The entrepreneurial journey for Aayushi began at the age of 23 when she launched Lavish. This Delhi-based startup dealing with handmade goods initially had a presence only on Amazon but now has reached international markets. She completed her graduation in Economics and simultaneously with her job, she started Lavish but soon after quit to give her undivided attention to her business.
Lavish began in 2017 as a handmade apparel and accessories startup with an investment of Rs 30,000 from Aayushi’s personal savings. Today, the startup stands at Rs 20 lakh turnover with international presence in US, Italy, Denmark and Australia. It initially sold only ethnic apparels but later expanded to handmade bags and accessories. The startup has a workforce of around 30 artisans from Meerut, Agra and other places in UP. The handbags are manufactures in the in-house manufacturing unit.
They get their material from Jaipur, Gujarat and old-Delhi which they refine in their factory outlets. Aayushi has also partnered with approximately 30 vendors for the business supply. She had to face an immense competition in the market as well as deal with the banks for their finances. Being an export unit, most of their transactions happen in other currencies and banks take ages to process the amount and due to that multiple times, they have given up on profit.
The startup has a strong digital presence with platforms like IndiaMart, Federation of Indian Export Organization, Enterprise Europe Network as well as on social media channels like Instagram and Facebook. She explained that the demand of the handmade products is high abroad which is contrary to the situation in India. In fact, 95% of their revenue comes from their overseas business.
The future plans of the firm look promising as Aayushi plans on opening online and offline retail stores as well as get listed on Amazon Global. She also plans on extending her business by partnering with chains like Big Bazaar and Pantaloons, also to launch own website soon.