We want to be customers’ go-to brand for all their fashion needs

India-based online lifestyle store Bonkers Corner offers the latest in designer products straight out of fashion houses. The brand provides a wide array of casual and nautical fashion offerings catered to both men and women as well as items inspired by pop culture like the Marvel Universe and anime. In a chat with Fibre2Fashion, Founder Shubham Gupta discusses the marketing strategies of his company and the streetwear market in India.

Fibre2Fashion: What drove you to start a fashion brand for teenagers?

Shubham Gupta:

Since I was a big fashion enthusiast, I dropped out of junior college and joined my father’s manufacturing factory. I have been in the clothing industry for over 11 years now. Since fashion intrigued me, I was always searching for fresh ideas that could make a difference in the Indian fashion industry. When Bonkers Corner came into being, we were greatly inspired by the foreign brands that were coming out with great clothing ranges. We wanted to bring this trend to India and manufacture 100 per cent domestically.

F2F: How would you describe the brand’s journey since its inception? What challenges did you encounter initially and how did you overcome them?

SG:

At the inception of Bonkers Corner, we were a team of five people, and now we’ve grown to a family of over 500 employees. We faced many challenges in the beginning as there was a shortage of space, finances, manpower etc, but we were adamant to make our brand national and we have achieved that. Earlier we invested our savings in the productions. Once we started receiving orders, we ensured that we reinvested the revenue that we made in the launch of our new collection and products.

F2F: How would you describe the streetwear market in India? How has it grown in the last two years?

SG:

The growth of streetwear has been exponential in India. In the current era of social media, fashion changes with every fraction of a second. This has changed customers’ adaptation to fashion trends, and pushed brands in India to deliver as per customers’ expectations.

F2F: How do you manage your inventory? What strategies do you have in place to ensure the timely delivery of products?

SG:

We are in the early stage of our business, and everything is managed manually. We ensure not to overproduce since it requires human effort. Our production is solely based on demand-supply parameters. This principle has made it easier for us to deliver on time.

F2F: What marketing strategies, both digital and traditional, does your company use to increase brand awareness?

SG:

In today’s time, a fashion brand like ours caters to millennial and Gen Z audiences. So, it becomes very important to strategically optimise our digital marketing approach and we have successfully done that. We have synergised our core marketing strength and brand ethos to share the exact content that our audience would love. We have effectively leveraged two things — an omnichannel approach and influencer marketing.

F2F: What is the USP of your brand? What makes it different from the other streetwear brands in the market?

SG:

Our brand’s core USP has always been product design and quality. The second USP is affordability. Since our company’s first day, we only strive for a product that would be ‘value for money’ for our customers. We want to be customers’ go-to brand for all their fashion needs. The USP of our brand is what sets us apart from the other streetwear brands in the Indian market.

F2F: Please describe your design process in detail.

SG:

Our first step is to do research on the current trends in the industry and then the ideas are discussed with the design team to understand the possibilities. While designing we ensure to build multiple versions of the same designs which are then compared. We do a voting method that makes it easier for us to take up the designing to the next level i.e., execution.

F2F: How do you ensure the quality of your products?

SG:

We collaborate with India’s leading fabric manufacturers to ensure that the product material we choose is 100 per cent authentic. Once the product is designed in-house, we do a quality check process of six layers to ensure the quality is top-notch.

F2F: What, according to you, are the key elements of a successful streetwear brand?

SG:

The key element of a successful streetwear brand is to understand the target audience first. Building a brand in the current competitive space is challenging and needs lots of efforts. It requires a deep understanding of the ever-changing market trends. One should know the customer’s needs and then fulfil them at the right time. This remains the key to building a brand into a successful business.

F2F: What advice would you give to aspiring streetwear entrepreneurs?

SG:

One piece of advice I would like to share is that you should never be afraid to fail. The more you fail, the more you learn. I have always learned from failure as it teaches you to make better decisions. So do not be afraid of failures, embrace them.