One fashion trend that is universally loved for the last few years is athleisure. Today it is the most comfortable trend known with the combination of athletic and loungewear. It has become one of the fastest-growing categories in clothing.
In order to understand the growth of the trend in the market, we sat down with the co-founder, Ria Mittal of a women-led athleisure wear brand called CAVA.
CAVA is run by two 20-year old sisters from Banglore. Created with a vision to cater to the demands of new-age millennials who seek to find new ways of working, living, and managing their hectic schedule, Cava’s athleisure line is all about comfort wear and casual clothing with high-quality fabrics.
Where & When did Cava athleisure originate? What was the experience like as a start-up brand during the lockdown?
CAVA is a homegrown brand started in Bangalore by two fashion-loving sisters, Ria & Shreya Mittal who were living typical student lives until the lockdown. We were both studying for classes online and wanted clothes that were comfortable and casual and could also be worn for any occasion. We kept noticing the lack of trendy clothes in India, specifically in the athleisure market. After ordering from a few online brands that didn’t really match up to what we were looking for, we found our aha! moment and started CAVA. The lockdown in fact worked to our advantage, giving us ample time due to online classes from college/school.
What is your source of inspiration?
When it comes to design and quality, international trends and brands are our main inspiration. When it comes to business, undoubtedly our main inspiration has been our father and family. We are lucky to have received so much support from our family right from the start. Since we come from a family that has been in the garment industry, almost all our dinner table conversations revolve around work.
What kind of fabrics do you use in your product? Performing and fashionable fabrics or comfort and durability?
We use only sustainable fabrics – BCI cotton and recycled polyester. We promote slow fashion which means each garment we make will last you forever. We work on our fabrics, making them a blend of fashion and comfort.
Are you planning to include new pieces in your collection?
Yes. We have some exciting new collections in the pipeline. We launch a new collection very often due to popular demand from our customers who want new and different styles ever so often. We are also looking to launch a men’s line very soon.
What’s your offline expansion plan looking like?
The online platform has been very rewarding and we plan to stick to that largely. We have done a few pop-ups to bring the CAVA experience to our customers. We have been approached by some premium offline players to collaborate and we are in talks with them to see how we can take things forward.
How much sales do online platforms bring in?
100% of our sales are through online platforms currently.
How has shopping behaviour changed since the pandemic as consumers are now opting for everything online?
Since we launched in the pandemic, we don’t have much first-hand experience of consumer behaviour pre-pandemic. But what we see is people across ages and geographies being very comfortable buying online. We have had orders coming in from 13-year-olds and 60-year-olds alike. Our styles are so versatile that they appeal to everyone. We have also seen sales from every major city in India to really small towns which we had to look upon the map!
India is a tough market when it comes to the apparel business, how has the market responded towards your brand?
The response to our brand has been absolutely amazing! India has such a young, vibrant, and well-informed consumer base that keeps up with international trends and is ready to adopt them. Since we are slow fashion, our clothes only get better with every use. We also have great designs and are constantly innovating because we are able to identify with the millennial customer and deliver what they like. Our returning customer rate is really high because once they try our products, they know that the quality is very premium. This gave us the confidence we needed when we started. Though it’s a tough market, it responds well to quality apparels.
