Starting from 2016, it’s been five years that we are on a journey of making workwear for women. In these years, we have made countless memories, and today is a special memory to cherish. We turn five today, and this milestone of hitting half a decade is means so much to each member of our team.
When our founder, Ayushi Gudwani began this journey, there was just one thought, and that has been the soul of our brand – to make every woman feel beautiful in her own shape and size. Over these years, we have built a family for everyone who associates with FableStreet. And all of you, our FS Women, have made it possible for us to reach this milestone.
As much as it was about solving for our customer needs, the FS vision has been to create a home for employees. This endeavour has been more memorable with the addition of people we have collaborated with, whether it be our early investors, FS alums and friends of the brands, or all the people who have been our biggest cheerleaders.
In such a short span of time, we have recently branched out with a new brand as well, and we are gushing with excitement and energy to experience another adventure. As we continue on this journey, we promise to keep building, creating, and offering new & exciting products to you. It is for your love that we refuse to limit ourselves.
These five years have given us a lot to think about and a lot to cherish. Today, it’s about being grateful and reminiscing five milestones we’ve hit along the way.
The One Where We Launched
2nd September 2016, the day we went live and the day that we celebrate each year. 5 years back, this setup began with a team of 5 and we have been striving to reach greater heights.
The announcement was made by Ayushi on her Facebook account. Within 20-25 minutes, there were 60-70 shares, and the traffic kept going up hitting a peak of 85 live visitors. The feeling was extraordinary, and it still is inexplicable. On the first day of going live, it was surreal to see so much support without any marketing expenditure.
The One Where We Got Funding
For a startup, it is important to find investors that have faith in you and let your creative wings fly. While we had support from a number of angel investors, it was on 9th December 2019 when we announced our Series A investment from Fireside Ventures. As a brand, being invested in by one of India’s most respected D2C investors was a moment where we got our first big external validation.
For whatever we had done in the past, this investment made us believe that we were on the right path.
The One Where Our Store Opened Up
16th January 2020, just before the lockdown hit India, we opened up our store in Gurgaon and transitioned from our digital business into omnichannel. It was a challenge to do something new, but after three-plus years of operating online, this allowed us to give our customers the touch and feel of the clothing. For us, it wasn’t a store but an experience that we wanted our customers to have. This thought enabled us to give styling sessions and personal appointments to all our customers.
Our stylist gave them styling tips according to their body type and colours that can suit their skin tone. By the time we reached the festive season of 2020, we could see the sales getting higher. However, during the second wave of COVID, we had to shut down the store for technical reasons. But who’s to say what’s next?
The One Where We Shifted Offices
2020 was hard! Every business was faced with several challenges and was hit by the unforeseen circumstances of the pandemic. But our team’s hard work ensured we kept growing during this phase as well. And Growth in business scale also meant the team and the office needed to be bigger.
In December 2020, we decided to move out of our previous office and went on a search for a bigger place for our expanding team. By April 2021, we were set to move in, and that’s when the lockdown 2.0 happened and made us go to WFH mode all over again. While some of us were stuck at home, the others were having to take the entire responsibility of managing the shift (Thanks Guys!). 30th April 2021 was when our second home was all set to welcome us. Since the lockdown, our team has doubled, and this office is three times bigger than the previous office. For us, it is a sign of growth, and we want to keep going at this pace and hit many more milestones.
The One Where We Launched Mikoto
We had started offering jewellery in FableStreet back in 2019, and doing that enabled us to understand that women across ages and professions love jewellery. They loved to accessorise their looks with jewellery for every occasion.
So, on 4th August 2021, with more variety and to have more room for experimentation, Mikoto was launched as an exclusive brand for jewellery. With the basic essence of FableStreet, Mikoto goes on to solve the needs of effortless styling. With elements of joy, chic, bold and beauty, Mikoto will stand out more to the user and make them feel all kinds of joy and beauty.
Yes, it’s not even been a month, and we have served 1000s of customers and interacted with of over a million on social media.
Here’s to another trip around the sun and achieving more milestones. Looking forward to many more successes in the sixth year of FableStreet.
