After two failed businesses, Ritika, who is a NIFT textile designer, saw growth and success. She initiated an ethnic wear brand named Sanskritam in 2021. Ritika started with Rs.50, 000 in Chandigarh and within eight months her brand crossed Rs.3 crore revenue.
Ritika: Her journey before Sanskritam
Ritika did her textile design course at NIFT, Mumbai, in 2018. Later, she started working with Skil India and used to train Tihar Jail prisoners. She used to train them to sew dresses so they could earn some money. Also, she trained artisans. All of this she did for one year, but she had a keen interest in entrepreneurship.
However, he started her two businesses after doing the job. But both of them failed somehow. Initially, she started with the manufacturing and selling of shirts, but it didn’t work because retailers didn’t want to work with a woman running a men’s brand. Also, it didn’t leverage the commerce sales channels.
Ritika even started a business with Gaurav, her husband, related to handcrafted footwear. But it didn’t go as planned. Later, she started working with WhiteHat Jr. as a mentor. After earning money, she invested it in her third business, Sanskritam
The brain behind Sanskritam
Ritika bought some ethnic women’s kurtas for around Rs. 50, 000 and showcased them in some exhibitions. She got a good response. Later, she started manufacturing women’s ethnic kurtas by the name of Sanskritam.
She even began leveraging e-commerce and various social media platforms to get customers. Instagram worked in her favor, and after a month, her sales started increasing. She hired some tailors and began manufacturing fabrics from Gujarat, Chennai, etc.
It started with 10–12 SKUs with a wide range of products like kurtas, co-or sets, palazzos, etc. Now she has around 80 SKUs in the long kurtas category, 15 SKUs in kurta sets, etc.
The brand has 50 staff members, of whom 20 are tailors. Also, the brand offers various sizing options. The majority of sales come from people aged over 30.
However, in December 2020, the Sanskritam manufacturing unit caught fire. But Ritika didn’t lose hope. She started all of it again. However, in the initial launch year, the brand generated around Rs. 50 lakh in revenue. In FY 2022–23, the brand generated Rs. 1.4 crore in revenue, and in the last 8 months of FY 2023–24, it generated more than Rs. 3 crore in revenue, according to Ritika herself.
