group
A registered trademark of Indian Clothing League Private Ltd (ICLPL), 612 League is India’s first clothing
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brand for tweens. Manufactured in India with an international feel, this brand makes products which celebrate a child’s active lifestyle. According to Mohita, the brand aims at nurturing the future generations through their growth transition from kids to teenagers. Under the ICLPL, another apparel brand by the name of Baby League was launched in 2013 for infants in the age bracket of zero to two years.Mohita gave herself a year’s time to do research, interact with the target audience, develop a good size chart and study the colour palette preferences.
The brand was test-launched in October 2008 at select locations in Ludhiana, Jaipur, Nagpur and Pune and received instant recognition and acceptance. Since then, there has been no looking back. Interestingly, the brand range is formulated by a team of designers at the in-house design studio using modern forecasting techniques. The concept may be new for Indian origin brands, but the products follow strict adherence to quality where every button, zip and accessory undergoes stringent tests. Manufactured in a state-of-the-art infrastructure, the apparel brand has a fully integrated dual location facility in Ludhiana taking care of everything from fabric manufacturing to garment finishing. The manufacturing units have the capacity to produce 1,35,000 garments in a month.
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A sampling unit with eight machines was first set up by in Ludhiana in 2008 and in 2009, she started supplying to four stores in Delhi. The product was well accepted in the Delhi market.
Learning along the journey
Kidswear may appear to be a simple category but given that kids are fashion-conscious, it is quite a task to design clothes for them. It was another vacation in the US which made her realise that her brand was picking up. “I saw a small Indian girl flaunting my brand abroad and it was a moment of immense pride,” says Mohita.
Husband as business partner
As a working mother, Mohita’s biggest concern was her children. But it helped to have her husband Manu Indrayan as her business partner. While Manu take care of the nitty-gritty of marketing and financial planning, Mohita restricts herself to the creative side of the business.
Start Up whatever you are passionate about
Mohita strongly advocates entrepreneurship for women but at the same time says the challenge is to start up something one is passionate about. “It should be something which you are enjoying, otherwise it becomes a burden. Follow your dream and complement it with the skill set you have,” she says.