The brand has experienced a threefold increase in revenue on a year-on-year basis, and its customer base has also tripled
Bengaluru: Since its inception, Tailor & Circus has remained true to its vision of designing extremely comfortable innerwear for men and women. The brand has also forayed into newer categories that cater to specific needs, such as a girl trying out her first bra or a mother beginning her breastfeeding journey. And it has been doing all this while keeping sustainability at the core of its product design choices.
An exciting start
After recognising that it was near impossible to find underwear that did not compromise comfort for aesthetics, aesthetics for softness, or softness for sexuality, Vasanth Sampath, Gaurav Durasamy and Abishek Elango founded Tailor & Circus in 2016. The trio initially found common ground in their goal to make anti-microbial, self-cleaning underwear for astronauts. “But astronauts are just one of the many niche categories we are aiming for. We are also actively researching wheelchair-inclusive underwear, period-focused comfort wear, gender-neutral loungewear and climate-performance travel wear,” explains Vasanth Sampath.
Additionally, the trio had witnessed how hyper-sexualisation and masculinity around underwear negatively impact the way people shop and also lead to a loss of comfort and softness in products. “We are on a mission to change this culture and create comfortable underwear without compromising on quality. Our experience is varied, and our diverse team handles marketing, creatives, manufacturing, research, operations and
management,” adds Sampath.
Along the way
“When we started, we observed that fashion brands portrayed a one-dimensional outlook of beauty through their imagery, and so we set out to create something that real people could relate to,” says Gaurav Durasamy. As a result, Tailor & Circus is the first innerwear brand in India to work with a diverse group of people to celebrate ‘real’ bodies through unedited and unfiltered images.
Product innovation is definitely at the heart of everything at Tailor & Circus. The brand has products for real people of all shapes and sizes. “Ours is a disruptive brand that creates underwear for all, prioritising comfort and protection above everything else. Through our campaigns, visuals and messaging, we seek to celebrate underrepresented body types and actively engage with non-straight-sized members of the community. Our focus is on empowering people to feel validated by what they wear without having their worth come from it. We want to create a world where people are not valued based on their weight, shape or size,” conveys Durasamy.
At Tailor & Circus, the team constantly implements processes to ensure that higher-sized products are never out of stock. The brand has tremendously grown its beyond-XL product range, and it encourages customers to get in touch if their size is not in stock. The product prices are also kept consistent across sizes. “Even though this costs us, it is a price we are willing to pay as we want to convince everyone that all bodies are beautiful,” explains Durasamy.
Looking to the future
Tailor & Circus raised a round of funding in 2021, which helped the brand scale to its current level. “To take our brand ahead in the Indian market, we are looking at a larger funding round towards the end of 2022. We have always focused on maintaining profitability and not on growing at all costs—this has helped us stay on course with the brand’s growth and business plans,” reveals Abishek Elango.
Today, Tailor & Circus has an omnichannel presence across significant e-marketplaces such as Amazon India and Myntra. However, 95% of the brand’s sales come in through its own D2C channel i.e. its website. “Also, we plan to launch a few exclusive brand stores and experience centres in 2023—we currently have none. These apart, we want to build specialisations and address multiple niche groups within the innerwear category.
For example, in the long term, we are aiming to produce period underwear, wheelchair comfort underwear, trans-inclusive underwear, disposable underwear, etc.,” adds Abishek Elango. Of course, considering the brand’s expertise in making unisex, body-positive and comfortable underwear, this dream could become a reality sooner than expected.
Brownie Points
- Tailor & Circus is known for producing underwear that is as comfortable as it is sexy.
- The brand is all for sustainability. From its materials to its packaging, Tailor & Circus always makes responsible choices for customers.
- Tailor & Circus has a presence on select e-marketplaces, which drive less than 10% of the brand’s overall sales.
- Organic and direct channels drive 40% of the brand’s total clientele due to its strong
community presence and product stickiness. - The brand’s revenue has grown 3x (year on year). Its customer base has
grown 3x too.
First appeared in The India D2C Yearbook 2022
