Building in Public — Eazybee

What made us do this?

It all started roughly two years ago. At the time, I worked for SEA’s fastest-growing startup aiming to digitise the broken fashion supply chain. I had joined them when they were just starting their India operations, which allowed me to get some real industry insights.

Eight months into my new role, I worked with brands to help them find the best vendors to fulfill their needs. Having worked with this particular underwear brand, who, by the way, is killing it right now, got me thinking a lot!

Think about this: Underwear is the first thing we put on and the last thing we take off. It is a piece of clothing in your wardrobe that will always be essential regardless of the season or occasion.

It became sort of an obsession, an obsession of thoughts. I studied brands, domestic and international, understanding what brands were doing differently and what I would have done differently. I loved every bit of it!

So now I started crunching a few research points and numbers. TBH I was too attached to this already. I would have gone ahead and started up regardless of this, but pleasantly, it made my decision easier.

• Men’s Underwear Market Size and Projections

2017–9477 cr

2022–13022 cr

2027–17894 cr

• The premium, super-premium and luxury segment had a 24% market share in 2017 and was projected to be 30% by 2020.

The value segment is overcrowded, with the likes of Rupa and Jockey. It just didn’t make sense entering that segment.

The premium segment, however, was a different story altogether. Tier 1 and Tier 2 consumers cared about what they bought. While the price was a decisive factor, quality was their #1 priority.

I ran a local survey among friends and family, and over 90% wore international brands. There was a gap in the homegrown premium underwear segment. Even though a few domestic brands were trying to fill that gap, there was room for one more.

I had pretty much made up my mind about starting my own line by now with a single goal — ‘Introduce a brand that offers quality just like CK, if not better, for ¼ the price.’

I knew this was an incomplete goal. There had to be more. I just didn’t know what at the time.

Now I start saving most of my salary for this plan, hoping that I have enough to get this off the ground in a year or two. This also meant that I had to work harder and smarter at my current job so I could ask for a raise just to help me get closer to my goal, and I did!

I remember this part so clearly — it had been a year since I had set my eyes on the big prize. The most significant benefit of my previous job was that I got to interact with brands from around the world, and got to travel for trade fairs and exhibitions.

August 2019, I got the opportunity to visit Copenhagen for a fashion summit. It blew my mind. By now, the whole world was talking about sustainable fashion, but brands in the EU were walking the talk. Three days of interacting with sustainable brands and understanding the impact this industry has had on our planet rewired my thought process entirely.

I started looking for domestic brands that were ethical and sustainable. We did have quite a few brands doing some outstanding work, but definitely not enough.

So I come back, mind-blown, share all the information I’ve gathered with Aali. We start looking for environmental documentaries to learn more. Our first stop obviously was Netlfix. We binge watched every documentary related to the environment one weekend. The one that resonated with us the most was Cowspiracy and The Gamechangers. The next day, Aali turned Vegan, and I chose a more convenient path — ‘imperfectly vegan’.

This was the last piece of our puzzle. We had never been clearer in our heads. We had a pretty clear goal now — ‘Introduce an Eco-Conscious brand that offers quality just like CK, if not better, for ¼ the price’.

That’s how it all began for us.

What’s next?

I will be sharing how we went about building Eazybee — what happened during the 12 months before we went live!

— Shail Madlani. Co-Founder — Eazybee

Making great underwear and trying to save the planet!

Visit our online store to learn more about us!