How Nina Lekhi built Baggit from a 7k business to a 111 crore venture?

When Nina lekhi faced academic failure at the age of 17, her world was devastated. But instead of being consumed with self doubt she believed that she had much more potential than this and took her stand to prove her worth. It was this failure that she encountered early in her life, which ignited a fire inside. She came to terms with the fact that failures play a very crucial role in one’s success, and without any delay started her entrepreneurial journey. With just Rs. 7000 in hand, she created a global bag brand “Baggit”, which is worth 111 crores today and has over 360 stock-keeping units (SKUs) in both handbags and wallets, 70 SKUs in mobile pouches, and 10 franchised stores.

Beat It! To Baggit

Nina, MD and Design Curator, Baggit, never imagined that she would be launching her own venture at the age of 17. Even though Nina was a hardworking and dedicated student she had failed her first year of college at Sophia Polytechnic in Mumbai. “I was not ready to face what I was going through at that particular age; it was disheartening. I was already completely confused about what I should do with my life, failure compounded the confusion, and I became a complete rebel,” Lekhi reveals.

To keep herself busy and occupied during the year she was at home, she decided to enroll herself in a short-term design and screen printing course, while also working as a part-time sales assistant in a shop. She started making vibrant bags using canvas, and convinced the store owner to keep her creations in the shop.

The failure at such a tender age had ignited a newfound passion in her to prove herself and show the world that she was capable, “I took it upon myself to prove that I was not a dud, that I was capable. I wanted to prove that I not only had the artistic skill but also the business acumen—be it administrative, finance or people skills. The sole purpose was to prove that I could to myself and to the people around me and to bring back my self-esteem.”

Inspired by Michael Jackson’s popular ’80s song Beat It! Nina came up with the idea of her business venture, Baggit.

The Initial Baby Steps

Initially, Nina started off with just one bag with a vision to create more bags that have their own “unique attitudes and personalities.” She started off with procuring canvas in large quantities, since it was the most accessible material for a 17 year old girl. Recalling the baby steps that she took in order to kickstart her new venture, she says, “I used to make my own designs, make paper patterns for them, just slightly bigger to be able to stitch them. That is how it started—the journey of a home-grown, self-made kind of product. Also, the size mattered a lot—young girls would require hobos, bohemian bags and totes large enough to carry art works. That was what my world was about.”

Nina started selling her bags to the girls in her college, at exhibitions and supplied exclusively to a few retail stores. After gaining a little experience, Nina started designing more variants, ranging across slings, purses, wallets, clutches, shoulder bags, totes, and satchels. “We slowly expanded to different handbag sizes, products women required. There was a point when I hit upon faux leather, and it really took off. The kind of designs we did, there was nothing like that available at that particular time. Our product was always the kind the ‘girl in denims’ would love to carry—it had a cool, casual appeal; it was never very corporate, never very serious—but, today, we make products for every woman. In fact, we are now known for more formal and workwear handbags. We have still not nailed the party range or the bling ones yet.”

Carving her niche

Nina had seen one of her friends exhibiting his garments at Oberoi Hotels, taking cue from him she started marketing and exhibiting her bags in various exhibitions. Another kick that she got for her venture was while she was working as a sales girl in a boutique where she began stocking bags and selling them to the girls. And finally, a big collaboration took place when Shoppers Stop and Regal wanted to stock her bags.

This partnership gave a boost to her venture, she witnessed an increase in footfall and soon started selling her bags Pan-India. Malls were proliferating at that time and she knew that brand visibility was extremely important, hence, Nina opened her first store in Atria mall. Gradually, she worked towards expanding and marketing Baggit to make it a huge brand. Currently Baggit has its presence in over 61 cities across India with 40 exclusive Baggit outlets and presence in 300 multi brand retail stores.

What makes Baggit different from others?

Unlike other bag brands, Baggit focuses not just on the quality of the bags but also on its capacity, which they consider to be equally important. They ensure that each and every bag has enough space to carry the goods comfortably. Not only this, but their designs are also affordable and in tune with International brands.

Unlike other brands which focus on the latest trend and seasons, Baggit never goes out of season, “Our vision is to be a responsible fashion brand, which is internationally successful, but based out of India. While most of the fashion brands pitch on seasonal, trendy, latest fashion, we are more in the mould of classic fashion. Our products do not become irrelevant at the end of the season.”

While a plethora of domestic brands source their materials from China since it is cheaper, Baggit continues to design and manufacture its entire product portfolio domestically in India. Baggit since its inception has strongly believed in the ‘Make in India’ philosophy, designing and manufacturing with the Indian consumer’s sensibilities in mind. The company has a vision and aims of being a responsible global fashion brand, “We are the largest manufacturers and brand owners in the handbags category in India. We derive efficiency of scale far bigger than most of our competitors who happen to source from China or other places. Our competitive strength comes from the fact that we have been in the business for 30 years. We understand the Indian consumer psyche the best and do end-to-end work in India, right from designing to manufacturing; it makes us affordable.”

Also recognized from PETA for being cruelty-free, Baggit is a vegan brand. Baggit also won the PETA Vegan Fashion Awards 2014 for the Best Brand in Women’s Wallet category. Nina believes in peace, love, compassion and cruelty free products, according to her, “Vegan fashion is not a trend. We believe that fashion must make you feel good from the inside out. Cruelty-free fashion stems from compassion, peace and love for all. More importantly, it gives you the freedom to experiment with a wide range of designs, materials, prints and textures, and that’s what our Indian consumers want—great variety that’s worth the price!”

Work-Life Balance for Nina

Nina is a dedicated and sincere person with zeal and enthusiasm to constantly learn something new. But she also believes in taking time off to unwind and balancing her personal and professional lives.

Nina is an ardent follower of Siddha Samadhi Yoga and maintains work-life balance. Along with her husband, she has also adopted Katarkhadak village to ensure rural employment and overall welfare. “I go for two days every week to Katarkhadak, a small village on the outskirts of Pune, where our Guruji Rishi Prabhakarji’s school and ashram are located. I sunbathe in a hammock, run on the mountains, cycle, and have a dip with swans, snakes and crabs in the lake. I go on excursions with the school kids into the mountains, to the lake side, feed them, enjoy and do crazy stuff with all of them. The true sense of unwinding for me comes from being in nature and enjoying the awesome weather in the mountains, so different from that in the city.”

She also considers herself extremely blessed to have a loving, encouraging family which helps her focus on her business, she says, “My greatest achievement is that my design and creativity has led to a large product portfolio and growing business. But this alone would not have been enough. I also have a loving and balanced family life. And I have managed this with a great work-life balance approach.”

Nina Lekhi is the epitome of hard work, dedication and passion. Despite numerous failures and fluctuations she never gave up and believed in the saying that “failures are the stepping stone to success” and when you are passionate about something, you don’t quit. You keep going on no matter what. And she is a living proof of what a person can achieve through drive, passion and persistence.

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