Gen Z's favourite homegrown brands will fulfil your cool girl quota

In a saturated industrial landscape where everyone seems to be starting their homegrown brands and new ventures, hoping to carve out a niche, how does one withstand the tests of business, capital, and marketing? The answer: A combination of relentless grit, an almost psychopathic appetite for risk and a natural inclination towards the most vivid forms of storytelling. The results are concrete brand codes that come to be associated with an authentic almost authorial vision. Founder-led or not, most up-and-coming brands today reflect a distinct voice embedded in a purpose or at times just a restless need to imbue the world with something prettier, something precious to behold and admire. Purpose or beauty, whatever the vision might be, here’s a spotlight on six palpably hot brands acing the art of business with a distinct hold of the sartorial lack they’ve resolved to fulfil.

Erode

A ‘cultural luxury brand’ according to the brand, Erode was realised in 2023 with the idea of the inevitability of both material and emotional decay and how any attempt at permanence requires sustained effort. Sprouting from Bhavani located in the namesake Erode district of Tamil Nadu, the brand pays conscious homage to the Jamakkalam art of carpet-making preserved for generations by the district’s weaver community. With a riot of pastel palettes, checks reminiscent of the Jamakkalam weave as well as the kind typical of the fishing villages seen across the coastal state, the mood board at Erode is a staple of streetwear filtered with subdued tinge experimentally styled with gold temple jewellery. A personal favourite is a midnight blue jacket embroidered with bright yellow and red threads styled with a chunky temple gold necklace and nath, evoking a sense of comforting contradiction; an almost rebellion-like preservation of the past and often-lost collective roots.

Mirchi by Kim

Started by model Kimaya Singh this year, is exactly what the name suggests. Hot, spicy, and unabashedly wild-spirited. Through its eye-watering and tongue-numbing tendencies, however, the brand speaks to an unserious almost innocently silly kind of femininity, even turning a nationwide addiction with Lays’ magic masala into a beaded reticule eligible to be frolicked around on your next escapade through Europe. A little dig into the brand’s website expresses its transparent dedication to crafting every piece by hand and giving all its artisans their due share of recognition. What stands out, however, is how Singh through Mirchi was aptly able to gauge a gap in everyone’s wardrobes; traditional heavy embroidery weaved and envisioned into fun pieces worn across Ibiza sundowners to potentially your cousin’s sangeet (if one dares to experiment and not go for a conventional can-can lehenga). A very attractive daydream is perhaps adorning the Titli mini skirt with bright lacey stockings, a cropped vintage t-shirt and a chunky blazer for this year’s end replacing the boredom insinuated by winter hues.

Stamp Duty

Think crisp tailored shirts, cut-out shirts aptly out-there while being workwear appropriately demure, and jersey tees without the fearful question of naming your favourite football players; Stamp Duty is real, accessible and starkly individualistic in its design vocabulary. Driven by its goal to reimagine Indian streetwear, Stamp Duty originated in 2022 with a lot of its inspiration found in the mundane of the everyday. Whether it’s playing around at a construction site, or even taking their grandmother’s help for a shoot, the focal point for Stamp Duty seems to be effortless relevance. The padded shirt in green doubling up as a knotted dress is a dream come true for all fashion girlies struggling to make a case for dressing dark. Paired with knee-high lace stocks, an even lacier bralette and comfortable ballet flats, you’ve concocted an enviable look.

Dweep Life

It’s like coffee beans for the sartorial and mental palette. Clean, satiny, skin-friendly crotchet overalls, supportive island wear in the most staple solid colours coalesced with a fair share of day dresses, the brand was founded by actor Manushi Chhillar and stylist Sheefa J Gilani first found its nascent roots way back in 2016 before finally finding ground in 2024. Dweep Life delves deep into the art of doing swimwear right. It’s not about itchy glittery materials or overdone plunging cuts often with a complete disregard for curvy girlies. Resortwear must be aptly comfortable, amply supportive and assiduously seductive (if that’s something you’re going for). Dweep Life strives to serve all these necessities and till now it seems to be doing a fair job at that. The pleasantly non-jarring lilac golden sands maxi dress with double stringy straps is just the right fuel to our mental states somewhere on an island in Bali, sipping our third pina colada.

La Paz

Often a spark of an innate desire to create comes to the fore when one is away from the usual and the familiar. For Radhika and Anshul, a similar journey started on one of their trips away in Mexico culminating in a brand founded in 2023 based on their twin love for nature and fashion. From frothy diaphanous chiffon sarongs fringed with African beads, and a crotchet maillot in the most subdued yet appealing chalky colours, to their version of a timeless satin offering, the brand’s construction is crafted with a sense of incomprehensible tranquillity. Earthy tones and chunky beadwork find their maximal rendering through the acai wooden bikini top and bubble hem organic cotton mini skirt perfect for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the haunts of Masai Mara.

Rhycni

Despite its love for pink and ivory white corsets boned to perfection, Rhycni is a reversal of all things coquette or playful. Their aesthetic risks are undefinable, as they have a mix of satin corsets, all things puffer, organza pants, and an array of teddy bear wool-like fur shawls and pherans. The brand started in 2022 with a balanced focus on both technicality and creating a sustained brand language. Taking cues from the world of gothic fashion, the language speaks to the mysterious. The ones hoping to reflect an aura of intimidation, coming off as a tad bit unapproachable. To channel our inner haunts into the external world, a linen pintex shirt with a cropped blazer and a micro mini pleated skirt might just do the trick and hopefully keep all morning talkers at bay.

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