Chandrika Thatai, founder of Fashion Accessories (FA) Home did not have any entrepreneurial background until she got married to one. The company deals in home textile products like drapes, decorative cushions, bedsheets, quilts and fashion accessories like belts and bags. FA Home exports its products to the US, the UK and the European Market and has no sale within the country.
Chandrika’s journey into textiles began post her marriage when she became interested in her husband’s business of textiles. She started travelling with her husband to mills and other places for work. She also did a short-term course from NIFT Delhi while she was also raising her daughters.
With one of her friends, Chandrika set up FA Home in a garage but her friend had to leave the venture in between because of personal reasons. This came out as a blow to her but she did not let this incident break her spirit.
“I failed at all sorts of challenges – cash flow constraints, infrastructure, etc. Having inadequate experience in gathering raw materials and other resources, clients were hesitant in trusting our business. I didn’t want to take a lot of money from my husband, and wanted to achieve everything on the dint of my hard work.”
FA Home’s designs were original without any sort of infringement. Chandrika had a clear goal in mind to bring freshness to the already well-tapped market. When her designs were widely sold, Chandrika felt really confident about her startup and her ideas. She also ensured her products were cost-effective.
FA Home believes that it is extremely important for a company to maintain good relationships with its clients as they can not reach anywhere without a solid bonding. The pandemic has hit the Gurugram-based company hard as they have shut down their production units as well as halted their shipments. The firm is expecting a hit of 40% during this time. The journey since 2000 till today had been full of growth and learning for the company and they have seen multiple challenges in 20 years but that did not bring their spirit down and have an annual turnover of Rs 290 crore.