During his stint at the R&D department of a leading German company, he noticed the problem of overconsumption and its direct connection with the fashion industry. This desire led to the establishment of Kaamna — a brand that sells everything from laptop bags to stoles- in the year 2023.
In a conversation with ETDigital, Lalpuria talks about the idea behind creating Kaamna, the sustainability journey and the speed bumps along the way. Edited excerpts:
Economic Times (ET): What was the idea behind Kaamna?
Mangalam Lalpuria (ML): I started working on Kaamna in June 2021, after I returned from Germany. I wanted to pursue my dream of starting my venture. I knew that whatever it was going to be, it had to be in favour of the planet. This led me to combine my passion for the fashion industry and my educational expertise in engineering materials to start Kaamna as a conscious luxury fashion label.
It took me exactly two years to research, develop, manufacture, and launch the brand online. The brand’s soft launch was in June 2023.
ET: How did you zero in on making products from cork and hemp? Are they a better alternative?
ML: After understanding the implications of carbon neutrality, we launched premium luxury products made of sustainable materials. Cork is a natural biodegradable material obtained from the outer sheath of cork oak trees. Cultivating these trees assists in balancing the environmental conditions as they act as major carbon sinks. Its fabric is a unique alternative to animal leather and petroleum products due to its extraordinary properties of being lightweight, water-resistant, fire-retardant, elastic and antimicrobial.The other raw material is hemp. The carbon-negative natural material requires 1/20th of cotton’s water consumption to grow, and half of its land area. It is an all-season, breathable fabric whose durability and softness make it an ecologically sound option for the fashion industry.
Mangalam Lalpuria, Founder, Kaamna.
As we wanted to dabble in the accessories space, these materials are great options to impart durability and a luxurious hand feel. Its interesting patterns and textures help the customer differentiate their choices wherever they are carrying them.
ET: Where does the manufacturing take place and what does the process involve?
ML: All Kaamna products are made in India and in government-recognised star export houses — except for stoles, which our own team of artisans make in our workshop in Bihar.
The export houses cater to the biggest and the best brands in the world. Getting them on board was one of the biggest challenges we faced. The quality we wanted can be achieved only at manufacturing facilities that have the right machinery and skilled workforce. All the factories we decided to work with were internally audited and rated on various social, environmental and quality factors.
To give an example of what the process involves, we finalise the design and send it to the factory, with detailed technical sheets. The factory prepares a prototype using cheaper material. Once that is approved, they prepare samples. One sample takes 7-10 days, and multiple ones are made. So the whole process takes months.
ET: What is the price range of the products? Does sustainability make it costlier?
ML: Products start from Rs 2,500 and go on till Rs 40,000. Making products sustainable makes them costlier in the short term, not if you look at the complete life cycle of the product from a long-term perspective.
One of the reasons for the cost is the difficulty in obtaining authentic raw materials at a mass scale. The materials we use are quite novel globally. The outer raw materials are at least 3X more expensive than the most expensive Indian leather in the market. Also, the scale of production, along with the detailing and craftsmen skills required per design, play an important role in determining the pricing.
Another reason would be if you look at the factories following social norms and governance, their workers and employees are paid a fair salary as opposed to many factories that do not care about the welfare of the employees. This increases the labour costs and thereby the product cost.
Sustainability is a mindset and a lifestyle. We do not just focus on choosing alternative, sustainable outer fabrics, but try to look at all the ESG (environmental, social and governance) principles.
ET: What is the market size of such products? How do we make such products more attractive to a wider audience?
ML: The luxury and sustainability markets are very niche markets. The size of fashion & lifestyle accessories for a forecast period of 2020 to 2025 is Rs 285.6 billion.
The company’s stoles are made by Madhubani artisans in Bihar.
It helps immensely when a known face, an influencer or a celebrity endorses a sustainable lifestyle, or makes a responsible choice, or even just talks about it. In today’s time, this seems like a really effective way. Another way is how you present the product to the audience. There ought to be a balance between pricing and premium appeal. While today’s audience is open to sustainable options, they don’t want it to burn a hole in their pockets.
ET: What are the limitations of sustainable products over mass-produced items?
ML: Sustainable products can be mass-produced. But in the fashion industry, this has not kicked in on a global scale. Mass producing sustainable products might seem like an irony because of the entire fast fashion and slow fashion debate. However, if we really want to make a change through sustainable products, it has to be done on a larger scale.
The bigger brands release a sustainable collection occasionally because the word ‘sustainability’ is a complex concept and requires intervention from all ends.
For the fashion industry, specifically, sustainability might lead to an increase in product prices as the workers would need to be paid in a fair manner and not like slaves. Sustainable colouring agents are more expensive.
ET: Do you have any plans to export?
ML: Definitely. We will open worldwide shipping on our website by the next financial year. We have already enrolled ourselves on some global marketplaces like Amazon US, UK & Canada and Etsy. We are in talks to appoint stockists in Australia and the UAE.
ET: What were the challenges you faced when you started and what are the challenges now?
ML: One of the biggest hurdles when we started was on the manufacturing and product development front. I changed 26 manufacturing facilities to make the products.
We wanted to manufacture in India and in socially compliant factories that levelled with our brand ideology. However, such compliance is available only at huge export houses that supply to the major brands of the world. For them, we were, and still are, a side-revenue hustle.
Current challenges centre on educating customers on what sustainability means. This is so difficult as every brand calls itself sustainable. This makes it difficult for brands trying to do the right thing, as the customer gets confused about the concept.
Another challenge is the lack of knowledge about the materials we use. For years, customers have been accustomed to buying lower-quality products because that is what is available in the Indian market. This has mangled their quality expectations from a brand. With the rise of luxury shopping malls and international brands, this is also getting addressed slowly.
ET: How has business been for the company?
ML: The brand has received quite a good response since its soft launch in June. Our products are exclusively available through our website. We have been able to ship over 100 pieces till now, generating close to Rs 6-lakh in sales in 5 months.
