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PostFold Success Story
Though there are people who discard it as unnecessary, fashion, in fact, is never futile. Especially clothing is a very important aspect of fashion. It’s not wrong to say that ‘what we wear is what we are. Wearing something good not only makes people have a positive perception towards you, but you too feel good and confident. But the problem is that, in India, fashion is not always affordable. High-quality, comfortable and stylish clothing is always overpriced. While those which are affordable, are not up to the mark. To solve this problem, Aashray Thatai and Ashish Gurnani, started up PostFold- a house of affordable yet classy apparel.
PostFold Company - Highlights
- Startup Name-PostFold
- Headquarter-Gurgaon
- Founders-Aashray Thatai & Ashish Gurnani
- Industry-Apparel & Merchandising
- Founded-2015
- Parent Organization-AA Brands Pvt. Ltd.
- Website-PostFold
PostFold—About
Founded in November 2015, PostFold is a clothing brand that offers contemporary and stylish apparel for every day and every occasion. PostFold through its clothing strives to strike a perfect balance of quality and design. The company sources the best quality fabric and the best of designers to deliver apparels that are stylish, comfortable, and at the same time affordable. It offers a wide range of essentials including shirts, blouses, polo, knit tops, and shrugs for both genders.
Their approach is simple. No middlemen. No crazy markups. They offer a collection of essentials that incorporate the perfect balance of quality, design, and price.
PostFold—Founders
PostFold was founded by Aashray Thatai and Ashish Gurnani, two guys from New Delhi, who are an alumnus of Northeastern University, Boston.
Aashray Thatai & Ashish Gurnani | Co-founders, PostFold
Aashray Thatai studied Mechanical Engineering at Northeastern University. Post that he moved to Memphis to work at the Williams Sonoma e-commerce distribution center as an Industrial Engineer. Worked at Williams Sonoma INC for two years which was a good experience with operations, process improvements, and hands-on experience with the B2C industry. In 2015 he moved to India to start PostFold. He sees PostFold as a brand that is soon synonymous with simplicity, sophistication, and subtleness. When not busy with work, Aashray enjoys playing sports like Golf, Lawn Tennis and is a fitness freak. He also invests in fitness equipment and apparel like tennis shirts, and golf hats.
Ashish Gurnani holds Bachelor's degree in Marketing and Finance from Northeastern University, Boston. Post that moved to Seattle to work at the mecca of e-commerce in Amazon as a Digital Advertising Analyst and worked with companies like John Hancock, EMC, and Amazon. He left his job to pursue his dream of creating ‘PostFold’, a brand that he hopes is looked up to for its culture, honesty, and style. Ashish is a big foodie who enjoys trying different types of food from all over the world, traveling and experiencing new cultures, and swimming on Sundays.
PostFold—How It All Started?
PostFold was conceived when the co-founders, Ashish Gurnani and Aashray Thatai could not find clothes that would work post office. They thought of coming up with a brand where the clothes are so versatile, they can be worn to work, after work, or on a Saturday night!
The idea was germinated when the co-founders, Ashish and Aashray returned to India after pursuing their education. They experienced a dent in the Indian apparel market and analyzed that affordable apparel is low quality and quality apparel is excruciatingly high priced. The most appalling fact being that India is one of the biggest manufacturers of the best brands in the world yet finding high-quality and great-looking apparel is a task. They decided to dig deeper into why luxury brands charge such a high premium even though the designs were not vastly different. They found out even if the fabric used is of a higher quality still the price does not justify the 10X markups. Hence, they came with a business model where they manufacture, and style apparel using high-quality fabrics and keep the fixed costs low and curate clothes with the experienced stylists so that they can suggest attire from “Desk to Dinner”.
PostFold—Products
PostFold offers a wide range of contemporary apparel for men and women. PostFold’s design ideology is simple. It starts with the customers and works backward to uncover their clothing needs to create thoughtful designs.
Each detail in the design has a purpose. After creating the designs, the highest quality materials from fabric to the threads are sourced to create the best and superior quality apparel. PostFold takes care of everything from pattern making to when the finished products are received from the factories.
The company work with the products right from pattern making to when the finished products are received from the factories. Each garment is constructed keeping in mind the highest level of quality. None of the products are just "wear three times and discard". They are made to last. By putting in heart and soul into each design, the company's goal is to make dressing up easy, effortless, and pleasurable.
PostFold—Business Model
PostFold is direct to consumer brand. The company designs sources everything in-house and works with manufacturing partners to give life to its creation. It has eliminated all middlemen from the process so that customers get access to the best quality at honest and real prices. PostFold clothing is available on its own site and apart from it in e-commerce sites like Myntra, Koovs, and Limeroad.
Major USPs of PostFold apparels are-
Fabric: Quality is their highest priority; they source high-quality fabrics like the world’s best quality cotton called Supima Cotton. PostFold is one of the only two retailers in India authorized to sell Supima. This cotton is grown in the US and only 3% of the world’s cotton is worthy of being called Supima.
Fits: Fitting is still a major issue when it comes to online shopping in India, as there are majorly five sizes available. With the help of experienced fit-technicians based on the average Indian body type and the fabric used by PostFold has created a size for every body type.
Mood-based buying: With the help of the stylists, PostFold has created five moods for various situations like Sunday Brunch, Saturday Night, Traveling, etc. It is also planning to add more styles for suiting on various occasions.
PostFold—Challenges & Future
PostFold is currently self-funded.
Startup Challenges
The most challenging part for PostFold has been to stand out in a very crowded market. It sticks to its mission of providing great quality and affordable prices to keep afloat among the competitors. Besides, PostFold is also one of the only few licensed Supima cotton retailers in India. Supima cotton is the softest cotton in the world.
Competitors
Some competitors of PostFold are-
- Andamen
- Cover Story
- March Tee
- Advisors and Mentors
PostFold is growing under the able guidance of Mr. Anoop Thatai (CEO & Joint Managing Director at Orient Craft) and Mr. CP Gurnani (MD and CEO of Tech Mahindra).
Awards
PostFold has been awarded the BW Businessworld Future of Design Awards 2018- Finalist for the Supima® Knit Shirt.
Growth & Future
In the past three years, PostFold has created a niche for itself within affordable fashion while managing end-to-end operations in-house – from manufacturing right up to design while utilizing high-quality fabrics. This not only keeps fixed costs low but also helps ensure that the garments are ethically produced (social audit) as every process can be audited. The Company has been able to achieve a month-on-month growth of almost 35%. PostFold is not only carving a niche for themselves but also coming up strong in a industry dominated by the big horizontal marketplaces.
“At PostFold, we make a conscious effort to ensure that every garment that is manufactured and sold by us is ethically produced. Our goal is not only to ensure the best quality product but also to assure the lives involved in crafting these products are treated ethically and live a comfortable life. Every factory that manufactures for PostFold is first audited and certified for fair trade practices by us. We believe that if the people making our garments are happy and taken care of, the garments coming out of that factory will automatically be of better quality. We personally make sure to visit each factory before we start working with them.”- says Ashish.
Fashion Industry In India
The Indian retail industry witnessed a huge growth curve after the emergence of e-commerce and its impact on the fashion industry is very eminent. The fashion market in India is currently estimated at USD 70 billion, of which only 25% is the organized retail market. E-commerce is a key channel for fashion and the online fashion market is projected to grow 3.5 fold to reach USD 14 billion by 2020.
Also, in 2017, the total number of online transactions was 200 million. This is expected to increase by 65% by 2020. Of the online transactions, 60 million are online fashion shoppers, which are estimated to double by 2020 to about 120 million.
There are many clothing brands that are emerging that have led a huge competition in the clothing industry. The big clothing brands are going to lead the market with healthy competition from the new brands. Let's see what the future has for PostFold.
Leave your comments down below about your experience and take on the emerging clothing brand. We would love to see your comment on our page. Happy Reading.
FAQ's
Who is the owner of PostFold?
PostFold was founded by Aashray Thatai and Ashish Gurnani, two guys from New Delhi, who are both alumni of Northeastern University, Boston.
Who are the mentors of PostFold?
PostFold is growing under the able guidance of Mr. Anoop Thatai (CEO & Joint Managing Director at Orient Craft) and Mr. CP Gurnani (MD and CEO of Tech Mahindra).
What is PostFold's Business Model?
PostFold is direct to consumer brand. The company designs sources everything in-house and works with manufacturing partners to give life to its creation.
Who funds PostFold?
PostFold is currently self-funded.
What is the future for PostFold?
The Company has been able to achieve a month-on-month growth of almost 35%. PostFold is not only carving a niche for themselves but also coming up strong in a industry dominated by the big horizontal marketplaces.
