A flame in the Storm

Chapter 33

We started working on new designs for bracelets, earrings, and finger rings and sold them on e-commerce sites. Our sales picked fast. We came a long way from our first check of five thousand rupees to 15-20 thousand rupees per month in three months which we divided in equal amount between us.

Farah came exhausted from her home, leaving Ayaan in care of her in-laws and hastily removed her Abhaya citing humidity from wearing it in hot temperature; it gave shape to a vague idea in my mind from many days.

"Farah," I called her while she was busy soaking air standing underneath the fan in our guest room which we turned into our workshop.

"Why don't we design abayas?" I wondered working at the stone embedded bracelet she had designed yesterday.

She gave me a quizzical look.

"I mean all the girls wearing abayas have heat issues in summer and even in other days all over India" I explained

"So?"

"I had taken Textile course back in Coorg. Linen, cotton is breathable materials which will allow body heat to dissipate and soak sweat. Why can't we use those materials to stitch abayas?"

"Hmmm," she wondered "it's a good idea. But do you think it will work?" She was still skeptical.

"Yes, it's an untapped market. I think with the right amount of advertising we can make it work."

"And why should abayas be so boring. We can add design to it," she added

"Yes and even colors. It's not compulsory that everyone should wear only black right?"

"Done, we will start working on it then." She sounded excited.

We went shopping for the right type of materials the next day and started working on them. I didn't want my designs to be gaudy. We used only neutral colors and made excessive use of lace and embroidery for the designs. No one would like to wear red or purple abayas with stones right?

Hiring a middle-aged woman Sakeena bi for extra help we tailored our pieces. With a feeling that this could be a huge breakthrough for us, I didn't want to sell them in obscurity on random websites. I wanted this to be a brand and named it "Flames". We asked Raafay to build us a website which he gladly did and without any payment. He took care of the payment methods that customers would use to pay us and with the help of my father bank arrangements were in place.

Dad suggested that we make our partnership legal so that no problems arise in the future. Farah gave me seventy percent of the ownership while she took only thirty in spite of my opposition. She said that I had more ideas and hard work in this project than she and she didn't want to use my generosity against me to gain her own ends.

With a tag line "Draped and Dandy" we started our website. They were not many buyers as the website didn't have many visitors. Later I started uploading their pictures on usual e-commerce sites like Amazon, E bay, Craftsvilla, Myntra, Jabong, etc but making sure that our brand name "FLAMES" gets enough publicity. Fifty percent of the buyers from these sites found our official website. Within months due to advertising and mostly because of word of mouth publicity our sales grew.

The demand for our abayas and scarves which we added after a few months of going online increased so much that we were not able to supply efficiently. That's when we decided to start a fully-fledged production unit to meet the demands as we were still working from my home hiring five more women. Along with earning, I wanted to be helpful to others so I employed only women in need from poor backgrounds as a means to support them and their families.