Every beautiful thing has a story behind it. And when it comes to an organization, it is not merely a group of people working together, and it is a family brought together by the continuous and regular efforts of the founder. Ambraee is no different. On this friendship day, we thought of bringing you this incredible story of Ambraee. How a strong friendship can do wonders and how it matters to be a friend with the customers and the team as well.
Ambraee, by Palak Agarwal, is a story of her ongoing efforts and incessant backing from her best friend cum life partner- Keshav Moondhra. Let us hear it in her own words!
A Seed Sown in the Childhood
I grew up hearing the famous saying that behind every successful man, there is a woman but always wondered who is behind the success of a woman. My Journey with Ambraee answered this question in the most delightful of ways.
Versatile clothing, exclusive designs, and ethnic wear always fascinated me. During my early school years, I realized my passion for designing. I started giving my creative inputs to my mother and women in the family. I knew Keshav since school, and we were very good friends since then. Being from a typical Marwari family, I grew up seeing how excited we are for our culture, traditional and Marwari fashion is a vast and different segment. Time flew, school days were over, and my inclination towards this grew. I took my creative path experimenting with traditional crafts like block printing and designing suit sets, kurtas, and sarees. The more I experimented with things, to deeper I got into it. Everybody around praised my ideas, and this motivated me to sharpen the skill even more. I learned about the art of fabric printing, visited various hubs for the same, and understood the entire process.
Before beginning with Ambraee, there was a lot of market and audience research, getting insights, analyzing competition, and working on the skills as much as possible. Starting a firm is definitely a big decision, and I wanted to be super-sure that nothing goes haywire.
Jaipur has been a hub of ethnic prints, and when online business was still new and on a boom, I felt that it was the right time to begin with it.
2016: The Inception
2016 was the year when I decided to start Ambraee with the sole purpose of celebrating the ethnicity and vibrancy of Jaipuri Prints and dressing every woman in them.
My passion for designing and Keshav’s unconditional support were consistent motivating factors. Though Keshav did not have much interest in designing, yet he always listened to me patiently. He inspired me at every step, which helped me to realize that I have to chase this passion for life. Working in different cities with different dreams and goals to achieve did not dilute our friendship even to a bit. We shared our dreams, ambitions, fears, goals, strengths, and weaknesses.
We try to be the choice of a wide age group, with its minimalistic designs and an extensive product line. You will find dresses for every occasion- from parties, weddings, and festivals to everyday wearables. From sourcing the fabrics to stitching the details, everything is done in-house! Ambraee essentially curates for you the compositions that are unique, new and give you swag with sabhyata.
Ambraee began with me, two artisans, and one sewing machine. I handpicked selected fabrics, and my two team members provided their inputs, and we created some bestsellers which are still selling well!
My energy and enthusiasm lifted and inspired me to design a creative and versatile clothing line that is accessible to all. I focused on designing traditional Indian clothing like sarees, suit sets, and kurtas. The hired artisans soon became permanent employees, and Ambraee started gaining appreciation and recognition.
Expanding the Family
After some time, the business got a consistent pace of growth, and I felt the need for someone who could handle the growing market. There were so many fronts to work upon apart from designing. It was getting overwhelming and simultaneously a bit too much. Who could be better than Keshav to be with me during these times? We both discussed Ambraee as well in his field of work until he decided to grow Ambraee together. With him, he brought in systematic working, organized manufacturing, fast delivery, and proper after-sale services. 2016 ended on a sweet note with Keshav and me working together for Ambraee, which grew up to be a family of 15 members.
It was a blessing for me to not only work for my passion but to be with my love. Initially, both of us faced difficulties due to varied interests, but gradually we divided our work areas. Month by month, Ambraee grew in folds as well as its team.
Growing Social Media
Our hard work and creativity paid a fortune when the public started to order and started to promote us- Word of Mouth was a driving factor. Many influencers like Divya Kumar Khosla, Aahana Kumra, Niti Taylor, and more flaunted Ambraee. We soon became a talk of the town with many Instagram followers. From then on, the orders started rolling over. By 2017 Ambraee was a family of 40 members who worked together to create quality Kurta and suit sets, sarees, exclusive block printed clothing, and much more. From traditional and ethnic to casual and stylish, Ambraee made versatile clothing for all. Instagram is still an essential platform for us. Today, we are 200k+ healthy family on Instagram- going nowhere but up. People started recognizing me as the front face of Ambraee. Keshav’s management of the operational tasks and order fulfillment also enhanced, and customer satisfaction increased.
Work-Life Balance
Working alongside Keshav all this while has been a very overwhelming experience. We finally tied the nuptial knot in November 2017. We shifted our office to a new place with a new vision. 2018 and 2019 were in the process of striking a balance between work and personal life. So we turned from being the best of friends to business partners and then to being life partners. We spend almost 24 hours together, discussing business and its growth. Some days were tough, but they taught us a lot. Long years of friendship and understanding are, to date, a very big advantage to both of us. We have invested so much in this family, and we are so proud of it. Our efforts have not gone in vain. Year by year, instead day by day, we have noticed this firm growing and getting better. Our team has helped a lot in the same. Getting the right people at the right time matters a lot.
2020: The Roller Coaster
This year has been a roller coaster ride for every business. The economy is down globally, and are Ambraee was no exception to the Pandemic and the Lockdown situations. We are already a family of 100 plus employees, with so many individuals dedicatedly working to take this brand to heights. During the lockdown, we faced some infrastructural challenges, and things slowed down a bit. Thankfully, we have successfully managed the wave. I am grateful to the customers that have showered us with immense love and believed in us all through this time. Both me and Keshav humbly want to express the gratitude and will keep coming up with ways to do so. We want Ambraee to be a versatile clothing brand which caters to everyday clothing needs of a woman for every budget, for every occasion. Our entire team works day in and day out for the same. A happy customer boosts our morale like nothing else. From the day we received the first customer picture till today, the feeling of zest and gratitude remains the same.
If you have read the story, we want to thank you for your time and would love to know if you like it. Any feedback from our customers is crucial for us. The journey has been full of lots of ups and downs, but we are very hopeful for the coming time. With everyone getting vocal about local businesses and the support growing, we firmly believe that Ambraee will reach even greater heights. We are holistically taking care of the customers’ satisfaction with a user-friendly website, best-quality fabric, exclusive designs, diligent artisans, 24*7 customer support team, and never-ending brainstorming as to what better we can do!
Happy reading, and happy shopping! J
