The Brand that understands women - B:Kind

A great cocktail of rich indian fabric with the elegant western designs gave birth to B:Kind, a fashion and lifestyle brand for the modern Indian women. Founded in 2010 by Vidhi Dalal, this fusion fashion brand caters women who would be comfortable transitioning from ethnic to western wear. The brand caters women of all ages and sizes and is specially designed for Indian body types, to provide them a better blend of International trends and world-class quality. B:Kind currently is a team of over 50 employees, present in 1200+ stores pan-India, and aims to reach out to every woman seeking to be a pathbreaker in her own stride.

Speaking on the current growth, Vidhi Dalal, the Founder and Creative Director of B:Kind, says, “We are currently supplying to over 1200 Multi Brand Outlets (MBO) via a distribution channel with agents and distributors. We are also available through 30 Globus and 2 Lulu Cochin stores via the Large Format Outlet Channel (LFS). Lastly, we are supplying to over 14 marketplaces in India and retailing through our very own e-commerce portal.”

Having studied fashion at a very young age, Vidhi had always been creatively inclined with a sincere passion for fashion. Having interacted with women who were lifestyle transitioners for their respective families, she knew very early that these were the women she wanted her brand to cater to.

Starting on a B2B model, B:Kind has recently shifted some focus to B2C by launching its own ecommerce platform in the beginning of 2019. With minimal market spends, the brand sees 20-30 orders per day on its platform. B:Kind also exports its clothes to Lulu, Label 24 in Dubai, and Blue Age, and Rina in Saudi. The startup claims to have seen an average growth rate of around 20-30 percent year on year. In 2015, Vidhi was joined by her sister, Shimul Shah, who is currently managing Operations and Marketing. Before joining her sister she had worked as a consultant with Ernst & Young for over six years.

Speaking on the USP of B:Kind, Shimul Shah says, “There are brands that reach out to the urban women and then there are brands that reach out to the woman rooted in the Indian culture. However, we want to be the subtle, kind support system for the aspiring women who want to gradually transition from their ethnic choices to a modern sensibility.”

From this year onwards, B:Kind will have a very strategic way forward, hence to scale their business to the next level they have the following things in mind:

- Introducing 2 separate lines with different price points

- Wholesale products will be more cost-effective with quick turnaround in design

- LFS (Luxury Fashion and Style) to be more organized & trendy, retailed as a capsule collection

- Focus on the high demand & margin, e-commerce segment on the B:Kind platform & all other platforms

Shimul Shah concludes: “Today we see a predominant shift towards ethnic fusion by traditional brands in the last 5 years due to demand for modern styles & fabrics by Indian women of all age groups, hence the opportunity in the fusion space is tremendous. There are very few players in the ‘western ethnic fusion’ category, especially at the premium and economy price points. Hence it gives us an edge over ‘design’ which plays a very important role.”