Desi Tales is betting on cotton and craft for comfortable kids' festive wear

A familiar scene at Indian family events is when, between rituals and celebrations, children end up in tears over uncomfortable ethnic outfits.

The children’s ethnic-wear market has long been split between premium labels and the low-cost mass segment, leaving little room in between. Bengaluru-based Desi Tales is trying to fill that gap with cotton ethnic wear and nightwear for children, priced between the two.

Founders Rachana and Mihir Shah experienced the problem firsthand. Their two nephews would turn cranky in their ethnic outfits at family functions, prompting the couple to build a brand around festive clothes children would actually want to wear.

Rachana taught at an engineering college before starting a healthy-snacks business; Mihir spent years in strategy and brand roles at Amway and Swiggy before joining her full time.

The couple started Desi Tales in 2022 as a weekend venture in Bengaluru, procuring products and selling them through apartment pop-ups. Four years of direct customer feedback, along with the arrival of their own child, helped sharpen the brand’s proposition. They launched their website in 2025.

“Today, customers tell us their kids won’t wear anything other than Desi Tales,” Mihir says.

Cotton and craft

Every Desi Tales piece is made from 100% pure cotton, with design details intended to prevent poking and itching. The founders say the clothes are designed to withstand children’s everyday wear and tear rather than being used only for festive occasions. Stitching and seams are built with durability in mind. The outfits are priced between Rs 599 and Rs 1799.

The prints combine what the founders call “ethnic plus quirk”. Elephants, camels, horses, and dinosaurs feature on kurta-pyjamas, taking cues from trends in adult and women’s wear.

“My mom is wearing the same thing; I am also wearing the same thing,” says Mihir, explaining why children may be more willing to wear outfits that resemble their parents’ clothes.

Part of the range is handmade by women artisans in Gujarat and Rajasthan using Sanganeri block printing, a craft that originated near Jaipur. The rest is made through four contract manufacturing partners that white-label the products.

Desi Tales first curates its fabrics and develops its own prints before turning them into garments. The brand currently runs close to 500 SKUs across its range.

The brand sells through an exclusive outlet on New BEL Road in Bengaluru, along with weekend pop-ups in Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Ahmedabad, and Tier II towns across Karnataka. It also has a permanent stall at Karnataka Chitra Kala Parishath. Online, it sells through its website and Instagram.

Over four years, Desi Tales has served close to 40,000 customers across ethnic wear, nightwear, co-ord sets, and family combos. Traditional wear leads the brand's revenue at 35%, followed by nightwear at 30% and father-son combo sets at 25%.

According to IMARC Group, the India kids' apparel market grew from $22.57 billion in 2025 to an estimated $23 billion in 2026, and is projected to reach $27.17 billion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 2.08% from 2026 to 2034.

Within this market, Desi Tales competes with FirstCry, Fab India, Biba, The Mom Store and Manyavar.

Bootstrapped growth

Desi Tales is primarily a D2C brand, supported by more than eight B2B relationships. Some are retail stores that buy the products and resell them under the Desi Tales brand.

The company was also a channel partner for Go Native, a Bengaluru-based restaurant chain, where it sold products on a revenue-share basis.

The business is entirely bootstrapped and has not raised external funding. Mihir says revenue has grown by roughly 30% year on year, with healthy EBITDA margins. He puts the brand's dead stock at around 5%, against an industry average of 20-25%.

In the near term, the founders plan to list Desi Tales on online marketplaces, continue investing in its website, and start spending on performance marketing.

The team currently consists of the two founders and two full-time employees. The company plans to expand its workforce and open two more retail outlets.

Over the longer term, Desi Tales plans to focus on one core category rather than spread itself across all four.

“We want to double down on one specific category, so that people can remember us by that, and then they can indulge in the other categories that we have,” Mihir says.