Sketching Own Future ~ A Fashion Designer’s Passionate Undertaking
Gianni Versace, says,
“Don’t be into trends. Don’t make fashion own you, but you decide what you are, what you want to express by the way you dress and the way to live.”
In our #FridayFeature focusing on the #WonderWomen segment, today we bring to you a story of a fashion designer whose own love for dressing up led her to pursue fashion as a passion and a profession. Meet, Pooja Dhweep Mehta, a fashion designer and the founder of Dhunkii. What made her choose such a creative field and where does she draw her motivation from? Let’s hear it in her own words.
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“From a very young age I used to follow fashion and the current trends and even designed my own clothes for special occasions.
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These outfits never failed to draw in compliments. which of course fueled my love for it further. Hence, you can say my attachment to fashion and dressing up led to this profession.
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Of course, just having a passion and following it doesn’t always lead to success and even if it does, it’s never without a few struggles and impediments. The struggles I faced ranged from targeting the right customers to a constant need and demand for innovative designs. There was (and still is) a lack of reliable manufacturers. The pricing factor too has to be kept in mind and I need to keep a tab on my competitor’s prices, because in this industry its very common to lose out on even the most loyal clients because of the price factor.
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The biggest struggle though was that I had zero business experience and acumen and had to learn things like sourcing, costing, markups, floor margins, quality quotes from vendors and suppliers etc through first-hand experiences as these are not taught and one can learn it through experience only.
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There wasn’t any defining turning point, but I can say that the designing journey started going once I left my fulltime job and gave designing my undivided professional attention. That’s when Dhunkii actually picked up.
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I increased Dhunkii’s social media presence which helped a lot in reaching the target audience. I also started participating in popular exhibitions within Mumbai, which increased Dhunkii’s exposure and client-base. Today, I can proudly say that I have even designed for a few TV industry artists.
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I draw motivation from my clients’ positive comments. Other than this, My love for fashion and dressing up also motivates me.
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However, it is my mom’s wish of seeing me become a very successful designer which motivates me the most.
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The journey so far has been a mix bag of good as well as bad experiences. Fashion designing as a career has been very demanding, engaging , productive as well as an exciting one.
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I always wanted to be in the creative business. so its a different kind of high and satisfaction to have come this far.
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The USP of my brand Dhunkii is its custom made prints so the future plan is to come up with some amazing digital prints collection soon.
As for the learnings, I can sum it all up in four lines:
“Everyday is a new day, so it teaches you something new.”
“It’s a realistic environment to learn. You are working and learning at the same time.”
“Never Give up as there is nothing called as IMPOSSIBLE.”
and last but not the least,
“Where there is a will there is always a way.”
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To drop in a message to Pooja or to get an awesome outfit designed through her Dhunkii, you can follow the links below:
