In India, the last decade witnessed a surge in the number of startups. Interestingly, some of the most popular and path-breaking names in the payment ecosystem, travel, beauty, clothing and e-commerce verticals have women at their helm. The story of ‘Tjori’ is one such.
Hello and welcome to the inspiring startup story of Mansi Gupta, a 28-year-old woman from a small town in Jammu who took a bold decision along with her husband Ankit Wadhwa to start an online store for selling Indian handcrafted products in the American market. The idea occurred to her while she was studying at Wharton University in Pennsylvania. There, she couldn’t find any Indian brands for her despite the heavy demand for Indian art and craft the place held. The hand-made art from India, she thought, could provide jobs to hundreds of local Indian handicraft workers, all the while fulfilling the requirements of people looking for Indian products.
Tjori is a multi-category, online-first, artisanal, ethnic brand that focuses on apparel, wellness, home, and mother and child products. The brand, which was built to cater to a worldwide audience, turned out to be a great success.
A keen traveller, to start her business, Mansi connected with artisans from different parts of the country and observed their work. All these have inspired her to come up with new collections. Later, she partnered with 50 artisans who make handicraft items like shawls, jewellery, bangles, footwear, home decor and other products.
Besides its sales in India, the brand ships its products worldwide but mostly to North America, Australia, and Singapore. The goal is to make Tjori the leading ethnic brand in India. The brand took inspiration from Zara, which was started as a small business in Spain and is now renowned worldwide. Tjori which started with a Rs 10-lakh capital now has a Rs 50 cr turnover.
Tjori focuses on the goodness of traditional Indian ingredients and crafts. The brand has managed to create jobs for more than 500 artisans and states that the artisans grow as the company grows. It uses chemical-free and cruelty-free products. Keeping in mind the delicate skin of kids, it uses plant-based fibre and milk fabric for its clothing category.
