From Air India to Building a Crore-Revenue Saree Brand with Dinu

About this episode

In this episode, Dinu Elizabeth Roy recounts her journey from working nearly a decade as cabin crew with Air India to founding and scaling Aham Boutique into a multi-crore apparel brand. Starting in 2013 with a modest bespoke tailoring unit alongside her flight roster, she bootstrapped the business using customer advances and minimal machinery before resigning in 2016 to pursue entrepreneurship full-time. She explains how the brand overcame consecutive crises, including the Kerala floods and the pandemic, by pivoting from offline bespoke tailoring to a direct-to-consumer ecommerce model on Shopify. Dinu discusses managing inventory across three retail stores in Kerala, utilising daily video presentations to showcase textile crafts like authentic Kalamkari, and maintaining dedicated in-house customer support. She also details integrating artificial intelligence into accounting and warehouse management, concluding with her ambition to provide backend supply chain and fulfilment services to aspiring fashion influencers.

Key takeaways

1. 1Validate consumer interest and product design through small batches before investing heavily in equipment or physical infrastructure.
2. 2Implementing internal order-tracking software early on prevents costly errors during bespoke garment manufacturing.
3. 3Pairing physical retail outlets with an online store creates local fulfillment nodes and enhances buyer trust.
4. 4Direct, responsive customer support is essential for reassuring older and first-time online shoppers.
5. 5Automating the sync between ecommerce platforms and accounting systems saves significant administrative overhead.
6. 6Publishing daily video content that demonstrates fabric authenticity drives continuous organic demand without heavy ad spend.

Chapters

1. 00:00Highlights
2. 01:07Intro: Dinu & Aham Collections
3. 02:35Background: Air India career & entrepreneurial spirit
4. 06:40Started tailoring business alongside flying job
5. 10:41Quit Air India, went full-time (2016)
6. 13:46First staff, custom order tracking software
7. 23:33Retail store launch, initial investment
8. 27:59Kerala floods, Covid & Nipah challenges
9. 32:52E-commerce launch on Shopify
10. 39:20Product scaling & customization
11. 45:52Expansion: 2nd & 3rd stores, omnichannel model
12. 54:30AI in operations, 100+ team
13. 1:00:22Future plans: B2B & delivery logistics
14. 1:04:48Closing thoughts