The brand has seen customer growth of 2.5x year on year and it services more than 21,000 pin codes across India
Bengaluru: In India, finding innerwear that keeps one comfy, does not cost the earth and is sustainable, is no longer a dream for women thanks to Inner Sense, a brand that uses a unique blend of bamboo fibre and organic cotton to create lingerie that is good both for its wearer and the environment.
Story of growth
For women, lingerie is an inseparable companion for a large part of their lifetimes and a major influence on how they feel about themselves. But is their lingerie good for their skin? How healthy is the fabric that is closest to their most delicate parts? Does it protect them, let their skin breathe, and is it toxin-free? These questions are what led Neerja Lakhani and Abhishek Lodha to launch Inner Sense.
“Indian women had long been underserved when it came to finding the perfect innerwear. There were so many brands that were either high on trends but low on quality, or they used fabric that although of good quality was not suitable for our climate, or they did not have innerwear in the right cuts and fits for the Indian body type. It was time for a brand that finally understood Indian women and what they need when it comes to innerwear,” explains Neerja.
Innovation at the core
At Inner Sense, there has been a laser-sharp focus on the customer from the start. “Our process started with finding out women’s specific needs and going to the bottom of it. The first question we tackled was the fabric—whether it was climate appropriate or not. We created our innerwear with materials that wick away moisture faster than average cotton or polyamide,” says Neerja.
Moreover, since hygiene is important when it comes to innerwear, the brand’s products also have anti-microbial qualities. “We know that the world is moving towards slow fashion [an approach to apparel manufacturing that takes into consideration people, the environment and animals], and we want to fill the gap by giving Indian consumers a product that is focused on hygiene and also makes them feel good about themselves and their impact on the environment,” adds Neerja.
For Inner Sense, being an innovative brand is a matter of pride. Innovation is apparent in every aspect of the brand’s products, from the fabric (which forms 60% of the raw material that goes into a product) to the different knits and stretchability variations used for enhancing fit.
Additionally, the brand offers products that are specifically designed for Indians and suited to Indian functionality, making Inner Sense a unique and appealing choice for customers. Of course, there have been several challenges along the road. “Acquiring customers at scale was one of the biggest challenges for us. In marketplaces, customer education and differentiating our product from a run-of-the- mill product was another big challenge,” explains Neerja. Gradually though, the brand managed to have ‘organic cotton’ and ‘bamboo’ as attributes in innerwear that people search for, on all major marketplaces. Inner Sense has even had bigger players copying the anti-microbial or anti-bacterial aspects of its products.
Being customer ready
At Inner Sense, creating direct engagement channels with customers and working diligently on providing superior customer care service with a personal touch to them has led to an increase in word-of-mouth publicity and customer stickiness. The brand invests heavily in its customer care personnel and their training, to create empathetic helpers instead of a tertiary team that just closes tickets. The qualitative aspects to improve
customer experience and deepen relationships with customers are of absolute importance to the brand and are measured continuously.
To expand its customer base, Inner Sense will be establishing its presence in international geographies. The brand will also be launching multiple categories of products, such as a complete range of sustainable loungewear, athleisure, swimwear and shapewear in the coming months. “To use non-toxic materials and also excitingly tackle waste, we will be adding recycle materials made from pet plastic bottles to our raw-material repertoire. We are currently in the process of rebranding to give our company a more international feel that will appeal to our current customer base as well as future target markets,” adds Neerja.
Brownie Points
- Inner Sense recorded high sales just after the 2nd and 3rd waves of the Covid-19 pandemic as, despite the lifting of restrictions, women increasingly wanted to shop from the safety of their homes and on their mobiles.
- The brand has received requests from the industry’s big players for collaboration, which resulted in Neerja and her team creating a co-brand for maternity solutions called ‘EcoMama’.
- The brand has seen customer growth of 2.5x year on year.
- Inner Sense ships its products within 24 hours of the order receipt, servicing more than 21,000 pin codes across India and providing next- day deliveries across major metros.
First appeared in The India D2C Yearbook 2022
