THE BIRTH OF PUTCHI: as a maternity wear brand
THE PROBLEM IN PLACE:
From the pregnancy days to the nursing days, one enduring problem that I faced (and I believe most of the mom to bes and mothers face too) was buying comfortable maternity wear. The ones that are available in the market are either standardized and didn’t suit me perfectly, or far to fetch. When I reached out to seek help from my peers who were pregnant or entering motherhood, the most common answer was to shop the fabric, get a good tailor and get the maternity wear stitched to the desired comfortable sizes. Sounds easy? Not really in reality. Because the process of buying a fabric, then taking the effort to get it stitched through a good tailor/designer is a process by itself that you do not want to go through in the middle of an important phase of life. It just is so enduring physically and mentally. Instead of cribbing about the problem, I decided to be the one who fixes this for good. Necessity is the mother of invention they say. True to every word, that’s exactly how the idea for Putchi was born.
OPPORTUNITY IN DISGUISE:
In due time, I realized the scale of the problem. The initial plan was to get the fabric, and design the maternity wear needs of myself. I wanted to learn what it took to achieve the best quality. And I wanted to share the same care and quality levels to every other mother who needed maternity wear segments. The ability to enhance the lives of pregnant women, and mothers by providing quality, comfortable, and affordable maternity wear was motivating. Next thing I know, I was carrying my 6-month-old Abinu and knocking the doors of vendors across places. It wasn’t easy in the beginning as this field was totally new to us. We neither had the technical knowledge or the business prowess in this industry. But the curiosity fueled us, and the scale of the problem and the impact kept us going.
QUALITY DRIVEN:
Yes, that’s the magic word. Quality was the only target we had. Providing mothers with good Maternity wear was serious business, and a promise we made to ourselves was that, no matter what, we will never go down on quality on any aspect. Our mission was to achieve top-notch quality with eco-conscious and sustainable practices. We had to spend a lot of time and effort into this, and it also meant increasing of the costs that’d cut our profit margins. We were fine with it, as our victory resided more in the wellness of the mothers than the pages of the P&L books. We pushed, and persevered.
PASSION + PERSEVERANCE:
Being passionate is one thing, but seeing it through time is entirely another thing we learnt. In the initial times, it definitely wasn’t an easy task to set up a maternity wear brand. It took its sweet time for us to get a hold of reality. But we held our ground. From purchase to manufacturing to marketing, it was just my husband Thiagu and I. His support was vital at all stages, both morally and intellectually. If not for him, this journey wouldn’t be possible. Plus, the little one Abinu was with us all the way along. There were mornings we woke up by 5 AM and travel to do a photo-shoot, and late nights past 12 when we’d be sitting in the living hall and packaging the orders for the next day’s shipment. Little Abinu was by the side all the time. Looking back, this totally has been a family business in literal sense, with all of us coming together and committing our fullest. The results are rewarding, and Putchi is now one of the most trusted maternity wear brand across the state. We ship across India and globally too. Happiness is seeing Putchi being a house-hold maternity wear name today in the lives of so many mothers who keep sharing their positive experiences with the brand.
PUTCHI’S VISION:
The dream is to take this further, and create a whole new range of products. From Putchi maternity wear, we wish to bring in Putchi wear for the entire family. The vision is to touch lives positively, and promote goodness. The work for the same is happening in full swing, and there is no looking back. The journey is exhilarating, and the best part is the learning in the path. I truly wish more women take up their passion areas and work on their dreams, for I see that it is doable. All one has to have is the right intention, and the urge to make the difference. Trust me, everything else will fall into place. It happened for me. It will happen for you too. Apna time Aayega! ☺
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