The brand’s biggest draw is its well-made range of products catering to modern sensibilities, introduced regularly on the website in exciting capsule collections. The Label Life (TLL) also has to its credit a number of firsts including some great Indian designer-high street collaborations. Behind the scenes, Preeta is busy raising funding, thinking of new things to improve TLL’s offering and managing a enterprise that employs 120 people. Four years since the launch of her venture, the entrepreneur finds herself at another important milestone. TLL is going brick and mortar. With two stores in Mumbai and more planned in Delhi, Preeta talks us through the process of launching your own business and brand and what it takes to keep it going.
Tell us about your career in fashion journalism.
When I was still in college at St Xaviers, Mumbai, I interned with this newspaper that was quite well known at the time, called The Sunday Observer. Sushmita Sen had just gone on to win Miss Universe and I was about 16/17 at that point. I wrote a piece on how, with this unprecedented win, Sen had inspired young girls like me. The piece was very well received and that was the beginning of my journalistic career. Immediately after I graduated, I joined Elle India, where in addition to writing, I also took on several styling and photography projects. I then moved to MTV, where I was instrumental in starting a show called Style Check, at a time when there was no real fashion programming to speak of on Indian television. I also worked on MTV Style Awards and that’s when I really understood the peculiarity of the Indian fashion business and the influence of celebrity culture on it. After that I went back to magazines working at Seventeen and L’Officiel. And how did that lead to you starting your own business? I was beginning to feel this need to put everything I had learnt together at my different jobs. Also, nobody was building a brand for the urban working woman, who until that point had been wearing saris and salwaar kurtas to work, for decades, and had suddenly taken an interest in western workwear. Women were slowly being exposed to the pleasures of Zara and H&M but there was still a gap in the market.

How did you zero in on the celebrities to front the three categories of your offering? How has it been working with Malaika, Bipasha and Sussanne?
We held a number of focus group studies in an attempt to understand our target customer right at the beginning. We knew celebrities influenced her but she was too smart to just be a fan. We then researched women who had earned their positions and not ones with famous last names. We were on the lookout for women who just knew what they were doing and Malaika, Bipasha and Sussanne fit right in. We’ve had such a journey together and they’ve always been super-patient. The most rewarding aspect is working with a solid founding team of women that love to support each other at all times.
Who are some women that you look up to?
Most definitely Natalie Massenet who founded Net-a-Porter and co-founded Imaginary Ventures. Closer home, I love what Malini Agarwal is doing with Miss Malini using it as a platform to create a community for girls. I am also inspired by the Khan sisters: Farah, Simone and Sussanne. I really want to get inside the head of their mum to find out what she did to bring up three diversely creative women. It’s relevant now that I am a mum myself.

What was the catalyst that took you from having an interesting idea to acting on it? What would your advice be to someone who wants to venture out on his/her own?
When asked such a question people usually respond with ‘positivity’ or ‘optimism’ but I just say it’s delusion. My friends always tell me, ‘You’re the worst. We’re actually put off by the idea of entrepreneurship thanks to you. You always show us the bad side.’ But people only see the glamorous side of entrepreneurship. We’re 120 people now. Everyone’s salaries have to be paid, you’ve to think about what’s next for the brand, raise funding—it’s a crazy amount of work. In the beginning, though, it’s important to just start. You must jump off the cliff. You may need a parachute after that, which is fine.
What’s next for The Label Life?
We’ve just launched on Namshi.com, a UAE based fashion e-commerce website. We plan to extend our reach to South East Asia in a similar way. By the end of this year we will have five physical stores of our own across India and we will be retailing through Myntra.com and Jabong.com. A lot is happening!