“The mainstream leather goods industry is a fickle business”
When Thomas Edision, the co-founder of General Electric said ‘The value of an idea lies in the using of it,’ he hit the nail right on the target for budding entrepreneurs. One such entrepreneur we track in this issue is Hussain Bootwala, founder of the brand éclat that is into designing and manufacturing of luxury handbags. Design was his passion and designing of bags became his calling!
From stock–broking to doing a course in footwear design and then finally settling to have a brand that produces luxury handbags made out of pure leather, the journey for Hussain Bootwala has seen many an interesting twists and turns. Available through his company-owned and company-operated (COCO) store in Santacruz, Mumbai, which is spread across 700 sq.ft., the brand is also retailed online and available in other cities through stand-alone boutiques.
The early days
Like most youngsters, Bootwala too really couldn’t quite make up his mind on the course of career he wanted to chalk for himself soon after his graduation. To hear it in his own words: “I graduated in commerce from Malini Kishore Sanghvi College in the year 2005. After graduation, I had a 2-3 year hardcore brush with the stock markets. I had a deep understanding about stock movements in terms of fundamentals as well as technical knowledge. I had managed to arouse both shock and awe to my peers and seniors when I got my own private laptop and used it as a bolt in the broking firm – all of this when I was just in my early twenties! It was in 2008 that I realised that I had to do something more profound and challenging. I have always been a great admirer of entrepreneurship right from my college days. I used to read a lot of books on corporate law, corporate tax and entrepreneurship. I have always been fascinated with the idea of owning a huge company. It was then that I thought of having my two passions combined and setting up a business in fashion and design. Since my family business was footwear retailing, I thought of doing something in the leather goods field.”
Considering his family was into footwear retailing, the chosen course of action was to do a course in footwear design that would not only satiate his need of being a part of the creative field but would also help him spearhead his family business in time to follow. Bootwala adds: “I undertook a diploma programme in footwear designing from FDDI in Mumbai. During this time I did a lot of research in the leather and leather goods industry. I took great interest in leather as a raw material and the making of high-end luxury goods. Handbags and clutches were something that always fascinated me among all other leather goods. This gradually became a passion to create beautiful leather goods that would be different and evoke emotion, thus giving birth to the brand éclat in the year 2009. éclat was conceived as a leather goods brand to make footwear, handbags and clutches, wallets, belts, soft luggage and other accessories.”
Launching éclat
Bootwala launched éclat when was 25 and the brand was born out of sheer passion without any backing of retail experience per se to take the brand ahead. What worked for him was that his family had retail space and hence for him to set up a retail store wasn’t a challenge as such. What posed as a challenge was sustaining the business and taking it to a level of acceptance. Bootwala candidly shares: When I began, I underestimated the challenges that lay ahead of me. The fashion business is a highly competitive one. It requires careful planning as well as excellent execution in order to create and run a successful business. It took me an entire year just to set up the building blocks or the foundation of the brand. I faced a very hard time looking for an appropriate manufacturer. No one was interested in making just 2-3 handbags per design to start with. Almost all the good manufacturers work on volume, which I couldn’t afford at that time due to limited knowledge in this field and retailing avenues. After a good few months of hard work, I managed to convince a small but a very efficient manufacturer.” What is worth mentioning here is that the manufacturer who agreed to manufacture his creations is a part of his team now where he heads the manufacturing division.
Elaborating more on the yesteryears, Bootwala adds: “I had no formal training or experience in the designing of handbag. I didn’t even know some of the terms commonly used in the production of handbags, belts or wallets. All that I knew was how I wanted my final product to look like. There are many processes involved in the making of a handbag. Apart from the processes, there are many things used in the making. Each raw material used in the making has a deep study within itself. For instance, the hardware used can be made of a lot of materials like brass, zinc or aluminum and each of them can have a different type of plating and processing. To make high-end or luxury leather goods, it is very important to have a sound knowledge not only of the designing and construction but also of the other ancillary industries attached. For me it has been a constant learning process since then.”
Positioning the brand and the challenges faced
With no dearth of brands that are into offering leather bags and accessories, Bootwala was certain that éclat had to stand out from the rest. Considering he wanted to position himself as a luxury brand, the challenge before him was all the more. Luxury in India is often associated with international brands and it becomes difficult for brand owners in India to convince the customer on the authenticity of the ‘luxury’ that they have to offer. Bootwala elaborates: “One of the most important things that differentiates my work is the kind of leather that I use. I import rich printed leathers especially from Italy. Most of the people who see my collection ask me if it is genuine leather or an artificial one because they had never seen such designs on genuine leather. I wanted to create things that look and feel different and evoke emotion. In my quest of getting the best of each of the raw materials, I made contacts with the some of the best suppliers in the world.”
As ironic as it may sound, Bootwala had to shut his first store because of the ambiance that he was offering. Keeping the store interiors in sync with the luxury line of bags he was offering, the interiors ended up creating a roadblock for him. In his own words: “I had to shut down my store at Vile Parle because we were way ahead of our times. I had designed the store in such a manner that people were afraid to even enter the showroom. I had made a big mistake of not realising and understanding the potential of that market place and the factors governing it. I was so much consumed by the fact of designing the store the way I wanted that I forgot where I was located. I had designed the store well ahead of its time and had left no stone unturned. The money spent on the interiors was exorbitantly high for the area that the store was located in. Had it been a store at any of the high street locations, it would have been a different story altogether. I still remember that the store attracted interest from interior designers from across the city as well and they would frequent my store more often than my shoppers! Eventually, we shut it down for economic as well as strategic reasons.” A lesson learnt here for Bootwala – if you are offering a luxury line in a luxurious atmosphere, choose your location wisely according to the catchment of your target audience!
Bootwala’s take on the changing dynamics of leather bags: “You may be born with an eye for fashion and design but if you dream of designing the next ‘it’ bag or shoe that people will covet, wait in line for, and pay an entire month’s rent for, you need to be a lot more than that. The mainstream leather goods industry is a fickle business. Styles and trends change from year to year and colours, textures and materials vary from season to season. For instance, large leather hobo bags may be in trend one year, but out the next when tiny hand-held clutches are in. It is one of the most fast-paced industries. The fashion industry may look all glamorous and glitzy from the outside but it is much different from the inside.”
Within a year, Bootwala managed to have his collection as part of a few boutiques around India. Sharing further, he says: “A few months back I forayed into e-tailing and have received a very good response. Very recently there are a few international retailers that have shown keen interest in éclat as well.”
To combat the challenge of trained manpower, Bootwala has put a system in place wherein a new team member joining the company has to undergo a rigorous 2-3 months of training to have a better understanding of the brand functioning and standards. Bootwala shares: “In our globalised world in which low cost seems to prevail, éclat has chosen to offer a high quality choice, to never disappoint the expectations of its discerning customers, focusing on quality, craftsmanship and luxury. I feel to have a good team is one of the most important things in brand building.”
On what makes luxury retailing different, Bootwala justifies: “The luxury sector really is different. This is partly true to the amount of creative talent needed for a luxury brand to be successful and partly to the very different way in which a luxury brand with a worldwide market needs to be run. Luxury business, above all, is a business of brands and brand building is the most difficult proposition. For luxury goods, brand identity is a very important element and once it is made, there is no looking back. When customers have a preference for a brand, they are ready to spend extravagantly. I have faced and still face extreme difficulties in convincing people what éclat is made of. What I have seen over the years is people are willing to spend huge sums of money buying a very mediocre designed and constructed product; the only thing they are interested in is flashing the brand name. Brand building is a gradual process and I am happy that today éclat is well known is most parts of India and also in a few places around the world.”
Bootwala makes it a point to be present at various B2B and B2C fairs and exhibitions, thus ensuring the spread of the brand across various cities. Talking about plans for the future, he says: “In the near future we are looking at opening stores in Delhi and Bengaluru. Although we have one store in Mumbai, we will be opening 2-3 more by the next year-end. We are also looking at international collaborations and joint ventures.”
