Indian Designer Sabyasachi to Mark Brand’s 25th Anniversary
MUMBAI — Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee — well known as Sabya — will mark 25 years of his brand with a show here Friday.
As the countdown for the celebration begins, Mukherjee lovers of all categories — retailers, Bollywood stars, industrialists, and the many friends he has collected over the years — are expected to gather to mark the occasion. The runway show will be his first in five years.
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There has been a focus on retail growth over the past few years — there currently are five stand-alone stores, including the 5,800-square-foot flagship that opened on Christopher Street in Manhattan in 2022 and an opulent 32,000-square-foot store in a heritage building in Mumbai that opened in 2023.
In an interview, Mukherjee said he spent the “first 25 years building the brand” and now is looking forward to “the next 25 years building the business.”
An unusual statement for a brand that is a leader in the Indian market with an estimated turnover of more than 5 billion rupees, or about $53 million.
“The aim is to be a $2 billion brand by 2030,” he said. “Growing numerous verticals within India, and expanding the brand outside India.”
As ambitious as that goal is, he’s looking beyond that, too. “But, you know, my eyes are not on 2030 — they are on 2040,” he added after some thought. “By the time India hits 2040, it will be one of the biggest economies in the world — and also one of the youngest economies in the world. I want Sabyasachi to be a luxury business right on top of that economy.”
Through it all, he has kept an unusual clarity about the way forward.
“The clarity was very there from the day I started with the team of three — and now that we have thousands working with us, it’s still the same. I have never short-changed myself for personal success or for money. The clarity has never wavered,” he said, adding that it only got better with time.
“You know, the beautiful thing about getting older — I turned 50 last year — is that the clarity increases, your convictions become stronger,” he said thoughtfully. “I’ve always wanted to build something that was larger than me, and I don’t want to be selfish enough to hold something that I can’t control myself.”
He explained that was one of the reasons he sold a 51 percent stake in his business to the Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd, in 2021.
“Because together we’re going to build a brand which will outlast both of us,” he said.
Sabyasachi’s jewelry has been a passion, and accessories have grown quickly at 35 to 40 percent growth — both of which he said he wants to focus on expanding aggressively in the next few years. “So far, the growth has been with very limited distribution, because you know we are not online, we haven’t yet started special stores, and when we put that trajectory into an expansion mode, then the numbers will be quite robust,” he said.
The first stand-alone accessory-only store will open in Hyderabad this week. “Conversations about larger format retail of both jewelry and accessories stores are on, and clothing will grow at an organic pace,” he said.
Beauty is in the cards too — with perfumes under process, and the launch last year of a highly coveted lipstick collection with The Estée Lauder Cos.
He said that when a broader beauty line is launched it would happen in a very big way. “Then suddenly everybody will be able to afford a Sabyasachi much more cheaply. I’m trying to control distribution and grow the aspiration so that when we open the floodgates it’s going to be a tsunami,” he said.
Meanwhile, bridalwear continues to be a big winner for the brand.
“There are two things that I do and I equally love them,” Sabyasachi explained. “One part of my business is about reviving traditions. Like I’ve often said, ‘I’m a ferry man — between the past and the present, I like to take the heritage and transfer to a generation that have only seen it in textbooks or never seen it at all. And the other part of my business is to create destructive passion, so bridal belongs to both categories and I enjoy doing it. It never gets boring for me.”
Over the years, Sabyasachi saris have been a rage.
“They come and buy saris from Sabyasachi because of the fact that it’s sustainable — once you buy it, you can wear it for life, and it also adds on to your cultural and craft identity,” he observed. “It’s a misnomer that people think that Indian consumers want to buy cheap. That’s not true at all. As long as people find value in what they’re purchasing, they don’t mind opening their purse strings. That’s a big change. When I look at the way our sari business is growing and expanding, I realize that women don’t shop indiscriminately anymore because they work hard, they’re earning, and are just so mindful about spending right.”
Looking ahead, Sabyasachi is focused on both consolidated growth in global markets, and during this process to establish India as a luxury player.
“I did not build the New York store for business — but for the stature of India, and the stature of the brand. I always thought that India has been represented very poorly in fashion abroad, and we have been dismissed as people who are incapable of building a luxury brand. That has permanently changed as people step into the Sabyasachi store in New York,” he said.
It could be taking a bit of a gamble, with the high costs of going global, but Sabyasachi described himself only as a “methodical gambler.”
“I make sure that I don’t pursue business at the cost of the brand. There is premature greed — and there’s a mature wisdom. One has to choose between them,” he explained, adding that many businesses that had grown in stature and sustainability had taken their time to make it happen. “More than 100 years — whether it was Chanel, Dior, Hermès or others.”
Yet Sabyasachi describes his position as “taking more of a back seat than ever before.”
“The brand is Sabyasachi — it is much more haloed than I will ever be. I’m just a humble worker who is making sure that I keep the altar shining. It’s not me anymore,” he said. “The tiger has replaced my face,” he said, speaking about the emblem that has become recognizable as his motif. “I don’t even say that ‘I’ own the brand, I say that ‘India’ owns the brand. I don’t address the brand as ‘I’ but rather as ‘we’. As I’m getting older, I’m happier to be more behind the scenes and let other people rise and make sure the company gets stronger than ever.”
Although Sabyasachi is based in Kolkata, the celebrations are to be held in Mumbai. Despite Kolkata’s strong traditions, the reason for Mumbai seems self evident.
“Bombay is like New York,” Sabyasachi explained. “It’s like saying if you want to show in America, why choose New York? The beautiful thing about Bombay is that it’s no one’s city, but it’s also everyone’s city — it is truly cosmopolitan.
“You have people from business to entertainment, you have customers and global connectivity — and everybody likes to go to.”
Coming back to the magic figure of 25 — It’s not so much about places anyway, but sharing the moment, experiencing the dream.
“You know, my biggest dream was to sow the seeds within India that we could create a luxury brand out of this country. I think that has been properly done. Now everybody believes that we can do one — and it doesn’t have to be Sabya, it could be anyone else. My job was to sow the seeds and it’s done. I just feel happy that I could deliver,” he said. “That’s all.”
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