Innovative and Wearable Fashion

In India’s luxury footwear industry, Payal Kothari’s Veruschka has made a name among the fashionforward women. The brand has presented a solo accessory show at Lakme Fashion Week for four years. Because of her work, Payal was featured on BBC World for her intuitive knowledge of footwear and its growth in India. With the growth of the footwear industry, more and more start-ups are venturing into the footwear sector, so it is very likely that we will see an increase in footwear designers, she told S&A in an exclusive interaction.

Motivation and So Far

From a young age I was interested in fashion and very creative; growing up always had trouble finding ‘that perfect shoe’. So I chose to study footwear design over apparel as my field in fashion. I was a Market Analyst with Reuters in New Year, and I decided to simultaneously study fashion part-time at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. After having taken a few classes in footwear designing, I decided to quit my full-time job with Reuters to make a career in fashion. I went on to work with a 5th Avenue-based footwear brand called “Nina & Delman”. I worked as an Assistant Designer and my designs were soon showcased at top fashion stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdales, to name a few.

I then decided to return to India to start my own brand, and after receiving a great response from the market here, I decided to stay on and started my brand ‘Veruschka By Payal Kothari’ which I debuted at Lakme fashion week in 2008

Challenges faced as a Designer

The designer apparel and accessories sector in India is largely disorganized and has limited sales channels. Finding the right raw materials in the market is the biggest challenge. Secondly, as compared to apparel brands, footwear brands comparably have less brand image in the fashion segment. Finally, even though India is the second largest manufacturer of footwear, yet the sector lacks fresh investment.