Sidhant Keshwani, founder and chief executive officer, D2C-first women’s fast fashion ethnic brand Libas on its largest store, offline expansion and international ambitions
Launched in 2004, Delhi-based modern ethnic wear brand Libas has effectively leveraged digital platforms and D2C strategies to expand its customer base. With a focus on quality as well as affordability, Libas caters to modern Indian women of all ages, providing the perfect blend of contemporary style and traditional elegance.
The brand has seen notable growth in recent years, fuelled by its expanding product line and robust online presence. The brand’s continued upward trajectory is supported by enhanced digital marketing strategies, broader distribution channels, and a growing trend in online shopping, positioning it for even greater revenue growth.
The company clocked a turnover of Rs 300 crore in financial year (FY) 2022, which increased to Rs 500 crore revenue in FY 2024.
Libas has gone omnichannel and has a store count of around 18. From September onwards, expansion will pick up pace and the brand will launch about three to four stores every month.
In an exclusive interaction with IMAGES Retail, Sidhant Keshwani, Founder & CEO, Libas talks about the launch of its largest store, expansion plans and recent funding. Excerpts:
Libas recently launched its largest bridal store in Lajpat Nagar. Could you share some insights into this new store and its key attractions?
Being a fast fashion brand, we normally don’t have stores of such big sizes. However, we wanted to experiment with an experiential store, which is a one-stop wedding shopping destination. From loungewear to bridal lehenga, night suit to mehndi or cocktail outfits, the Lajpat Nagar store has everything.
What experiential angle is added to the store?
The store has an in-house stylist to assist shoppers. Additionally, a celebrity stylist will be available by appointment for personalised consultations. We will be providing services where shoppers can book an appointment for a whole day and do the complete trousseau and wedding shopping.
How robust are you about your expansion plans?
We are aggressively focused on expansion. The idea is to open about 100-150 stores over the next one and a half years. We are targeting a wide range of geographies across India, beginning with major metros and select smaller state capitals such as Chandigarh and Pune. We plan to expand aggressively in these cities.
In September, we are opening one in Delhi, at Chandni Chowk (Omaxe Mall). Then, we have one coming up in Ghaziabad. We have recently opened a store in GK 1 as well. In early October, we are opening one of our big flagship stores in Karol Bagh. And then we are opening one in Bangalore, we are opening another one in Lucknow (Phoenix Mall). By the end of this year, we will be covering cities like Pune, Bombay, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
While our plans for experiential stores are still being evaluated and the pace of expansion is yet to be determined, our regular stores will be scaled up on a pan-India level over the next one and a half years.
How do you balance this equation of stores in highstreets and shopping malls?
We already have a plan for the next hundred stores, which is a mix of high streets and malls. We have shortlisted the cities with the help of our online data, as we are essentially an e-commerce brand. We researched, segregated and collated a list of the next 100-120 stores that will open now. The regional teams will scout for locations in these cities and if it’s a good location, we will sign, be it a mall or high-street.
Any international expansion plans?
At the start of this year, we launched our global website, focusing on the international markets. We are seeing good traction there. Honestly, we have no offline expansion plan in the international market for the next two years. But, eventually, the long-term goal for Libas is to be a global brand with international stores as well.
How do you identify opportunities for launching a new product or category?
We don’t work on a season’s basis anymore. Seasonality is just Autumn-Winter or Spring-Summer. We launch 100 new styles almost every week. That’s how fast we are. So, in terms of getting new fashion to our stores or to the website, we are the fastest in the country in women’s fashion.
We are one of the only women’s Indian wear fast fashion brands. So, any trend that you see starting from say co-ord sets or any trend that is going on, we’ll be the fastest to get that on board. And we launch it in the form of drops. So that’s how we differentiate our collection. We recently launched a collection called Gul, which is floral cotton prints. We do drops like that. There’ll be some USP in that drop, it can be cotton, silk or heavy occasion-wear.
Your best performing category?
Our USP is office-wear. That’s how we started. The cotton suits, cotton SKDs, cotton cord sets, etc. do the best for us.
How has this year been in terms of growth and revenue?
Mass consumption has been at a low over the last six months. Everybody is struggling in this category. However, premium and luxury are still doing better. We continue to grow on a portfolio level as we are on an expansion spree. But if you look at leg-to-leg growth among stores or platforms or online channels, there has been a little bit of degrowth up till July. But with August festivities kicking in, we will be seeing an upper trend again from last year. But the first four to five months of the year were slow for the industry.
Libas recently secured an investment of funding of Rs 150 crore. How has that been utilized?
The funds are being utilised in three key areas. A significant portion is dedicated to opening new stores, which was the main reason for securing funding. We are also heavily investing in enhancing the e-commerce experience on our website as we transition from being a marketplace-first brand to prioritising our digital channels, which include our website, which we launched four years ago. It will now be a key focus area over the next three years, alongside our stores. Lastly, we are investing in building a robust supply chain. While fast fashion is easy to market and sell, no Indian brand has yet mastered a streamlined supply chain, unlike western wear brands that often rely on imports. Our goal is to automate and optimise our supply chain to meet the demands of fast fashion efficiently.
And how do you balance D2C and stores?
We just started offline about two years back, so it’s still new for us and forms only 20-22% of the overall business. In terms of a balancing act, our e-commerce presence is dominant. We are the largest in the country in e-commerce in women’s Indian fashion, and we already have a huge pie of market share in the online space. So, it continues to grow in an automated manner. Those setups and systems are in place to grow organically as the industry grows.
Any upcoming innovations you want to highlight?
We are leveraging technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address various small challenges, such as optimising regional utilisation online and enhancing our merchandising and exclusive brand outlets. As a fast fashion brand, it is crucial for us to quickly rotate and refresh inventory in stores since we have frequent visitors who expect newness every weekend. We use technology to track what’s performing well and what is not, allowing us to promptly remove underperforming items and update displays. These small yet impactful innovations have been instrumental in helping us establish ourselves in the market.
Where do you see your brand three years from now?
We have spent a decent amount of time building a dominating presence in the online space. In the next two to three years, we are going to be the largest Indian brand in the category we operate in. Not just online or offline, but omnichannel. With the way we are modernising Indian wear, Indian wear is going to become a global trend and it is going to put us on the world map—we aspire to be a global brand over the next five to 10 years.
