SAMPLE PREVIEW-Ms. Dhiju Anoob and Ms. Nandni Girish, CoFounder at Purecloth.co

SAMPLE PREVIEW

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?

Ms. Dhiju Anoob and Ms. Nandni Girish: Ms. Dhiju Anoob and Ms. Nandni Girish met each other at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Bangalore. As mothers, we struggled constantly replacing their kid's clothes as they outgrew them and was deeply concerned with the value lost with disposing of clothes that were only worn for a short time.

Dhiju has experienced challenges in her childhood wearing clothes that were a few sizes too big to accommodate for her growth. She absolutely despised this loose fit clothing. When she became a mother, she realized that kids outgrow clothes incredibly fast. That's when it hit her - this isn't just a problem for her, it's a problem for all kids out there. Nandini recalls "My daughter changed 7 sizes in the first 2 years, and we disposed of close to 200 outfits."

In 2020, we left our high-paying jobs to pursue the dream and re-invent kid's clothing. PureCloth.Co started with a simple purpose driven mission - to offer grow-with-me clothes that were designed for extended use, created using safe and comfortable materials. By providing sustainable and practical clothing options for kids, we hope to reduce waste and make a meaningful and a positive impact to our environment and the world.

Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Purecloth.co?

Ms. Dhiju Anoob and Ms. Nandni Girish: Our purpose-driven mission lays the foundation in creating timeless designs with a positive impact on the world our children will inherit. Today PureCloth.Co follows circular design principles where products are designed to last longer, can be repaired, reused, recycled, and materials used are non-toxic and environmentally friendly.

We source the best organic cotton, handwoven, and naturally dyed fabrics for our designs. Our product line includes a range of clothing, accessories, and gift sets that cater to newborns all the way up to 12-year-olds, ensuring that our designs offer utmost comfort and are accessible to everyone who values sustainable fashion.

Great Companies: What makes Purecloth.co different from hundreds of other similar service providers?

Ms. Dhiju Anoob and Ms. Nandni Girish: At PureCloth.co, we are reinventing how kid’s clothes are made! Our journey begins from the pure soil to pure garment closing the loop.

Kids outgrow their clothes quickly, so parents spend a lot of time & money to buy kids clothing. The clothes are used only for a short time & sent to landfill or get burnt which leads to enormous waste!

• Used more and made to be made again – To extend usage, our “Grow-with-me” collections applies the art of design featuring extendable outfits that grows along with the kids. We follow Circular Fashion Design Principles, all our outfits are designed and manufactured to be disassembled so that they can repaired, reused, remade, and recycled. To eliminate waste, we repurpose fabric scraps into hair accessories.

• Made from safe and recycled or renewable sources – We source materials that are rain-fed organic cotton, naturally dyed and handwoven. All our packaging and labels uses recycled paper. This ensures that the health of the people and ecosystem is protected.

• Social impact – Every customer purchase contributes to our regular donation events. We work only with fair wage vendors. We hire local women artisans and do upskilling trainings.

Everything we do is designed for the best of our planet & people!

Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?

Ms. Dhiju Anoob and Ms. Nandni Girish: We are a bootstrap brand. For our first exhibition Dhiju and Nadnini packed the dresses till 5 AM and directly rushed to the exhibition to set-up the stall. Few memories that we can never forget. It is just the founders doing everything. It has been tough. Even today we operate from a small office, collaborate online, all our design, finance, digital content, including photography & websites are fully done in house!

PureCloth.Co was one of the early players offering organic cotton baby and kids clothing. We faced challenges because sustainable or organic is expensive. We thought awareness of eco-friendly products would make a difference. But for a large country like India the awareness campaign which a small brand like us can do is not enough. To accelerating sustainable fashion, we need government policies, like banning plastics, to ban or impose heavy taxes on toxic materials like polyester based products, wasteful creation of clothing, and un-ethical working environments. Such policies will help bring more focus on eco-friendly, ethical, and sustainable production bringing down the prices for the masses.

There were times where we literally wanted to give-up but when we think "why are we are doing this” … you get energized. We are purpose-driven brand, which helps us focus during these tough times.

Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Purecloth.co?

Ms. Dhiju Anoob and Ms. Nandni Girish: In the next few years, PureCloth.Co will have a team of a world-class artisans creating environment-friendly and timeless long-lasting designs! Currently we are in the early stages of establishing circular design principles, expanding our production capacity, and distribution channels across the world, all while maintaining our commitment to sustainability and ethical business practices.

Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

Ms. Dhiju Anoob and Ms. Nandni Girish: We focus a lot on what change we as PureCloth.Co can bring about rather than an advice. At the core it is our mission: Make the world a better place! This inspires us every single day to deliver our best. We also focus a lot more on understanding the problems, trying to spend more time with our customers and building a valuable product!

Remember, success is not just measured in financial terms, but also in the satisfaction of knowing that you are making a difference in this world!