Champ’s Closet has been dressing up kids for five years now. The fashion brand that is the brainchild of Inter National Institute of Fashion Design graduate, mompreneur and fashion designer Minakshi Jhunjhunwala, opened doors in 2016. Its comfy clothing line for kids up to eight years of age ranges from ethnic ensembles such as kurta, churidar/dhoti sets to western and fusion wear like dresses, frocks, shararas, dhoti pant sets. There are waistcoats, sleepwear, cushions too, along with a delightful sibling collection and cotton face masks with lovely motifs to draw in the little ones. t2 tapped Minakshi for a short chat on the label, which has gained in popularity with the parents by blending quality, comfort and style for the apparels of their kids.
Minakshi Jhunjhunwala with son Akshaj Jhunjhunwala
When did Champ’s Closet come to be and how was the idea conceived?
It came to be in September 2016. I opened a flagship store in Ballygunge Place. We went online in 2017. I have my own website through which we cater to our pan-India customers. My son was three years old when I started out. I wanted an Indian garment for him for one school occasion, and I couldn’t find it throughout the city. He was supposed to dress up like Kanha and go to montessori school, but I couldn’t find the costume. And then, one day he was coming out of class and I observed that the T-shirt he was wearing was worn by three other kids. And that was when I realised that there is a huge gap in the market for unique garments for kids of premium quality, that are child-friendly and pocket-friendly too. That spurred me to start my own brand of kids wear.
You are a mompreneur and a fashion designer rolled into one....
All I can say is that if we try and manage a few things in our lives with support from our friends and family, we can definitely do something professionally. Financial independence matters a lot for every woman, no matter if she is single, married or a mother. And speaking from my experience, I realised that when you put one step forward from your end, God makes the other things fall into place.
How have you ensured the brand keeps up its quality and repeat sale value?
Well, I don’t procure any material that I wouldn’t let my son wear. I sit and draw the designs myself and only then are they printed. So, those prints are not commonly available in the market and are pocket-friendly too. Generally what happens is that kids outgrow the garments very fast, but our garments can be worn by siblings too. The quality is very good so the clothes don’t get spoilt with washing. In fact, we have created our own range of sibling garments. We have a range of sleepwear, Indo-western, cotton frocks suitable for daily wear and so on. I want to be able to cater to every child in the country. When Covid-19 hit, we started preparing masks too and now we are making matching masks with the garments.
Speaking of the pandemic and the new normal, how did your label adapt to it?
When the world was going through the first lockdown, most of the people were not working because the ‘work from home’ culture had not yet come in. But since I stay on the third floor and my store is on the ground floor, I had the opportunity to share my work with the team. We refurbished our website last year during the lockdown. We put in customer-friendly filters (colours, age, and other sub-categories) and simplified the payment procedure to make the e-shopping experience easy and customer-friendly. Stepping up our online presence in the market was inevitable. We also collaborated with the likes of Aza Fashions, Indian Silk House, The Secret Label and so on. We have our presence in four-five portals and we supply to three cities.
In these five years, how has the trend for kidswear changed?
What I have observed in these five years is that kids want to go for simple garments that look stylish too. Kids have become choosier than before. Many kids want to match their clothes with their mother’s or father’s garments too... so that’s there too. At the end of the day, they want their outfits to be comfortable too, so comfortable and stylish wear is the trend today I would say.
Tell us about the styles, textures, motifs and colours….
Most of our garments are 100 per cent cotton, which also includes 100 per cent organic cotton nowadays. We have started doing rhombus designs as well. Only for the girls’ Indianwear, we use high-quality silk, georgette, crepe, rayon. Otherwise, it’s only cotton because the fabric is very skin-friendly so that the kids won’t have rashes or allergies. Our collection features bright and pastel shades. We make our motifs from natural dyes and they are hand-embroidered. Our night suits are our USP. Other categories are doing well too, but especially after Covid-19, night suits have picked up well because kids are staying at home throughout mostly. So, their parents are buying more of night suits to keep them comfortable.
Do you have any plans to cater to more age groups?
We have the ready stock for the age-group of newborn to eight-year-olds but that has not started on our website as of now. We are also planning to provide customised garments for kids up to 12 years very soon. We have a proper range of handcrafted cushions for kids to decorate their rooms too.
What is the vision for Champ’s Closet?
We are looking for collaborations with other multi-designer stores throughout the country as well as other online aggregators. We are getting back to doing exhibitions, that was halted during the lockdown. I am definitely trying to expand the brand’s reach through the country.