Clovia

Clovia, operating under its parent company Purple Panda Fashions Pvt. Ltd., is a direct-to-consumer brand in India's apparel market, specializing in women's innerwear, loungewear, and personal care products. The company was founded in 2012 by the husband-and-wife team Pankaj Vermani and Neha Kant, along with Suman Chowdhury. The founding vision was to address a significant gap in the Indian lingerie market, which was characterized by a lack of variety in sizes, styles, and a general discomfort among women when shopping for innerwear in physical stores.

The founders' backgrounds uniquely positioned them to tackle this challenge. Pankaj Vermani, the CEO, is a serial entrepreneur and an alumnus of IIT Delhi with a strong background in technology and e-commerce, having previously co-founded successful ventures like Seeknet Technologies and Vriti. His family had a lingerie business, giving him early exposure to the industry. Neha Kant, the Chief Revenue Officer, brought over a decade of corporate experience in marketing and sales from firms like FCB Ulka and the India Today Group. Her motivation stemmed from personal frustration with the limited and uninspiring lingerie options available. Suman Chowdhury, the COO, contributed his expertise in fashion design and product management, holding a diploma from the National Institute of Fashion Design.

Clovia's business model is primarily online, leveraging its website and mobile apps for direct-to-consumer sales, which allows it to control the customer experience and gather direct feedback. This is supplemented by an omnichannel presence that includes exclusive brand outlets and placements in multi-brand stores. The company's revenue is generated through the direct sale of its products, which includes a diverse catalogue of over 6,000 styles in more than 75 sizes. Its product development is data-driven, utilizing patent-pending algorithms and a proprietary "Clovia Curve Fit Test" that analyzes millions of customer data points and feedback to inform design and sizing, enabling the launch of around 250 new styles monthly. This agile, feedback-led approach allows for smaller, more targeted production runs, optimizing the supply chain.

In March 2022, Reliance Retail Ventures acquired an 89% majority stake in the company for approximately ₹950 crore (around $125 million), a major milestone that provides Clovia with significant scale and retail expertise to expand its market presence. Prior to the acquisition, Clovia had raised approximately $25.3 million over several funding rounds from investors including IvyCap Ventures, AT Capital Group, and Mountain Partners.

Keywords: Lingerie, innerwear, direct-to-consumer, e-commerce, personal care, fashion apparel, omnichannel retail, data-driven design, women's fashion, loungewear, activewear, shapewear, Skivia, Pankaj Vermani, Neha Kant, Suman Chowdhury, Reliance Retail, Indian fashion market, intimate apparel, Clovia Curve Fit Test, Purple Panda Fashions, online retail, mobile commerce