Sidhant Keshwani Success Story: In India’s booming fashion and D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) ecosystem, few stories are as inspiring as that of Sidhant Keshwani, the founder of Libas. What makes his journey remarkable is not just the scale of success—today, Libas clocks over ₹700 crore in annual revenue—but the fact that it was built on the lessons of a failed startup.
This is the story of how a ₹5,000 T-shirt that nobody bought turned into the stepping stone for one of India’s most successful ethnic wear brands.
The First Startup: A Costly Failure
Like many young entrepreneurs, Sidhant began with big dreams. He launched his first fashion startup with the idea of introducing premium-priced products for the Indian market. The brand offered T-shirts priced at ₹5,000, targeting urban consumers who were just beginning to experiment with online shopping.
The concept was aspirational—but also far ahead of its time. India in the late 2000s and early 2010s wasn’t ready for that level of premium pricing in casual wear. While international brands like Zara and H&M were just entering the market, Indian consumers were still hesitant to pay even ₹500 for a T-shirt.
The result?
- Very few sales
- Rapidly depleting savings
- And eventually, the failure of the startup
Instead of giving up, Sidhant took this as market research paid for in failure. He realized that building a business is not about what the founder wants to sell—it’s about what the consumer is ready to buy.
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The Birth of Libas (2014)
Armed with this hard-earned wisdom, Sidhant launched Libas in 2014. This time, the strategy was very different:
- Product Focus: Instead of premium western wear, he turned to affordable ethnic wear for Indian women—a category with massive, consistent demand.
- Price Point: Products were priced in a way that was stylish, yet accessible to the middle-class consumer.
- Distribution: Instead of relying only on offline stores, Libas partnered with Amazon, Myntra, and Flipkart, meeting customers where they were already shopping.
- Operations: The company built a tech-enabled supply chain to ensure fast design-to-delivery cycles, allowing them to keep up with changing fashion trends.
- Funding: Unlike many startups chasing investors, Libas was bootstrapped in its early years, which meant the company grew with discipline and focus.
Early Struggles: Building With Discipline
The early years of Libas were not easy. Bootstrapping meant every rupee had to be stretched. The brand had to:
- Convince customers that an online ethnic wear brand could be as trustworthy as offline stores.
- Compete with established players in the ethnic fashion space.
- Manage cash flow without the cushion of large VC funding.
But step by step, order by order, Libas began to scale. Customers appreciated the combination of trendy designs, quality fabrics, and affordable pricing.
The Growth Story
Within a few years, Libas transformed from a small family-run brand into one of India’s fastest-growing ethnic wear companies.
Revenue Milestones
- From modest beginnings, Libas scaled to ₹700+ crore annual revenue by FY24.
- It built a strong online presence and later expanded into offline channels as well.
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