Srinivas dhoddu, 28, a graduate in fashion design and development from london college of fashion, started chlorophile, a fashion-conscious brand for the younger audience. Dhoddu talks to images business of fashion about his new eco-friendly brand, which was started with a deep sense of social responsibility. Sourcing materials with eco-friendly and fair trade principles, chlorophile also produces one-of-a-kind retail certified organic denims.
Tell us about the inception of Chlorophile.
According to my observation, I noticed that a lot of organic brands are well received and appreciated in India. The idea of sustainable or organic fashion is setting in the market. So Chlorophile, the apparel brand, was started one-and-a-half years ago in Bengaluru. During my stay in the UK, I found that the designs, cuts and style available were quite basic and plain for the fashion-conscious youth. When we launched our brand through online for the UK and Indian customer, we received a good response that made us climb to the next step to work on a bigger scale. Recently, we came out with a collection, which was more dynamic and at par with other high-street brands that are touted to be fashionable. Now we are rigorously working on the creative for the next collection and are also expanding our retail presence in the UK and India.
We have a design team based in London but for our next collection, we will be working closely with our new design team in Bengaluru. Moreover, it will take us 2–3 years to break even.
What is the USP of the brand?
Chlorophile is a fashionable, eco-friendly and an affordable brand. Now-a-days youngsters want more fashionable and chic stuff, and our brand offers just that.
Are consumers in India aware of the bene? ts of organic clothing?
Not really, but people are beginning to show interest. The organic food category is certainly growing. There are exclusive organic stores in almost every area and city of the country. This could be because the consumption is direct. However, when it comes to apparel, the growth is slow.
Moreover, people are creating awareness about the conventional method of farming, which is hazardous for farmers as well as for the environment. Overall, when people have shifted to organic food, they will also gradually shift to organic clothing.
Which age group are you targeting?
We have noticed that people who are in their 40’s or people above that age bracket have the money to spend. They consume a lot of organic products and care a lot more for the environment now. Likewise, the younger generation also wants to contribute towards the environment but they do not have that kind of wealth to splurge. Therefore, we are targeting this younger segment who are between the age group of 20-35 years as our customers.
From where do you source your fabrics?
We source out fabrics from different regions. Some are sourced from Ahmedabad, others from Tamil Nadu and Mumbai. Also, there are special fabrics that come from Ahmedabad like the organic bamboo, which we do not get from anywhere else. We make use of fabrics like khadi, organic cotton, silk,bamboo blends and organic blends in our creations. Organic linen with bamboo blends is also quite popular in our collections. Now we are planning to experiment with wool and hemp. Our product range is manufactured from Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Tirupur. We only tie up with factories that are GOTS certi?ed and those that know how to manufacture organic products, as these factories follow certain standards while manufacturing.
Which are the emerging markets for organic clothing?
The brand has received tremendous response in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata. So if the brand were looking at expansion, it would be in places like Bengaluru and Mumbai. Currently, we have tied up with Mother Earth for retailing our products. Our product range is available at all the outlets of Mother Earth in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata. Besides Mother Earth outlets, Chlorophile is also present at independent boutiques in Bengaluru and Chennai. At the moment, we are in the process of establishing more tie-ups with other retailers.Our association with Mother Earth was due to the similarity in the brands’ philosophy. Therefore, we look out for like-minded retailers to scale our reach. It is a little difficult for us as there are very few such retailers in India, and we do not want to enter mainstream retailing with Shopper’s Stop or Lifestyle.
What are the major hurdles that you have come across so far?
When an idea turns into reality, it has to go through various stages. Furthermore, the idea or the brand has to be in sync with the company’s theme, branding and finances. These different strategies need to be understood and addressed. Apart from these, marketing and advertising initiatives are always a challenge.
Tell us about your product range.
We offer products for both men and women. We specialise in jersey and denim. As of now, the kind of product range that we offer include T-shirts, jersey tops for men and women, denims, casual trousers and shorts. The T-shirts are priced at `900 to Rs. 1,700 and tops between Rs.1,600 and Rs.1,900. The denims start from Rs.2,500 and go up to Rs.3,800, while the shorts range from Rs.2,000 to Rs.3,500. We want to expand our present product range but it will depend on how we perform this year and the next year. We also plan to open our own exclusive stand-alone outlet but again it will depend upon the growth of the business.
What is the growth rate that you expect in the next cuple of years?
We plan to grow at 30 percent year-on-year from where we now are.
