Our goal is to create looks that empower
Saaki is a modern Indian fashion brand co-created with actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu, blending global style with an Indian heart. Designed for women who embrace individuality, Saaki reimagines traditional aesthetics through a contemporary lens, offering versatile fashion for every occasion—from brunches in San Francisco to Mehendi ceremonies in Hyderabad.
Rooted in Indian sensibilities yet crafted for a global audience, the brand celebrates self-expression, inclusivity, and accessible style. With thoughtfully designed collections, Saaki is more than fashion—it is a celebration of confidence, culture, and modern femininity. Speaking to Fibre2Fashion, Co-founder Sushruti Krishna shares insights into Saaki’s journey, its evolving vision, and how the brand is redefining modern Indian fashion.
What inspired you to start Saaki, and what vision did you have for the brand when it was launched?
Samantha Ruth Prabhu and I co-founded Saaki in 2020. At the time, while we had access to runway and couture fashion for events and shoots, we noticed a gap in the market for modernised Indian wear at an affordable price point—something stylish yet practical for everyday wear. Over time, we identified a deeper niche as more women began returning to the workforce, with many still preferring Indian attire for work.
As two women with dynamic lifestyles, we understood this need well. Working women juggle multiple roles and make countless decisions throughout the day—we wanted to simplify their fashion choices. With this vision, we recently rebranded as Saaki 2.0, introducing a new logo, positioning, and product revisions to make Saaki the go-to destination for dynamic, hustling women who do it all. Our goal is to create looks that empower while remaining effortless and fuss-free.
Saaki blends contemporary fashion with traditional Indian influences. How do you ensure this balance in your collections?
Achieving a harmonious blend of modernity and tradition is central to Saaki’s design philosophy. Our creative process involves extensive research into traditional Indian crafts, textiles, and motifs, while we also research global fashion trends on runway, influencers, WGSN reports and so on. We then reinterpret and build collections for an Indian audience with a contemporary lens. By collaborating with skilled artisans and leveraging modern design techniques, we create collections that are both timeless and relevant, allowing our customers to celebrate their heritage while embracing current fashion trends.
How does Saaki integrate sustainability into its sourcing, production, and design processes?
At Saaki, we recognise the growing importance of sustainability in fashion and are committed to taking conscious steps towards more responsible practices. Our first step has been ensuring sustainable packaging—every order is shipped in 100 per cent recyclable materials. Additionally, our earlier partnership with Relove integrated technology to promote sustainability by providing a seamless platform for reselling garments, helping minimise waste and reduce the number of products ending up in landfills.
While we are not yet a fully sustainability-focused brand, we are actively making mindful choices to move in that direction.
What are the key challenges in sourcing, production, and logistics that fashion brands face today, and how are they mitigating risks like material shortages and rising costs?
Material shortages, rising costs, and supply chain disruptions are major challenges in the industry. To navigate these, Saaki has:
- Built strong partnerships to ensure planned and forecasted access to materials.
- Optimised inventory management to maintain balanced stock levels.
- Streamlined production costs while maintaining quality.
- Focused on long-term volume efficiency to drive down cost.
- Explored owned or controlled manufacturing solutions to minimise supply chain disruptions.
How has the shift in consumer preferences—such as the demand for comfort-driven fashion, slow fashion, and customisation—impacted fashion brands and their strategies?
The shift in consumer preferences—such as the demand for comfort-driven fashion, slow fashion, and customisation—has significantly impacted fashion brands and their strategies.
Today, consumer preferences are diverse. While a large segment still favours fast fashion for its trend-driven appeal and affordability, a growing number of conscious consumers prioritise comfort, longevity, and individuality in their clothing choices. As a result, fashion brands must carefully define their niche, as the speed of the supply chain and production costs differ greatly between these segments.
Although awareness of fashion’s environmental impact is increasing, a large-scale shift towards slow fashion will take time. Customisation remains prevalent in the luxury market, but in the mass premium segment, consumers continue to prioritise quality at affordable prices.
At Saaki, we prioritise timeless designs and durable, high-quality products over fleeting trends that compromise on quality. Our approach encourages customers to wear our pieces for longer, moving away from fast fashion practices. While full-scale customisation is challenging at scale, we see great potential in using technology to personalise recommendations and curations, offering a more tailored shopping experience.
With the dominance of influencer marketing, short-form videos, and social commerce, how has digital marketing evolved for fashion brands in recent years?
The world has shifted towards a digital-first economy, driven by content. Consumers today have adopted a more exhibitionist mindset, where presentability, likability, and aesthetics matter more than ever. Since fashion is central to the lifestyle people showcase, brands now have greater opportunities to present their products in engaging and relatable ways.
At Saaki, we leverage authentic storytelling, real-time audience engagement, and interactive content across platforms. Our strategy includes harnessing Samantha’s digital reach, collaborating with our community to showcase user-generated content, partnering with influencers to enhance relatability and authenticity, and executing targeted digital campaigns to foster deeper customer connections.
What marketing strategies have been most effective in building Saaki’s brand identity and engaging with your audience?
Authentic storytelling has been at the heart of our marketing approach. By sharing the narratives behind our designs, the people making our clothes, and brand values, we have fostered a genuine connection with our audience. Leveraging social media platforms for interactive campaigns, collaborating with influencers who resonate with our ethos, and engaging in community-driven initiatives have all contributed to building a loyal and engaged customer base.
What kind of customer feedback has most influenced your product designs and business strategy?
Customer feedback is a strong input for us in our decision-making. We often engage in taking inputs from our customers on upcoming ranges via social media and surveys, and this allows us to offer products that are more in line with our community’s tastes and requirements. Requests for factors like inclusive sizing and diverse styles have also guided us to expand our range into 2XL, which we further hope to expand. We also get requests such as shipping to specific countries overseas, which motivated us to open shipping to 15+ countries.
What have been some of the biggest challenges in establishing and growing Saaki, and how have you overcome them?
Launching Saaki during the global pandemic presented unique challenges, particularly in navigating supply chain disruptions and shifting consumer behaviours. To adapt, we strengthened our digital presence, engaged directly with our customers through virtual platforms, and implemented agile production strategies. These efforts not only mitigated immediate challenges but also positioned us for sustainable growth in an increasingly digital marketplace.
Given the rise of online shopping, how do you see the future of direct-to-consumer fashion brands like Saaki?
The shift towards online shopping has democratised fashion, allowing brands like Saaki to connect directly with consumers without traditional retail intermediaries. This model offers greater control over brand narrative, customer experience, and feedback integration. As technology continues to evolve, we foresee an even more personalised and immersive online shopping experience, with innovations like virtual try-ons and AI-driven recommendations enhancing customer engagement.
How is Saaki leveraging technology in terms of digital design, supply chain, or customer experience?
Technology plays a pivotal role in Saaki’s operations. In design, we utilise digital tools to streamline the creative process and visualise collections before production. Additionally, data analytics inform our inventory management and customer service strategies, ensuring efficient operations and personalised shopping experiences. With customer experience, we are exploring AI-led and Bot-led models to improve our CX experience so that they get resolutions much faster at our end.
How is the increasing adoption of AI, AR, and virtual try-ons reshaping the way consumers shop for fashion online and offline?
The integration of AI and AR technologies is revolutionising the fashion retail landscape. Virtual try-ons offer customers the convenience of visualising garments in real time, bridging the gap between online and offline shopping experiences. Having said that, fashion does have an angle of touch and feel, which might be hard to replicate via try-on solutions, and we are curious to see how technology players in this space might evolve. AI-driven insights enable personalised recommendations, enhancing customer satisfaction and reducing return rates. At Saaki, we are exploring these technologies to provide an enriched and seamless shopping journey.
With growing concerns about environmental impact, how are brands addressing sustainable practices such as zero-waste production, upcycling, and ethical sourcing?
Brands are increasingly adopting holistic approaches to sustainability. Practices like zero-waste production involve designing patterns that minimise fabric waste, while upcycling transforms surplus materials into new products as well as improving supply chain and manufacturing processes to aid low environmental impact. However, in a value market like India, it would be first important to educate the customer about sustainable buying patterns, sensitise them towards the cost involvement of creating sustainable products and lead that shift slowly. We see these changes taking a couple more years to have a deeper penetration.
Do you have any plans for collaborations or expanding into new categories, such as accessories or footwear?
While our primary focus remains on delivering exceptional apparel, we recognise the potential in diversifying our product offerings. We have developed a range of jewellery and footwear that we hope to bring out before the upcoming festive season in 2025.
What are your aspirations for Saaki in the next 5-10 years? Are there plans for international expansion?
In the coming years, we envision Saaki evolving into a globally recognised brand that remains true to its roots. An offline footprint in the form of our store as well as partnering with the right retail networks, is on the cards for us. International expansion is also on our horizon, with plans to introduce our collections to markets that appreciate the fusion of contemporary fashion and Indian heritage.
