“Fashion is my passion, and I am a die-hard optimist who has survived whatever the world has thrown me,” says Priyashmita Guha, Founder, and CEO of Deraj Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd.
Priyashmita is an ambitious woman aiming to present in Indian fashion one day, particularly handloom and embroidery, as Haute Couture on the international runway. Also, her keen goal is for her employees, and she wants to ensure that the artisans who work in this industry have a better and more enjoyable lifestyle in the coming decade, encouraging them to pursue a career in handicrafts. After all, a better life cannot be limited to a select few.
How’s Priyashmita’s Entrepreneur Journey begun?
Prior, Priyashmita worked in sales and marketing and had a keen interest in art and fashion. She worked with start-ups to help them establish their sales channels and mentored many of them. She also had the good fortune to know many entrepreneurs who were her bosses and always guided and assisted her
Several factors influenced her to make this decision to start a business. The first time, Priyashmita spoke with her boss, her boss told her that she bought fancy designer wear for a special theme-based birthday party, and when she arrived, the birthday girl was wearing the same dress. It ruined both of their nights. Then there were the “Who wore it better?”
“I used to look through fashion magazines and wonder why I would pay so much money to see someone else wear the same thing. The final straw was when we conducted a survey and asked people what they remembered wearing to the last party they attended, and not a single person in a universe of 652 could tell us what someone wore. For many years, fashion had ceased to be unique. And I thought something had to be done about it,” says Priyashmita.
“My mother taught me that age is not a problem to do something new. She is 66 when she co-founded Deraj with me and a friend. I had been designing my sarees with my mother for many years because I didn’t particularly appreciate entering a venue wearing something that someone else had worn. I wanted to be noticed. I wanted to make a statement and express myself; the only way I knew how was through fashion. So, I began asking my mother to make sarees that I could wear that no one else had. People complimented me on them every time I wore them,” says Priyashmita.
The turning point occurred when Priyashmita designed her mother’s 60th birthday saree, which was well received by all. It was a saree with people’s birthday wishes for her printed in their handwriting on it. Many people say that her mother was wrapped up in love on her birthday. The recognition Priyashmita received for it convinced her that she could do it. All loved her mother’s designs; this was just the final push she needed to start her journey.
First, when Priyashmita started, she had three goals:
- To create a fashion statement for people who wanted to be unique and different from others, people who wanted to be themselves, to celebrate themselves for who they are, with their highs and lows, through fashion.
- To ensure that Indian fashion and artistry work became standard on the international fashion scene.
- To ensure that the artisans working in this industry had a better life in the coming decade. This class has been exploited over the years, and while we have not yet achieved where we need to take them, we are at least attempting to do so.
“When I was working on my business plan, someone asked why I was thinking so much about the artisans in my plan, and I replied, “Would you have said the same thing if they were the techies working for us?” If not, what makes artisans unique? We need to change the perception that only the well-educated have ambition and aspirations for a better life,” says Priyashmita.
Deraj Lifestyle: Ensuring Client Satisfaction
“I believe that so many people have received our designs well and that customers have purchased our products more than 10 to 12 times in the last 1.5 years, demonstrating that we have had something good working for us,” assures Priyashmita.
Deraj Lifestyle’s designs are unique from others. Since they are not expert designers, it can be helpful not to be grammatically correct, especially when trying to be innovative.
The company’s most well-known creation has been the night jasmine collection. At the time, the most common way to design a floral embroidered saree was to embroider identical flowers in a specific pattern all over the saree. In reality, however, flowers are rarely similar. Some are broken, while others are complete. Some people are upside down when they are lying on the ground. That’s what they did with their sarees. Their flowers were arranged in the same manner and deviated from the common design pattern.
“We’re working on a new series inspired by art found in museums worldwide. We’d be working on a series inspired by various civilizations and cultures seen around the world. We also plan to launch a high-end brand by the end of next year,” asserts Priyashmita.
Challenges can be stepping stones to success
No one knowing who they were was probably the most challenging obstacle; they were not fashion designers in the traditional sense and lacked the financial resources to compete with established brands.
Empowering women
According to Priyashmita, our most important responsibility as women is to lift up other women. While women account for one-third of all entrepreneurs worldwide, their success in obtaining funding is dismal. Women receive only 2.3% of all venture capital funding. I believe that as women, we must work to change this so that the next generation understands that they do not need to fight for their place in the entrepreneurial world because equality would be natural. And, as I always say, change doesn’t come easy! It would be best if you pushed yourself. Those weights aren’t going to lift themselves.
The one change she wants to see in the world encourages entrepreneurship, even if it begins as a side hustle. Because not everyone can afford to work full-time, entrepreneurship becomes limited to a few. As long as there are no conflicts of interest and everyone is honest, I believe this change will help the entrepreneurship world grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years.
The future will be bright
“I hope Deraj Lifestyle will become a formidable fashion name in the next two years and that whenever people think of fashion, they will think of us. We also want to change how online sales and services are conducted and hope to do so in the coming years. And I hope that the artisans who work for us see a positive change in their lives,” assures Priyashmita. “I hope to effect change in how I structure the company, build its value system and work ethics, and create a profitable brand without sacrificing its value,” she added.
