Aqaya is an e-commerce website that allows customers to design their clothes thus empowering them to be able to create products customized to their taste. Shrishti and Gaurav started this with "Our concept lies in the belief that style is personal and fit is fundamental," says Shrishti. They work closely with various emerging designers and give them a platform to showcase their designs and collections. “This is a powerhouse platform for anything that can be custom-made targeting clients who don’t mind paying a little extra to get a unique creation made just for them. We look at our customers as bold individuals who want to express their personality and have very specific preferences,” says Gaurav.
Although, they have started with only clothing, the idea is to expand into a lifestyle brand. They will be launching our first range of accessories and bags shortly! The process is simple, pick a style, customize it to your taste (by adding custom lettering, appliqués and alterations), love it and buy it! We asked Shrishti what made her start this, and she said “Taking a stock of dresses to the fitting room, and coming out without even a single one that I liked, was something that really bothered me. It made me wonder about how much resources, labor, time, capital are wasted into making clothes that people might not even like, dispose in a short time, or have hanging in their closet forever. I wanted to fix them, hence AQAYA."Based out of Lucknow, they are partner with emerging designers and give them a platform to showcase their designs. "There are amazingly talented designers everywhere but they do not have access to a broad customer market. We want to give them a bigger platform to promote themselves," says Gaurav. They work with designers throughout the country and plan to expand into offline marketing with the help of Brand Ambassadors in every region.
Started in April 2014, Aqaya is one of a kind fashion tech start-up. With the customization software being their biggest asset, they allow users to alter sleeves, lengths, pocket and collar designs, add embroidery. “We aren’t trying to be ‘commercial’, our goal is to reach out to the bold customers who want exclusive and personalized products. Once all our features are live, customers will truly value the unique user experience that we are aiming to provide and understand the underlying value in our proposition,” says Shrishti.
Shrishti’s message for future entrepreneurs is an important one. She says, “When starting out you need to really be smart about who and what you invest in- be it time or money.”
Imagine, creating clothes yourself, choosing exactly how you’d like them, adding your personality to them and making them your own- wouldn’t that make it more special for you? Wouldn’t you use it for longer? Wouldn’t that make shopping a more meaningful experience?
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