This Mom Entrepreneur From Kerala Has Started A Maternity Clothes Brand
Making the experience of motherhood even more special, Purple Flaunt’s founder and mompreneur Ruby Vishwanath is here with an Indian maternity brand.
How it began
Before her business stint in the garment sector, Ruby pursued a Diploma course in Fashion Designing from JD Institute, Bangalore, in 1998. A year later, she started working for different exporters in India. During this work experience she started to understand the merchandise industry. Advancing in her career, Ruby became a part of a UK retailer, Mother Care, and served there for 10 – 12 years.
It was during her tenth year at Mother Care that Ruby decided to become a mom entrepreneur from a salaried working mom. With her knowledge in the maternity segment, the founder was confident about her business sand execution plan.
“During my pregnancy, there weren’t available, comfortable maternity clothes. Understanding the need and considering my interest, I launched Purple Flaunt, a maternity clothes brand, in 2019. It came as a challenging task for me to design pre- and post-pregnancy apparel, as maternity is a niche category in our country.”
About the maternity clothes brand
Ruby invested her own money in Purple Flaunt, starting with 40 – 45 SKUs. Vishwanath herself is the authority for the clothes design, as well, of choosing the fabric for the brand. While she manages the overall business, her husband takes charge of the website and valuably contributes, in more ways than one, to the growth of the brand. The team consists of a marketing person, certain freelancers who manage social media and graphics, and manufacturers.
The maternity clothes brand was successfully able to earn 60% profit within a year. Selling more than 800 – 900 products since their launch, they now have 70 – 75 SKUs available for their customers
Targeting all tier cities, they have products ranging between Rs. 399 – Rs. 1699. Online purchases can be made from their website, alongside other major e-commerce websites. They have an offline presence in ‘Toys R Us’ store, as well.
“Purple Flaunt is constantly filling a gap in the maternity industry. Warranting comfort and fashion, we have our best-selling product, the non-zipped nursing top. Clothes with zipped and starched fabrics are harsh on a baby’s sensitive skin, and uncomfortable for the mothers.”
The market
Purple Flaunt processes orders from almost every Indian state, but majorly from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala. Ruby believes, the businesses that cater to a niche industry, if remain focused, can harbour a good amount of market share.
“I believe that every business takes 2-3 years in formulating a vision for the future. Until then, strategising and achieving short-term goals help in the sustaining the business. No brand can become an overnight success, it requires both, time and effort.”
Entrepreneurial journey
In any business the first customer is always memorable. For Ruby, it was her mother.
“I believe that that my mother is the only one who could give me an honest review and a frank opinion about my creations; it mattered a lot to me.”
The businesswoman takes after her working mother, who became a role model for Ruby to keep working after marriage. As well, her husband who is a support, always stood by her firmly through thick and thin, for which she is grateful. Even more, her in-laws believed in her entrepreneurship more than she did, which to the Boss Mom is a great feeling.
Sharing a piece of advice for fellow mothers, Ruby says,
“Multitasking can get stressful, maybe push us to give up at some point. But when I think about not working, it fuels me to work even more. Personally, I prefer completing tasks within a set time frame, keeping work less stressful. Motherhood and entrepreneurship can go hand in hand in a perfect blend, if managed wisely.”
