COVID-19 pandemic has impacted various businesses adversely, and the fashion industry has been no exception to it. During the pandemic, the fashion business, particularly physical stores, faced difficult times, with travel, tourism, and office-related trips almost halting. As a result, online shopping has grown in popularity, with most women preferring to shop from the convenience of their own homes. This has sparked a slew of new online businesses in recent years.
Even long-established fashion brands that started off in the brick-and-mortar world have begun to sell online. The Founder and CEO of PowerSutra, Pooja Malhotra, believes that online shopping will continue to grow in the long run, owing to greater internet penetration and the convenience of purchasing from the comfort of one’s own home. Artificial intelligence will play a significant part in providing clients with a virtual shopping experience in the future.
The Inspiration Behind PowerSutra’s Inception
Pooja is a post-graduate Doctor (MBBS, DA, DNB) in Anaesthesiology, with over 15 years of experience in medicine, having worked with some of the best hospitals like Max, Fortis, Safdarjung, Hindu Rao, Lady Hardinge Medical College, etc. Her work has been presented at a number of national and international conferences. The vision for PowerSutra was born from a problem that she experienced. The extraordinary CEO often struggled to find good quality apparels at affordable prices when shopping for professional wear for herself. The majority of the options on the market were off-the-shelf garments with limited variety, standard sizes, and dull colours. Plus, Indian body sizes do not necessarily fit into standard sizes, and alterations become a big hassle. “I realized that there is a huge gap in this market with the need for a solution provider, who could provide customized outfits to its customers and thus founded PowerSutra in 2020,” states Pooja.
Today, as CEO and Founder of PowerSutra, she wears many hats. Pooja tries to delegate as many responsibilities as possible but often ends up looking after Operations, HR, marketing, strategy, finance, and sales-related stuff. The industrious leader always keeps the morale of the team high and ensures that the ever-changing preferences of customers are met.
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As a CEO and founder, one always needs to think a step ahead anticipating the challenges that are likely to be encountered and their possible solutions.
Company Overview
PowerSutra is a certified women-led company that takes immense pride in being recognized as a leading size-inclusive made-to-order online brand for women, focusing on customization and workwear. The company offers customizations not only in terms of body fit and size but also in terms of the comfort and style of a customer. “For example, while ordering a skirt from our website, customer has an option to decide the length of the same depending upon her style and comfort. She can choose the length of the skirt to fall till knee level, below the knee, or above the knee. Similarly, while buying a top, the customer has an option to go for a sleeveless top, a full sleeve top, a half sleeve top, or a 3/4th sleeve top. Unfortunately, there are not many options available for shopping for plus-size women,” Pooja proudly asserts.
Furthermore, a customer can design a garment according to her style and provide three measurements for a great fit on PowerSutra’s website. Standard sizes ranging from XXS to 15 XL are also available in all of its garments. Its range of apparel includes tops, trousers, skirts, pantsuits, skirt suits, sheath dresses, evening dresses, party wear, co-ords, culottes, jumpsuits, jackets, blazers, sweaters, etc.
Maintaining a Focused Workforce & Keeping Employees Content
The team of PowerSutra consists of in-house fashion stylists, designers, masters, and tailors who are highly creative, passionate, and dedicated to their tasks. The open and inclusive team culture motivates its employees by allowing them to come out with creative ideas, solutions, out of box thinking, and operating at a level, which is above their current position.
At PowerSutra, Pooja makes sure that their staff has enough time to devote to their personal and family lives. “I firmly believe that only a happy team can result in happy customers and ultimately a growing company. A company can never grow if its employees are unhappy. Once you take care of employees, they ensure to take care of the company and its customers,” says Pooja. And that’s why, in these challenging times, the company always keeps its employees first, ensuring their financial security, sound physical health, and mental well-being to keep them motivated.
Adapting To The Unprecedented Crisis
COVID-19 pandemic has affected every business around the world. Therefore, to grow and sustain, Pooja and her team of PowerSutra are trying to be as nimble and flexible as possible in their operations, decision making, and strategy. At the same time, she ensures that the employees’ welfare and customer satisfaction remain paramount. They are constantly striving to learn and adapt to the fast-changing fashion and needs of their customers.
About The Future Outlooks
At PowerSutra, success is not a destination, but a journey. The company has recently started shipping its garments outside India as well. Pooja states that her company will focus on expanding its international presence in the year 2022, in addition to establishing itself in India. She sees a huge gap in fashion brands abroad providing quality size-inclusive garments at affordable prices. In the next 3-5 years, the industrious leader believes that PowerSutra will become a torchbearer for customization, size inclusiveness, and workwear garments.
A Special Message From CEO
“My message to our readers is that it does not matter what you wear as long as you feel happy & confident in wearing the same. Every woman has the capability to set new fashion standards and benchmarks so why be satisfied with just off the shelf standard stuff. Go out, customize, and explore.”
