Exclusive: Meet Suta sisters Sujatha & Taniya as they talk their first Hyderabad and more

The brand has opened their first store in Hyderabad and on this occasion, let’s have a chat about their creative and business side.

A. Interestingly, Hyderabad 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 beauty and history 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.

Q. There are a lot of brands that exist in the market with a similar concept, how would you say Suta is unique or different from others?

A. What differentiates Suta and is also an innate part of its identity is our ethos – we are driven by our vision of making India’s heirloom artisanal crafts accessible to everyone. And to do so, we combine these crafts with our signature contemporary style, resulting in unique products that appeal to contemporary buyers.

Suta products are also designed to flatter their wearers, with comfort as a top priority and for these products be an extension of their wearers’ personality – from our statement blouses, to our quirky printed sarees, to our signature mul cottons to even dresses and kurta sets, the feeling of a Suta product against your skin is irreplaceable.

A. Suta is no stranger to Hyderabad, and we’ve always received so much love and support from this city. We’re quite confident that our audience here will continue to support us and we hope to reach out to newer audiences and introduce them to the Suta way!

Q. Your journey started with 2 weavers and now you have 17,000 weavers, so we can say it is a really inspiring journey in a very short time. Would you like to add more about your journey and the challenges you faced?

A. We do not come from a fashion or textile background. Yet, our persistence and willingness to prove our loyalty to the weavers is what has led to Suta’s phenomenal growth. Challenges were a part of our journey from the day we started – many of the weavers did not trust our designs and were unwilling to work with young women who were not already a part of the industry.

During our earliest days, we learned to quickly take setbacks in our stride: for instance, at our first and most successful Suta Bazaar in Mumbai, a devastating fire nearly burned down all our stock and we had to restart from scratch. The pandemic also dealt us (as it did to the entire world) a heavy blow. But we made sure to continue supporting the weavers and even purchased the stock that had piled up with them due to cancelled orders, so that they would have the means to sustain themselves. We’ve learned that challenges are opportunities in disguise.

The fire taught us that we would never give up, no matter what, while our efforts during the pandemic did not go unnoticed by the weavers – they realised they could trust us and many have pledged to continue working with Suta forever!

Q. When you wanted to start it, you had no prior experience. Both of you are from different backgrounds. So, what inspired you to start Suta?

A. Like most people, Taniya (Ta) 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.

We realised that in order to preserve these rich textile traditions, we would have to make them more accessible and find them a place in every wardrobe and every home. Thus, we created our first weave, our Made in Heaven mul that has transformed the way women view sarees – the fabric is so light, figure-flattering and airy that it can be sported with ease as office or casual wear.

Our muls became our signature product and they continue to be among our bestsellers to date. 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 Vidya Balan, and it fills us with pride to how far our dream has come.

Q. What are the best styles or attires that you are introducing to the Hyderabadis?

A. Our Hyderabad store will showcase Suta classics, including our bestselling sarees and blouse designs. We’re also very excited about our summer special sarees, blouses and dresses that are all made of breathable, feather-light fabrics. Our Once in a Blue Moon sarees are a delight to the eyes and to the skin – the cotton-viscose blend keeps these sarees looking and feeling fresh even at the end of a long, hot day.

Our latest summer dresses that are a part of our Tic Tac Toe collection are flattering to all figures, have a cheery summery colour palette and are effortless to wear. We’re also launching many new collections in the coming weeks and all of these will be proudly displayed at our new store.

Q. Are there any plans to establish the brand in other cities of Telugu states?

A. Our goal for 2023 is to expand our retail footprint. So, we’re currently exploring multiple possibilities. We hope to have a stronger presence in these states very soon!

Q. We can easily say that your bond and thoughts to grow with each other have also helped the brand to grow more. Would you like to share any special moments between both of you that had happened in your journey so far?

A. 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.

Unlike many co-founders, we’re able to be vulnerable in front of each other, which makes this partnership truly special – that’s something we encourage our peers to do as well. We’re each other’s closest confidants and are propelled by a strong urge to grow together, as a unit. We’re also united by our common vision of impacting as many lives as we can, and that streamlines the way we think and work.