1. Could you tell us more about yourself?

I started my career in Japan and was involved in multiple sectors of businesses. After that, I started my knit and woven business and initiated Vasavi in Dhaka. Slowly I expanded my business in other sectors and got into the ceramics business. Doing business has been my passion since the beginning, and I always knew I had to go ahead and do something great out of it.

2. Could you tell us about the inspiration and the journey of Vasavi so far?

When I was in Japan, I used to see big shops and one stop malls where you could get everything under one roof. It was my dream to establish something similar here in Dhaka. My intention was to build something, which would stand out of all other brands and set a benchmark. Our products are all exclusive and this is what makes us unique in the country. We work with local and international designers. We want to keep up with the quality and exclusivity intact and we realized, having multiple outlets might affect our process for which we want to stick to one outlet for now.

When I was in Japan, I used to see big shops and one-stop malls where you could get everything under one roof. I always had a dream to establish something similar in Dhaka. I wanted to form something unique that stands out from other brands and can set a 

benchmark. We work with so many local and international designers and also try to keep our products very exclusive.  Our priority is to maintain the quality and exclusivity and therefore we felt to keep only one outlet rather than maintaining multiple.  

3. What is the thought behind naming the brand ‘Vasavi’? What motivated Vasavi to choose such a specific niche target customers?

Vasavi is a really uncommon name. It means Treasure. It signifies the concept of finding treasure inside. Our customers would find something unique and exclusive when they enter Vasavi.

Our target customer is niche. The prices are not too high though. We work with the finest materials and designs which pulls our consumers back to our store again. We believe that most Bangladeshi wedding attires are covered by Vasavi designs. We have built a brand image that people can trust to buy gifts from for any given occasion. We follow particular trends and fashion, taking inspiration and working with international designers.

4. What are some challenges you face in the fashion industry? How do you overcome them?

Every day is a challenge. Like I mentioned before, we try keeping up with the standard and quality we have set so far. Taking it for granted might be a heavy setback for us. We need to make sure that our customers are happy with every purchase and to maintain that we need to keep working vigorously and continuously to support the service we want to deliver. Our belief is that we are one of the top brands and want to live by it, for decades. The challenge is within ourselves. While establishing this brand, we had potential competitors in the market. It was quite a challenge for us to build a brand such as Vasavi with intense competition.

We fought and will fight these challenges through our continuous effort and promotion. Our team works with utmost effort and love to help us grow more every day. We overcome all challenges together as a team.

5. Who was the brainchild behind the design inspiration? How does Vasavi identify new market trend?

Our team works during the execution process, however, I myself look after all the designs and nitty gritty as much as I can. We print our own magazine by our name every year and distribute among our consumers, where we receive a huge response from.

We identify trends through research by our team. The design team in India shares their work with us and later we sit together to sort out and select the best that should be delivered. The designs we choose are exclusive and nobody is allowed to share the designs anywhere else locally or internationally. The menswear is made entirely here. We produce a minimum of 1 lac pieces per year.

6. Tell us about your products that have high demand and why do you think Vasavi stands out among all other traditional clothing brands?

The market has various brands and products. I usually take my preferences in regards to the product first. “I only want to work with designs I feel are beautiful enough for my customers to like them”. We change and modify the designs accordingly. We also keep few branded items such as CK, Hugo Boss and many more. We directly import them from Dubai.

7. Do you have any particular wish for Vasavi that you think is still incomplete?

Nothing in particular though but I have always wanted to build a brand image where everyone will talk about Vasavi, as one of the leading brands. I believe we have been able to achieve it so far and want to continue it in future too.

8. Any plans on expanding Vasavi globally?

I get a lot of requests to expand Vasavi from both home and abroad. However, I personally don’t prefer to expand Vasavi in other locations yet.  I think we won’t be able to keep the premium quality and service if we expand more than this.

9. Tell us about the changes you want to bring to your brand in New years?We are bringing new gift items for all sorts of occasions. Vasavi is focused on eastern outfits. In the upcoming year we want to focus more on festivals. Since Pohela Boishakh is one of the biggest festivals in our country now, we would like to bring new collections during that time.  Also would like to focus on our trendy New Year collection which we are working on for our consumers.