Today you are going to know the story behind the famous Suta brand. If you have seen their Instagram feed you will know why I absolutely love their work. The story of two sisters who were going somewhere else but decided to go for entrepreneurship.A story you will love. Women entrepreneurs are special. I write a lot about mompreneurs and women entrepreneurs because they inspire me to do more.
How did Suta start?
Tell me the back story behind Suta Bombay. How did you start? Who helped you? What was the inspiration?A lot of questions. But I am curious.
Suta
Suta is the most humble product we meet and live with every day. It means thread. Su- Sujata and Ta- Taniya were elated when they discovered the magic of the syllables in their names. It feels that it’s meant to be. Silly childhood game of selling bags made out of handkerchief suddenly started looking like a signal. Su and Ta always had a special liking for the countless and varied forms of art and culture across India. Even after spending many years in the corporate world, their passion never abated. Thus in 2015, fighting many odds, Suta was born.
The brand SUTA is a fresh design house that centers on creating a range of attire with a blend of tradition and contemporaneity. Suta’s crafted inspirations pay attention to details and the designs add elegance, boldness and grace. SUTA or thread, the basis of the brand’s inspiration is a reminder of the craft traditions of India. Like a pure creation that begins with a needle and thread, SUTA offers novelty each time it is experienced.
Suta is the maker of simple and humble designs using our very own and known fabrics to make our souls sing with joy. Artisans from all around the country create raw and uninhibited designs using their ancestral weaving processes. Suta talks to tradition and weaves its own creation. We salute their craftsmanship and are thankful to them for keeping this art alive. Suta products are just a token of representation of the innumerous souls who have touched the fabric. We aspire to keep the undying spirit of artistry alive.
Who is your target audience?
Our target audience is anyone who adores handloom. If there is respect for hand made products and the weavers who spend so much of their time to skillfully create Suta products, then that person is our target audience.
How difficult is to be sisters and biz partners (The Su and Ta of Suta).
We are like extensions of each other- one soul with 4 hands, two legs and two heads. We don’t think we are two separate entities running the business. We literally complete each other’s sentences and also plug in the gaps unknowingly. This couldn’t have been better that we both found the same parents to land in earth.
Tell us what each of you bring to the partnership?
Ta’s left brain cells are more active and Su’s Right.
Women can’t be friends !True or false?
Absolutely false! Women can be best of friends. As we know Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. Our makes are different and workings are poles apart. We lot, think a lot, can multitask more and are perceived to be more complicated. So, with our complex multi dimension when we find a right match we bond for life.
Tell us about your professional background.
Your very own Su and Ta are designers by choice and sheer passion. Su did her engineering from CET Bhubaneswar and MBA from IIFT Delhi. She then worked for 6 years across the Essar group and Jindal group. Ta did her engineering from NIT Rourkela and MBA from IIM Lukhnow. She worked for 3 years across the TATA group and IBM.
How many biz do you manage?
The most important one is our home and second would be Suta. That’s all is our life about now.
What makes Suta special?
That inexplicable thing that sets Ma’s food apart from even the top chefs of the world, that makes a girl feel more secure in her dad’s company than in the company of 10 trained commandos. We call it ‘love’. The love Su and Ta have for each Suta product is what sets SUTA apart. Each design is unique and has an inspiration. The final product that you witness is dipped in love and that shows in the photographs which Ta clicks and mostly Su models.
We like the taste of our home grown brinjal to the ones available in the market. We prefer putting up an imperfect rangoli to the perfect one using stencils. We have worn khadi dresses stitched by Ma on our birthdays rather than a Cinderella gown as worn by other kids. We have grown up seeing ma and nani wear handlooms and we just fell in love with it even before we were born. The sheer amount of time and love put in a handloom weave is immense. So, when we decided to start Suta, handloom topped our chart.
What are the different products which you sell?
We don’t work with a lot of glitters. Our audience are people who love the word “subtle’. Sarees occupy the center stage, followed by long skirts, kurtas, tops, blouses, scarves and lehengas.
How do you source them?
Tie- ups and partnerships would not be a true representation of the nature of our relationship with our gifted artisans. We are very lucky to be part of the entire process of creation of these fabulous handloom weaves. We work with handloom weavers, our Suta magicians we call them, from various parts of India. West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh is where we started our journey from. We would love to meet many more magicians and spread their inspirational work.
What are your 5 best tips for women entrepreneurs?
Amongst every emotion that one would experience, it’s love that will make one win hearts. So, just keep doing what you love. Sometimes, you need to step out of the lovely world you have created and think if this is what you would want your past to look like? If yes- everything is right, if no- you have got some additional task at hand to work on.
Few tips- Trust your passion and go with what you strongly feel for, Work with people who you can trust with your own life, Innovate- Don’t let circumstances kill your creativity, Don’t procrastinate- even if the step seems very big don’t shy away, & Be thorough with your accounts,
How do you manage social media marketing of Suta?
When you lay your story without inhibitions, you draw like-minded souls. That’s how we grew on Instagram and Facebook. Without marketing, within a span of 2.5 months we have increased our followers on Instagram by 26 times.
Your dream with Suta
We want Suta to be known for its quality and love. We want people to associate us with handloom, fresh designs and faith.
Your family how do they help or hinder?
Both of us are married and have been blessed with a super cooperative co-family. Siddharth, Su’s husband and Aditya Ta’s husband have had many roles to play in the initial phase- our accountant, driver, porter and even content writers. Ours parents are part of Suta since day one. They were initially hesitant of our idea of doing business but later offered all they could.
You can find Suta here :
https://www.instagram.com/suta_bombay/
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