This kind of a flight in fashion, style, and product can be symbolised by Ridhi’s jacket saree, for which she gets repeat customers. It can be worn over jeans, skirts, even a dress, and offers multiple uses for one garment. The dress easily becomes an investment piece. Like her multivaried dresses, her business model too has evolved, changed, and matured over the past six years, since she launched her own label.

Quite quickly in life, Ridhi realised that the pulls and pressures in design were different from other professions. For example, she drew the distinction between business management and fashion. “Frankly, a lot of people think managing accounts is tough, but I would say that designing is far more stressful as you are always under pressure to create something new, two times a year, sometimes even more,” says Ridhi.

On top of that was the competition from successful incumbents. She decided to address the gap between hi-end designer wear, and affordable luxury. Hence, her price points are between 30,000 and 100,000. She sought a growing lucrative market, that of the non-resident Indians (NRIs), who crave for Indian wear on special occasions, especially weddings.

“We had swarms of NRIs coming. It opened the entire Middle-East market from Bahrain, Oman to Kuwait. Though I have entered Bangkok and Jakarta, I do want to look at Hong Kong in the future,” she adds. The products need to be universal as the customers are global. Ridhi offers everything from capes to lehengas, styled interestingly.

But she admits that the NRIs are challenging to deal with, compared to Indian clients. The former expect complete perfection. “There are many glitches in designing and shipping ensembles as they are all hand-made and anything can happen during transportation. The costs increase when they need alterations as the entire ensemble has to be opened and shipped back, making it time-consuming,” she explains.

In addition, the local market comes with its own set of financial issues. “The problem with the Delhi market is that the cost of manufacturing is expensive, as labor is hard to find and keep. I have realized that the customers always want value-for money and if they get that, they will come back to you,” she explains.

To expand the business, to look at new horizons, to seek new destinations, Ridhi has further tweaked her business model. For one, her signature has become the immersive and research-based experiment with Dori embroidery. “A lot of designers use zardosi, sequins, and age-old vintage techniques that are laborious. I think what I like about Dori work is that it’s subtle yet effective and never OTT (over-the-top), and helps you to craft endearing elements on a garment,” she says.

In addition, Ridhi is working on brand extensions and collaborations. “The beauty industry interests me, and I would like to work with a cosmetic brand to create face masks as well as lifestyle products,” she explains. Her husband, Akshay Sekhri, shares the same passion for design. His company, Pomegranate, works with four verticals—interiors, architecture, art, and event decor. “We are moving ahead and exploring occasion wear this year, but not for the bride, rather her friends and family as we don’t aspire to do heavy lehengas,” she says.

Another sea-change in Ridhi’s fashion-view is her entry into prêt, a genre that has failed to take off in a trousseau-obsessed India. Still, the potential is huge and waiting to be tapped. Just to throw a few staggering figures at the readers, the wedding market is worth 100,000 crores, and growing at 25-30%. Most Indians spend between ₹500,000 to ₹50 million on weddings, and at least 10 million marriages are held annually. The share of wedding wear will only increase in the country, even if no one here has the prowess of a Vera Wang, an Oscar De la Renta, or even a Monique Lhuillier.

“Prêt is the future of fashion. I think that most collaborations have failed because the marketing wasn’t effective. Once that is sorted out, the sky is the limit. I want to explore this new terrain as I would like to see whether I can do mass production. This is where most labels having a small infrastructure fail. I feel TierII cities have enormous untapped potential and I want to address it with a robust e-commerce platform,” she concludes.