Fashion retailer High Street Essentials raises Rs 40 crore in funding from Stride Ventures

With the latest funding, the fashion house through Indya is foraying into the premium occasion wear category, Indya Luxe. The Luxe range comprises occasion & festive wear, priced between Rs 6,500 and Rs 18,000.

High Street Essentials or HSE founded in 2012 by Shivani

and Tanvi Malik, offers fast fashion through its omnichannel retail model. Fast fashion is a business model which basically replicates recent fashion trends by mass-producing them at low cost and bringing them to retail stores quickly while demand soaring.

“Indya Luze is a completely new segment for us and so far there is no organised player in the segment…In the last two years, buying pattern has changed massively and this business will augur well for the company,” Poddar told ET.

Along with building Indya Luxe, the new capital infusion will be utilized for expanding the company’s offline footprint.

HSE plans to double its offline presence by adding 30 more exclusive brand outlets, a mix of company-owned stores and franchisees and another 100 shop-in-shops in large format stores over the next 12-18 months.

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HSE is also eyeing offline expansion to international markets with its first physical store in Malaysia. On the online side, around 55% of the D2C demand comes from the US and the startup is also seeing good traction in Canada and Australia. On the offline side, the company has marketplaces in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

“We have a significant Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) business to international customers through our website and we will be expanding both online and offline expansion internationally,” Poddar said.

The company ventured into new categories such as fashion masks, loungewear, and formal keyboard-up dressing options – amid the first Covid-19 wave in 2020.

In 2021, the fashion house forayed into the personal care segment with the launch of an in-house brand, Indya Skin Care. It also added an Indian daywear brand – Earthen by Indya -to its portfolio.

“The investment has come at the right time as we kick start our next leg of success with key category expansions and scaling our offline and online presence to further solidify our position as a leading women’s lifestyle and fashion retail company,” said Poddar.

The company in May 2021 raised
Rs 25.5 crore led by existing investors Elevation Capital, India Quotient, Dominor Holding and family offices. The deal valued the startup at around $75 million. HSE raised Rs 20.75 crore in June 2020.