BENGALURU: Nusaiba, the sole working woman from her family, runs her own boutique on Commercial Street. A fan of Sabyasachi and Manish Malhotra, she was once recognised as a homemaker alone, but today aims to turn her designs into a brand one day. Her journey till this point, she claims, has been a result of maintaining a fine balance between her household expectations and her passion for her dreams. “My kids were young and I had to attend classes to learn more about designing. It was tough but I had my mind set on opening a boutique, so I managed it,” she recalls.
Now, she says, her kids are proud of her. “Their school bus passes by my store. They feel happy to tell their friends that this is their mother’s store. On the opening day, my daughter struck off my occupation as ‘housewife’ and wrote ‘fashion designer’ in her school diary.”She also goes on to give credit to her family members, saying, “My husband, a businessman, is a great support. All my family members are supportive,” she adds.
Popularly known as Dadu, the passionate fashion designer has named the boutique on Promenade Road after this nickname. “My customers ask me about the name of the boutique. They say it is intriguing,” Dadu says with a smile.Speacialising in Indo Western wear, Dadu provides customised services. “I discuss client requirements and design the attire accordingly. I show them my colour charts and once it’s all finalised, we work on designs. I give my suggestions and draw them out for my customers,” she explains.
It takes Dadu two weeks to complete an order. “It takes time because we source fabrics from Kolkata and Mumbai. We source white fabrics, dye them to the client’s preferred colour, and then polish them,” she says. Behind this successful woman, is a team of 15 who aid her.
“Only after the trial is done and the fitting is right, we deliver the order,” she says, adding that she always maintains client relationships even after orders are delivered.On an average, she gets at least four to five orders a day. “We have many regular customers. I have customers from the UK and the US as well, who have liked the designs I share on social media, and have gotten in touch with me. I have been getting a good response,” she says.
Dadu is a diploma holder in fashion designing, with a one-year diploma course in Calicut and another 1.5 year diploma course in Bengaluru. With the sky as the limit for her dreams, she is planning to expand her venture to Kochi, Hyderabad and Chennai in two years.