Indian-based Designer Payal Khandwala Looks to Build U.S. Retail Business

Payal Khandwala, an Indian fashion designer who works in Bombay, came to New York on Thursday to show her collection at the Aman New York, looking to establish a U.S. presence.

In business since 2012, Khandwala sells mostly through her two freestanding stores in Bombay and New Delhi, nine shops-in-shop in India, and her website, where 75 percent of the business is done outside of India. Some 60 percent of the business is done with U.S. customers.

Khandwala, who was born in 1974, grew up in Bombay surrounded by art and design through her mother and grandmother, both painters and dressmakers. She studied fashion design in Bombay before moving to New York on a scholarship to Parsons School of Design, where she graduated with honors in Fine Arts and Illustration in 1999. Several years later, she moved back to Bombay.

In 2012, she was asked to show at Lakme Fashion Week, and she launched her eponymous label, bringing together her two vocations as painter and clothes maker. Her husband, Vikram, later stepped in to run the business.

At this point, Khandwala doesn’t sell at any U.S. stores, but she’s hoping to change that.

She said her impetus for going into business “was that I couldn’t find clothes I wanted to wear.” She said she was always photographed at art gallery events, and needed clothes for these occasions.

While she said she doesn’t really care about fashion, “I care about beautiful clothes.” She likes her clothing to solve problems such as being effortless, easy to pack and travel well. So much of Indian fashion is beading and embroidering, she said. “For me I wanted it to feel more modern.” Some 90 percent of her line is handwoven. She works closely with Indian weavers to craft custom textiles and has her own in-house handlooms. Each garment, which is rich in detail, is produced by hand in small batches at their atelier in Bombay.

Khandwala said she’s taken a slow approach to manufacturing and hasn’t pursued the big department stores. She tries to be empathetic to the way the weavers work. For example, if it rains heavily in India and there’s too much flooding, she doesn’t want them to feel pressured to make the deadlines.

Her collection retails from $300 to $1,500. She does two big drops a year, and every few months she will add items. She has been opening little pop-ups around the globe, and this coming week, she will open a pop-up in London.

Khandwala’s aesthetic combines timeless style — such as palazzos that are “quite forgiving” and silk brocade jackets — with effortless luxury for the modern woman. While her silhouettes are global, her clothing is rooted in the rich heritage of the textiles and her painterly use of color and sculptural silhouettes. She produces a heritage line that features pretty silk brocade skirts and tunic sets, and a contemporary collection of silk brocade dresses, palazzo pants, and trousers, silk cropped jackets, silk blouses and tops.

Her clothes are worn by women around the world.

The designer said she hasn’t given up on her artistic career, either. Her paintings have been represented by galleries in New York, Barcelona, and Bombay and are part of private collections worldwide.