One of the biggest challenges of running a fashion label?

You have to wear all the hats.

Sometimes, all at the same time.

People often see the beautiful side of fashion.

The finished garment.

The embroidery.

The photographs.

The beautifully styled collection.

The happy customer walking out of the store.

What they don’t always see is everything that happens before that garment reaches her.

Running a fashion label, especially a boutique fashion business, is rarely just about designing clothes.

It is about doing whatever needs to be done that day.

One Minute You Are a Business Owner. The Next, You Are…

One minute, I am sitting in my office checking stock.

The next, I am coordinating with our karigars about an embroidery that needs to be finished.

Five minutes later, I am on a call with a client in the US who wants an entire wedding wardrobe for her family.

Then I remember that the parcels that were supposed to go out today are still sitting there.

So I start packing.

This is the part of running a fashion business that doesn’t make it into the photographs.

There is always something that needs attention.

A fabric that needs to be sourced.

An alteration that needs checking.

An embroidery that needs to be approved.

A customer who needs a call.

An order that needs to be dispatched.

A collection that needs to come together.

And somewhere between all of it, you are trying to remember what you were supposed to be doing in the first place.

And Then You Sit Down for Coffee

Eventually, I find a moment.

I make myself a cup of coffee.

I sit down.

And I think:

Okay. Now I can breathe.

And then…

My social media person needs a voiceover for a reel.

My content strategist wants my thoughts on fast fashion.

The team needs approval on the next collection.

Someone has a question about a garment.

Someone else needs an answer about a customer.

And suddenly, the coffee has gone cold.

Again.

I sometimes joke that the easiest way to find a founder of a small fashion label is to look for the person doing five different jobs at once.

Because that is often exactly what we are doing.

The Founder Is Also the Marketing Team

The fashion industry has changed enormously.

Today, designing a beautiful garment is only one part of building a fashion brand.

You also have to think about how people discover you.

Social media.

Websites.

Digital marketing.

Photography.

Content.

Customer communication.

Online visibility.

It is an entirely new side of the business.

And for someone like me, who has spent years building Ombre through the traditional way of doing business, learning all of this has been another hat to add to the collection.

Some days, I am discussing a garment.

Other days, I am discussing Instagram.

And occasionally, I am doing both at the same time.

And Then There Is Being a Mother

As if running a fashion business wasn’t enough, there is another job that never really ends.

Being a mother.

Somewhere between the karigars, customers, orders, collections and social media, I am also checking whether my twin boys have eaten.

Whether they are healthy.

Whether they are happy.

And, most importantly, whether they have managed to get through the day without fighting with each other.

The funny thing about being a mother is that even when your children are grown, a part of your mind remains with them.

You can be discussing a wedding wardrobe with a client and still be thinking about whether your children have had lunch.

You can be sitting in a business meeting and suddenly remember something at home that needs to be done.

There is no clean separation.

At least, I have never figured out how to create one.

The Workday Doesn’t Really End

Eventually, the day winds down.

Whatever tiny bit of energy is left goes into a hearty meal, getting into bed and telling myself that tomorrow will be a little less hectic.

And then, of course, I check the social media statistics one last time.

Just one last time.

Because apparently, being a founder means your brain doesn’t really understand the concept of office hours.

There is always one more thing to check.

One more message.

One more idea.

One more number.

One more customer.

And then you realise it is much later than you thought.

The Less Glamorous Side of Fashion

There is a glamorous perception of the fashion industry.

And yes, there are beautiful moments.

There is something incredibly special about seeing an idea in your head become an actual garment.

There is the excitement of a new collection.

The satisfaction of seeing a customer love something you created.

The pride of watching an artisan’s work come together beautifully.

The joy when someone comes back years later because she still remembers a garment she bought from you.

Those moments make everything worth it.

But they exist alongside the less glamorous ones.

Checking inventory.

Following up on deliveries.

Solving last-minute problems.

Packing parcels.

Answering messages.

Managing people.

Managing finances.

Managing customers.

Managing yourself.

And sometimes wondering how you are somehow doing all of this in one day.

Behind Every Garment Is a Lot More Than Design

This is something I wish more people knew about small fashion businesses.

When a garment leaves our studio, it is not simply the result of a designer’s idea.

There are people behind it.

There is the artisan working on the embroidery.

There is the person checking the fabric.

There is the masterji making sure the fit is right.

There is the team coordinating the order.

There is the person packing it.

And somewhere in the middle of all of this, there is usually the founder, moving between all these roles and making sure everything comes together.

At Ombre by Charu Bansal, that has been my reality for years.

I have checked fabrics.

I have spoken to customers.

I have coordinated with karigars.

I have approved designs.

I have packed orders.

I have worked on collections.

And now I am learning to understand digital marketing and social media too.

Not because every founder needs to do everything forever.

But because when you are building something of your own, there comes a stage when you need to understand every part of the business.

Is It Exhausting?

Absolutely.

Is it chaotic?

Most definitely.

Is it sometimes overwhelming?

Yes.

But is it fulfilling?

Without a doubt.

Because there is a different kind of satisfaction in knowing that you have built something with your own hands.

When a customer wears an Ombre garment and feels beautiful in it, I don’t just see the finished outfit.

I see everything that went into making it.

The fabric.

The design.

The artisan.

The fittings.

The conversations.

The decisions.

The late nights.

The last-minute changes.

The team.

And, somewhere in there, me wearing yet another hat.

Would I Have It Any Other Way?

Probably not.

There are certainly days when I dream of having someone else take care of everything.

Someone else check the stock.

Someone else answer the calls.

Someone else approve the collection.

Someone else worry about the social media numbers.

But then there are days when I stand in the studio, look at a finished garment and think:

I helped create this.

And that feeling is difficult to replace.

So yes, running a fashion label means wearing many hats.

Designer.

Business owner.

Manager.

Marketer.

Customer service.

Production coordinator.

Sometimes even packer.

And, after all of that, mother.

It is not always glamorous.

It is not always organised.

It certainly isn’t always easy.

But behind every outfit that leaves our studio is a story of people, effort, decisions and a founder who probably did a little bit of everything that day.

That is the less glamorous side of building a fashion label.

And perhaps, for me, it is also the most rewarding one.