From Chennai to California: Nalli Silk Sarees marks 90th year with foray into US

A product that was first sold from a small shop in Chennai 90 years ago, is now available in stores in California.

Synonymous with silk and Kanchipuram sarees, Nalli opened an outlet in California in September and plans more branches in other parts such as Dallas, and Chicago and one in Canada's Toronto. Internationally Nalli already has stores in New Jersey and Singapore.

Over the next three years, the brand, which dressed everyone from Indira Gandhi to Bollywood actresses, plans to double the number of stores in India.

Initial expansion

A sharp surge in the number of customers at its Chennai store led Nalli to step out from its home market and open another one at Madurai in 1985. The expansion hasn't stopped since.

With 37 stores across the country, Nalli is now a Rs 700 crore brand. But the fifth generation of the promoter family continues to remain low key.

“We are a weaving community and that is what we still excel in," says Lavanya Nalli, Vice-Chairperson at Nalli Silk Sarees.

"Nor are we going into mass production, neither are we going heavy on promotions because what we do is already known to anyone who admires and wears a saree. We want to remain uncompromising in our basic, which is producing quality sarees at affordable rates” adds the Harvard Business School graduate.

As a new generation entrepreneur, Lavanya understands the importance of social media and considers it a primary tool of communication.

“We not only share images of our new collection but also images of 'real' women in our sarees. We seek permission from them when they share a picture tagging us whether we can share it from our handle and most of them are happy to give a go ahead. The whole idea is to keep the story honest and real,” she says.

As for the plans to take the business ahead, alongside the international stores, Nalli plans to have 74 stores in the country in the next three years from 37 now. Amongst the new outlets, Lavanya says Lucknow, Pune and Indore are on the horizon immediately.  Tier II and Tier III stores are the focus areas for the brands now, she says.

Keeping it affordable

Despite its popularity, there are interesting facts about Nalli that are unknown. For instance, Nalli refused offers from top fashion designers to work with it, as a private line would take the product prices higher and beyond the affordable limit.

But does that mean Nalli doesn’t sell luxury sarees? Not really!

The brand sells sarees woven in gold and silver threads and prices sometimes go up to Rs 2.5 lakh.  Similarly, in the California store,  products range from $7 to up to $1,000.

The brand was founded by Nalli Chinnasami Chetty who after 30 years handed the family baton to grandson, Nalli Kuppusami Chetty. a Padma Shri awardee.

Today, the brand has broadened its horizon from being just a saree retailer to foraying into jewellery with Nalli Jewellers. In 2015, Nalli also introduced Etnische – an in-house brand which specializes in ready-made ethnic outfits.

Keeping in mind the needs of saree lovers across the globe, Nalli has also introduced an online portal.

Talking about the future Lavanya says, “We want to be an omnipresent channel. We know what we are good at so we garner it. All five generations of the family have dedicated themselves to the brand. For us and our 1,200 employees,  this is our livelihood so the target is always to make the brand grow to whatever height it can and pass it on to the next generation to take it ahead.”