Indian handloom ethical clothing brand Dressfolk announced today that it has raised ₹3.3 Cr in seed round of funding by All In Capital. Other strategic investors include the likes of Sidhant Keshwani of Libas, Sidhesh Chauhan of Jade Blue, and Riju Jhunjhunwala of RSWM Ltd.
With the new funding, the company plans to strengthen its product portfolio, expand distribution channels, and expand its team and operations.
Aditya Singh, Co-Founder, All In Capital, “Dressfolk’s proprietary designs and highly differentiated products are bringing Indian handloom back in vogue. Sarees have become the biggest and one of the fastest growing apparel category and we are confident that Nitin and his team at Dressfolk will have a meaningful impact in the ethnic wear segment”.
Founded in 2017, Dressfolk was set up with a mission to modernise the traditional Indian weaves, while empowering the local artisans community. With a strong belief that business should be ethical but not slow; fashion should be scalable but not fast, the team at Dressfolk have found a happy medium.
“At Dressfolk we draw inspiration from the past, but create for the future. We design and co-produce all our garments with our artisan community from scratch. We’re delighted that investors saw the immense potential in our long-term vision of building the most compelling destination for luxurious and high-quality Indian looms”, said Nitin Mehrotra, Founder & CEO, Dressfolk. He added, “We are proud of the fact we are not only Made in India but Made of India”.
As of today, Dressfolk works with over 600 weavers and 120 artisans across 6 states and is catering to customers globally. Apart from its own website dressfolk.com, customers can also get access to products from several offline multi-brand and online marketplaces
Sidhant Keshwani, Founder at Libas added, "India’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) market is a growing market with fashion and clothes players owning a larger share of the pie. But this big opportunity comes with a tough competition, and we believe Dressfolk has all the right ingredients to become a true disruptor and challenger brand in the luxury handloom space",
The round also brings in a clutch of angel investors like Vikrampati Singhania from JK Family Office, FinFirst Advisors, Apurva Ramesh Damani from Damani Family Office and Pranav Sanghvi of Petronas. Currently, the cap table also includes the likes of serial entrepreneur and Falcon co-founder, Prabhtej Singh Bhatia, MasterChow founder Vidur Kataria, Arjit Johri of Marshot Ventures, Harbir Singh Banga of Victora Group, Samyak Deora of Deora Group, Adit Desai of Doc Tutorials and former business journalist and marketeer Megha Vishwanath.
Going forward, Dressfolk’s long term vision is to build the most compelling destination for luxurious and high quality Indian looms.