SYS Attire to expand portfolio, strengthen retail presence through MBOs, LFS: Sukriti Chopra

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Aug 5, 2019

A teacher-turned-fashion designer, Sukriti Chopra is finally living her dream of designing and manufacturing garments. Chopra launched her brand SYS Attire in 2017 and expects to break even early next year.

In the past two years, SYS has chosen to remain in-house, opting to manage and build the brand internally. The company has not called upon external funding from investors and has chosen not to partner with Indian e-commerce firms, despite being stocked in several physical stores across India.

It has, however, managed to make inroads in the overseas markets, via international orders; something it wishes to capitalise on as it explores opportunities with online platforms abroad.

Domestically, the brand plans to diversify its product portfolio and foray into new segments in the coming months; catering to a wider audience pan India. It hopes to strengthen its retail presence by partnering with more multi-brand outlets and large format stores across the country. 

Sukriti Chopra, founder of SYS Attire discussed the brand’s journey, collections, expansion plans, and growth strategy with FashionNetwork.com.

FashionNetwork.com: What prompted you to get into designing after two decades of teaching?

Sukriti Chopraa: Designing had also been a passion, as I had worked in the garment industry after graduation. Once I had my daughter, teaching became my career of choice so that I could spend more time with her and pay attention to her studies and upbringing. Once she had completed her masters, and began working and studying at the same time, I found myself with a lot of free time. I then decided to follow my passion and dream and began designing and manufacturing garments.

FNW: What do you specialize in and how do you showcase this? Is product expansion on the cards and can we see you entering new segments?

SC: I currently specialize in Indian ethnic, Indo-western and bridals for women. I love the idea of mixing traditional Indian embroidery and quirky styles. I am looking at getting more into gowns and western formals for women. I have already done men’s clothing, both Indian and western, on specific requirements. I will be looking to create a wide collection in this range, as my customers were excited to see what had been created for them. The idea is to give customers as much choice as possible, so that nobody is left leaving unsatisfied.

FNW: Is manufacturing done in-house or outsourced? Share some details about the collection and target group?

SC: Complete designing/detailing from the drawing board to the sampling and manufacturing is in-house. Our target group is anyone who appreciates absolute detailed quality and class. The aim is to cater to everyone across budgets.

FNW: What is the point-of-sale for the brand? Do you sell online? Any plans to partner with e-commerce platforms?

SC: We started by catering to individual requirements coming through referrals. We still do that but are already in multi-brand stores in cities like Delhi, Chennai, Indore, and Mumbai. We are looking at getting into as many of these stores as possible across the country and are already in discussion with a couple more. Large retail stores with multiple outlets is another segment we are looking to get into and we are already creating and sampling complete ranges for a couple of these, given their price points.

We have the capacity to and already have done over 20 styles with 200 pieces each for an e-commerce company in the Middle East. They paid outright and shipped on their own. In India, we are not interested in the e-commerce market as they place orders in huge quantities, which is not the problem, but they dump back pieces in the 100's and not pay for them. They are not who we are looking to deal with.

FNW: Is the brand profitable? If not, by when will you break even?

SC: Currently, we are not completely breaking even, but should be breaking even early next year as per how we see it.