It has been a long journey for Ritu Kumar. From a student of art history excited with hand-block printing she discovered in Serampore, she has travelled to be the first lady of Indian fashion who brought hip hop on the runway with her recent LFW collection. Kumar, who identifies with the word revivalist the most, is still on the move though. Her Instagram feed is an amalgam of old dyes and heritage fabrics, new designs and the contemporary reality. Real is what she represents. Real is what she restores. Her icon is freedom fighter and socialist reformer Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay rather than Coco Chanel.

And her business reflects that ethos. Her feet are firmly grounded in the terrain of profitable sustainability. She has three brands —Label, RK, and Ri—and 65 stores in her stable, in India and abroad. While Ri comprises niche bridal wear, Label is the prêt line for the young and experimental. Prices start at Rs 900 for a Label piece, and can go up to Rs 500,000 for bridal wear. While number crunching is certainly not the only mantra behind her success, Kumar gives the business side of things its due respect.

Her son Amrish, now the CEO of Ritu Kumar, has spurred her forward on an expansion drive since 2014. Everstone Capital bought a stake in the business in 2014. The decision was made because Kumars wanted a faster pace of growth and could see themselves making good use of the capital. So much so, that the business saw annual revenues to the tune of Rs 200 crore last year! Of course, having stakeholders spell the need to keep an eye firmly on the bottom line, on profits and margins.

 

Label has been the vital piece in the puzzle. Amrish has made it his imprint, pushing for designs for a younger clientele, modern, man-made fibres, and an aggressive growth model. With change in the way Indian women dress now, this move was borne out of necessity. But does that diminish the core aesthetics of the brand Ritu Kumar in anyway? Certainly not. The design is quintessentially Kumar, rooted firmly in India.

And the fashion house per se has a vast repertoire beyond Label. Think of the last wedding you went to. Or, the last puja. The last festival celebrated. A vast majority of women, young or old, had turned to saris, lehngas, or kurtis over anything else. We are yet to be a nation like Japan, where the traditional attire is rarely seen. And this connect is what Kumar taps into. This is what she represents. Her price point works in her favour too. A Ritu Kumar sari is not so much more expensive than an unbranded traditional silk weave one would wear to a family wedding. Or, for that matter, to their own.

This is the very reason why her relevance is established not just from the awards she picked up (Padma Shri being one) or the glittering stars who reach for a Ritu Kumar outfit often enough to the delight of the paparazzi. She commands rare respect and warmth from the peers and competitors in the fashion industry too. But the true testament to her art, her craft, lies in every woman’s aspiration for a Ritu Kumar. She is not the stuff of their dreams. Ritu Kumar is very real for them, her pieces take them home as they shop for trousseaus and weddings, festivals, and fun. As Kumar travels literally from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, seeking, exploring, reviving, she gives back to her women with steely determination. She gives them a piece of their heritage.