Meet the duo - Born as sisters, turned as Co-founders

Sujata(Su) and Taniya(Ta), the two sisters after their graduation were restless in these career paths and wanted to create something new on their own. Then comes the idea of 'SUTA,' which was a photography business. Later, with the same name, they started a clothing brand which became a huge success within no time. They were famous in social media platforms too showcasing their work and models. In an exclusive conversation with Hans India, the sisters share about their brand and journey. Let's have a look into it.

Tell us about your journey?

Like most people, Taniya and I both dove into the corporate pool soon after our education. I am an alumnus of CET Bhubaneshwar and IIFT Delhi, and was engaged with Essar Group, Jindal Group, and IIT Bombay for seven years. Ta holds an engineering degree in ceramics from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, and an MBA from IIM, Lucknow. She was associated with IBM as an associate consultant, worked as a production manager at Tata Refractories, and was a marketing consultant with Seed Fund's investee firm. But both of us were restless in these career paths – we wanted to create something of our own, an enterprise that would have a real, tangible impact on the world we live in.

Interestingly, Suta isn't our first venture as co-founders. Ta is passionate about photography and we started a photography business together – I was the model and the clothes I wore were our own designs, with the fabric sourced from local vendors and stitched by our neighbour tailor. Over time, we realised that our designs were attracting more attention than our photography service, and we decided to delve deeper into apparel. When brain storming what our first product would be, we thought back to our fondest memories from early childhood, of visiting our ancestral home when we would play in the courtyard where our grandmother's cotton sarees were hung out to dry. The softness of the fabric and how good it felt had stayed with us. Our father's transferable job had taken us across the country during our formative years, giving us the invaluable opportunity to learn more about India's rich textile tradition and the hands that create these fabrics.

The growth of our brand has also enabled us to support a larger community of weavers and offer them a steady source of employment. From starting out with two weavers, in the span of just seven years, we've expanded to 17,000. Our sarees have been worn by major celebrities including Madhuri Dixit and VidyaBalan, and it fills us with pride to how far our dream has come.

You started your production in West Bengal. You have your store in Mumbai. But your heart is in Odisha. So what inspired you to come to Hyderabad?

Growing up, Sujata and Taniya often travelled to Hyderabad for their holidays, and fell in love with the city. Interestingly, many years later, Hyderbad was one of the most requested locations for our travelling Suta Bazaar exhibitions. And each time we've visited, the response has been overwhelming. We've received so much love from the city and we continue to be inspired by the natural beauty, history, food and the overall vibe here. In many ways, setting up a store in Hyderabad felt like a natural next step for Suta and we're so excited to see what the future holds.

How did your love for sarees begin?

Growing up, Sujata and Taniya watched women in their home wear sarees on a daily basis and with great ease. When working in the corporate space, they often wore sarees to work and were dismayed when their colleagues assumed that they were headed or returning to a religious ceremony or were celebrating a special occasion because of their attire. That inspired them to try to reclaim the saree as a garment that suitable for every day, casual and work-wear. The kind of sarees they explored was influenced by their nostalgic memories of soft, handwoven mul cotton.

Suta has a huge network of weavers. How do the two of you manage that?

When we started out, they were keen to work directly with weavers to better understand their craft, support them, and develop this into a harmonious ecosystem. However, we were met with a lot of resistance when they started out since many of the weavers were uncertain about their inexperience and lack of a relevant background. In fact, we had to work long and hard before they finally convinced two weavers to create their designs.

Suta has been very story-driven and you have nearly half a million followers on Instagram. How do you manage that?

Much of Suta's marketing success can be attributed to our strong social media presence, which draws on themes and imagery rooted in nostalgia, while also acknowledging contemporary trends. Our imagery and underlying messaging has appealed to our target segment, namely the modern Indian working woman between 18 to 35 years of age, who takes pride in her own distinctive style. Through our authentic storytelling on Facebook and Instagram, we have been successful in reviving this traditional garment in contemporary wardrobes. The distinctive visual imagery of our sarees, which is quite different from those of any other saree or ethnic wear brands, combined with our lucid storytelling about each saree, has helped to build a follower base of more than 500,000 on Instagram. The products we create and our ability to attract an audience that values such products have ensured a strong product-market fit.

Both of you are sisters but how is your relationship as a business partners?

As sisters and co-founders, we've grown together and continue to learn a lot from each other every day. We're each other's strongest support systems and sounding boards for new ideas and plans. Whenever it comes to making big, unnerving decisions or undertaking major projects, each of us looks to the other to derive strength and be inspired – we thus consistently bring out the best in each other.