Good wear gives us confidence and a sense of style, which is fascinating. Have you thought of the urban type of silks? Urban Silks is a south Asian ethnic clothing retail-based out of Toronto, Canada, that makes you look exceptional in the streets with their Sarees, Salwars, Lenghas, Kurtis, Ethnic men’s wear. However, they have launched an online shop https://www.urbansilks.com due to the pandemic, shipping all over Canada and the USA. Their clothing ranges from north Indian to south Indian styles. Their goal is ethnic desi fashion at affordable prices. They are also taking the fast-fashion approach similar to Zara, shein, fashion nova and bringing it to be south Asian fashion.

The Force of Urban Silks

Arjun Mano and his family own urban Silks. His parents handle the retail operations, while Arjun handles the marketing and eCommerce. Arjun’s main passion is filmmaking, having gone to school for television and broadcasting. He dedicates his free time to writing scripts and educating himself in screenwriting. He aims to write and direct his films once he can have Urban Silks on Auto-Pilot. 

He derives inspiration for the clothing store from Instagram and Pinterest. Urban Silks started as a result of his dad’s frequent visit to India for business. He would come back bringing his mom sarees from his trip, and his mom’s friends would want the same sarees. His dad would then come back from another trip with more sarees for a fair share of his mom’s friends. That is how the idea sparked. His dad bought more sarees, and Arjun opened a Facebook page, took pictures of the sarees, and would post on the page. The word spread, and ultimately the house was filled with clients. Their competitors even complained to city by-law officers running a significant operation in the house, which was against the law. They thus opened a retail store in June 2013. 

The Market Saturation

Urban Silks continued to attract more clients, such that they have over 13,000 Facebook page likes. They leveraged Facebook to market their products, which was the main job of Arjun Mano. Customers would show up at their store after seeing the pictures of the products they liked on Facebook and purchase. Clients also started sharing their albums on their Facebook pages, which would attract more clients. Arjun has also done paid advertising but has scaled chiefly through word of mouth and the convenience of customers viewing their products online before purchasing a product of choice, which is time-saving. This strategy made them stand out as other stores did not do it. 

Again, constant communication with their consumers helped them know what to purchase/manufacture to satisfy clients’ needs. Their high sense of fashion, customer satisfaction, hard work, and consistency is what have scaled the business at a rapid pace. They are leaders in the Toronto market, having survived eight years in the cutthroat industry with so many players. There is always a new competitor every day, but their loyal clients continue shopping with them as free ambassadors.

Overcoming Obstacles

The biggest challenge is keeping up with trends in south Asian fashion. They keep changing rapidly, and trying to stay ahead of these trends, tending to different customer needs has been challenging. But, due to their years of experience and expert advisors, they can keep up with the changing dynamics as they anticipate changes.