BTB: How do you see the market evolving for luxury loungewear in India?

ROSHNI: I am noticing that people are opting for a lot more texture and colour with the things they are wearing on a daily basis, which is an interesting change and a good evolution. Comfort is a massive factor in how we would want to live on a daily basis, so materials are where you could play the most with loungewear. I feel that with Covid’s impact, self-care has evolved quite a bit and we see clients looking for great pieces that are going to last a long time; and these pieces could be for sleeping or resort or vacation. The idea of luxury has been changing from being all about public perception to how it makes us feel about ourselves.

BTB: Describe your creative process - from ideation to the final product.

PARIGNA: Lagom is a Covid baby and everything we were doing was virtual. With Roshni based in Delhi and me in Mumbai, we didn’t even have the convenience of being in the same city. When we started working on the brand, designing the prints was our first step. We would keep tweaking each other’s work and try to create something that was unique for both of us. Once the regulations started opening up a little bit, we started travelling back and forth and that’s when we started developing the physical pieces. We keep discovering what’s new out there, what’s inspiring us and we bring that to the table and see what comes out of it. Our production is super local, we work with fairly small sampling units or production units to make all of our pieces.

ROSHNI: We started with the materials where we would call each other when we found a new material and send swatches to do more research on the same. The design bit comes quite naturally to both of us because of our educational background.

BTB: How does sustainability extend beyond fabrics for Lagom?

PARIGNA: We have been mindful of our production cycle and the longevity of our products. While our fabrics - the lotus and rose fibre - are a byproduct of the flower harvesting industry and tencel is wood extracted from good agricultural practices, we want to work towards upcycling our products at the end of their life cycle. We have always wanted to work with a small production, simply because we do not see the point of producing large amounts of clothing. That also helps us keep the uniqueness of our products intact. Another thing that we have been doing is creating small accessories from the waste produced while making the clothes, where we work with Prasad - an NGO in Maharashtra to make scrunchies or other smaller products. We do not use any plastic for our packaging - everything is bags in recycled cloth bags or pouches. Our goal has always been to make sure we aren’t adding waste to the market.

BTB: How challenging is it to take time out for yourselves as entrepreneurs?

ROSHNI: I think it is hard to not think about work all the time, especially when you are this invested in the product. But I think we are in a space where everything is much more automated than how it was when we had just started, in terms of managing our inventory or logistics, etc.

PARIGNA: Honestly, as brand owners and as people who have our own practices, there is no real way of escaping the guilt when you are not working. But like Roshni said it is important to have that healthy distance and take care of yourself as well when you are running a business. And having each other really helps as one of us can step away for a bit and the other one does the heavy lifting. And we are quite big on asking each other to step away from stuff because sometimes when you are deeply involved in something, you may not be productive. And of course, humour always helps.

BTB:What are some of the challenges you have encountered so far? And what are your biggest takeaways for them?

ROSHNI:One of the challenges we face is keeping the collection going while keeping the ethos of the brand intact. We have had so many people come to us and say we would love to see something new, why don’t you try something for the festive season or why don’t you try something elaborate. And of course, production with a small order quantity has been a challenge with factories asking us to place an order for 500 pieces at a time. 

PARIGNA: Explaining your vision to anybody is a challenge, especially as a loungewear brand, bringing the product to the market and testing it. What you envision your product to be and what it evolves to can be very different. A lot of people have come up to us like’ these are pajamas’, and we are like yes these are pajamas but you can wear them as so many other things.

BTB: What has been an accomplishment that you are the proudest of in your journey?

ROSHNI: Oof, it’s hard to pause and appreciate how far you have come, especially as an entrepreneur, because you always feel like there is so much you haven’t done. But one thing that’s really cool is seeing people in our clothes. As designers, you have this imposter syndrome where you don’t really know where your product is going to end up, so to see your product in a tangible form is great, especially as I was used to designing digital products.

PARIGNA: We get random DMs from our customers who tell us ‘oh I love it, I have been wearing it non-stop, I travel in it, etc.’ and it is interesting to see the product evolve with the person. And as Roshni said, having a physical product is a completely different feeling. When we got our first set of products there was a massive squeal in the room, we were so excited. I feel like it is nice to hold onto that feeling and continue working on the brand. 

BTB: Can you share any points in your journey as entrepreneurs where you might have felt like some assistance would have been helpful?

PARIGNA: One of the things that comes to my mind is that we were fairly conservative in terms of how we have built the team. It has mostly just been Roshni and I, and of course we have had interns and associates come in and out, but what would have been helpful was a basic infrastructure in place - like letting the designers focus on what needs to be focused. Another thing is industry insights, like it would have really helped if we could have had mentors from this space that could help with things like marketing, ads, collaborators and influencers. 

ROSHNI: Yeah and it would have been extremely helpful if we could have a resource list or a network of similar people where we could collaborate, interact with each other, share learnings or resources. Even for us, R&D has taken such a long time. Every time we want to do something new, we spend at least six months just trying to get access to a new material, trying to see if it's feasible. And if things are happening across the country, we just have no idea about it.

BTB: What do you think the next five years look like for your business?

PARIGNA: A lot more research and more collaborations. While we want to evolve, we also want to keep in touch with why we started doing this in the first place. And keep materials as the centre of everything we do and grow in accordance with that.

ROSHNI: Yes, whether it is working with different material innovation sources or artisans, we hope to bring more indigenous, innovative materials to the market.