From iron-clad couture to versatile prêt, Shantanu & Nikhil aspire to be India's first designer maison

Indian designers have always been about ceremonial dressing and occasion wear – ornate lehengas, saris and sherwanis. Their focus on niches from a business perspective became their biggest disadvantage. They were unable to scale. Indian luxury consumers reached out to these designers only for their trousseau, but when it came to lifestyle needs, they preferred global brands such as Armani, Chanel or Dior. Designers Shantanu Mehra and Nikhil Mehra claim that they realised early on that the only way to grow was to democratise fashion. In fact, theirs was the first designer label which got corporate funding when Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) picked up a 51% stake in 2019 for an estimated Rs 60 crore.

In the last five years their business has grown by Rs 350% - from Rs 19 crore in FY21 to Rs 85.4 crore in FY24. From just four stores in 2019, the designers now have 22 stores. They have not just launched their prêt brand, S&N (which plays in the bridge-to-luxury category), they have also incubated Shantanu Nikhil Cricket Club (SNCC), their luxury sports lifestyle brand. “It is sports meeting lifestyle, it’s not performance-based. It is purely lifestyle and we have very sophisticated polos, t-shirts, joggers and sporty jackets,” explains Shantanu Mehra. His vision is to become India’s first designer maison.

Getting funded by ABFRL has clearly given Shantanu and Nikhil wings to fulfil their dream of becoming a maison. “When Kumar (Birla) said that he would take care of the supply chain and asked us to focus on building the business, it was music for us. Things such as sourcing, manufacturing, distribution never came easy to any Indian designer, that’s why we were iron clad with couture.”

“As far as capacities goes, we get 100% white labelling on S&M, only the sampling happens in our atelier. The sourcing of fabrics, whether it is from China or Italy, we get that vault now. Around 60%-65% of our sourcing happens from the knowledge we get from ABFRL. We have a plethora of things to choose from. We also get a price advantage. All of those things which were never a part of an Indian designer’s fantasy world, started to happen,” Shantanu further explains.

 When Shantanu talks about democratising fashion, his intent isn’t to do fast fashion. “We are slow fashion. An average bill price of Rs 35,000 is still luxury. It is important to understand that there is a huge shift happening in the luxury market, which until now has been governed by wedding in India. The luxury aspirants are moving away from the baggage of exclusivity to brands which have story-telling, there is a sense of inclusion, there is premiumisation of experience. That’s where the new India is moving and we need to capture that market.” He says that global brands occupy the mind space of Indians looking for luxury lifestyle solutions and it is high time Indian designer labels come up with solutions.  

From Couture to A House of Brands

When the designers started to incubate S&N (their bridge-to-luxury prêt brand), the idea was to look at categories that could fulfil a groom’s wardrobe beyond his trousseau and that included shirts, trousers, contemporary waist coats which had zippers and big patch pockets and shackets (a hybrid between shirts and jackets). They also launched their signature sari gowns and dresses for women, as well as bags and laptop bags.

While Shantanu & Nikhil couture outfits are upwards of Rs 5 lakh, S&N is priced between Rs 15,000 and Rs 64,000. “It stands out as a bridge-to-luxury brand which obviously breaks away from all the notions of ceremonial wear,” says Shantanu.

The designer is excited about his sports lifestyle brand SNCC which is currently available at the S&N store, but the plan is to launch exclusive SNCC stores. “No Indian designer has ventured into a sports meeting lifestyle brand. If there is a Ralph Lauren for the world, there has to be a SNCC coming from India.”

“The idea of S&N and SNCC is to be relevant to where the market is moving. Money is falling in the hands of younger people who are transforming the way India is looked at. All designer brands have to have the responsibility of understanding where the market is moving and how can they have an access to that.”

India-First Strategy

Shantanu & Nikhil have no plans of setting up stores in global fashion capital such as Paris, Milan or New York. At least not in the immediate future. “Even before thinking of going global, one needs to be astute in how you see your country. The day we feel that we have been successful in migrating the Indian customer from a PRL (Polo Ralph Lauren) or Brooks Brothers or all those international brands to a S&N, I feel that will be the natural progression towards going global.”

“Our strategy is more India, we will make our headway globally, but it will be a slow process.”