Aura Herbal Wear, an incubatee of Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has set a target of achieving 100 per cent through capacity expansion.
Present in the niche market of organic textiles, Aura Herbal Wear designs, manufactures and markets a naturally dyed, organic clothing line that it markets wholesale to domestic customers and international customers in USA, Canada, France, Denmark, Italy, Poland, Maldives, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka.
“Our goal is simple yet substantial— we want to show the world that fashion need not pollute the environment with chemical processing and synthetic dyes. We also believe that style need not be compromised for eco-friendliness and ethical choices. We are expanding our capacities and are growing at 100 per cent every year. We are financing our growth plan through venture capital, loans, personal investment & reinvesting profits in the business. We intend to achieve a target of Rs 4 crore for current financial year and later hit the capital market by 2012,” said Arun Baid, co-founder of the company, refusing to divulge details of investment plans.
The company’s concept of producing organic textile products, primarily fabrics, garments, towels and knits without using harmful chemicals led CIIE to incubate Aura Herbal Wear since its inception in 2003. “We helped the company market its products and focus on the target audience of environmentally conscious individuals in the higher middle class and upper class income bracket for its niche products,” said Neeraj Jain, senior associate at CIIE.
Talking about the potential of the segment, Baid said, “Currently organic cotton products use synthetic chemicals for dyeing, which can be converted in the natural herbal dyeing process whereby the product meet the standards of eco-friendly products. Moreover, European countries have been promoting organic textiles and are working towards enforcing a law wherein 11 per cent of all textile sales should be from organic textiles.”
For the financial year 2007-08, Aura Herbal Wear pegged a turnover of Rs two crore.