Roar for Good: Sustainable Fashion Brand in India
I hope this can inspire you to become a successful entrepreneur too! Why is it important to hear the story of a successful entrepreneur?
Having the vision to become an entrepreneur is great. Making it happen is another story!
In that frame, We had the pleasure to interview Rajan Pillai and Rajan Dutta, the visionary founders of Roar for Good, share a deep commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainable fashion. With over six decades of combined experience in fashion and retail, they embarked on a journey to create a brand that not only resonates in the market but also champions a cause — crafting eco-friendly products that blend style, comfort, and conscience. Their tireless dedication and strategic acumen have propelled Roar for Good towards its mission of fostering positive change for both people and the planet.
Roar for Good has its essence in the foundational values of Sustainability, Fashion, Performance and Health & Wellness. We want to craft lifestyle products with seamless experience for conscious consumers, fashion aficionados, and those seeking top-tier performance alike. Roar for Good products make use of innovative raw materials such as bamboo, organic cotton, jute , recycled PET bottles, linen, cork, hemp, naturally extracted colour dyes, etc.
1. How you started Roar For Good. What was your source of motivation?
After spending nearly 25 years in the corporate world, working with international brands like Mothercare, BHS, Liz Claiborne, and others, I found myself yearning for something more. Despite the success and achievements, I’d experienced, there was a calling for a different kind of impact – one that resonated deeply with my passion for the environment.
It was during my tenure at Apex Footwear that I crossed paths with Mr. Rajan Dutta. Our collaboration was initially focused on propelling Apex towards its next phase of growth, but our conversations soon turned towards a shared vision of creating something truly unique and impactful. We both recognized the urgent need to address the detrimental impact of the fashion industry on our environment.
In September 2022, I made the bold decision to step away from the corporate world and embark on a new journey. Teaming up with Rajan, we set out to create a brand that not only offered stylish products but also championed environmental sustainability – thus, Roar for Good was born in January 2023.
Our mission was clear: to make a positive difference in the world while offering customers high-quality, eco-friendly lifestyle products. We meticulously designed each collection, ensuring that every product had a meaningful story behind it. However, the road to launching Roar for Good was not without its challenges.
Navigating India’s nascent eco-friendly market posed significant hurdles, from convincing manufacturers to prioritize sustainability to sourcing environmentally friendly materials. Despite the obstacles, we persevered, and by May 2023, Roar for Good was live on our own webstore. Subsequently, we expanded our presence on prominent online platforms like Flipkart, Amazon, and Ajio.
Our focus on education and awareness-building has been paramount, especially in a market where environmental consciousness is still emerging. We’ve deliberately kept our prices accessible to encourage customers to experience our eco-friendly collections firsthand. Additionally, our commitment to environmental stewardship is evident in our tree-planting initiative, where every purchase of ₹2000 or more results in a tree being planted, accompanied by a certificate for the customer to track its progress.
Currently, our footwear comprises recycled PET and jute, while our innerwear and socks are crafted from bamboo, and our T-shirts are made from organic cotton and naturally dyed. Looking ahead, we’re excited to launch our linen, hemp, and organic cotton apparel collections, alongside cork, canvas, and hemp footwear offerings.
2. What is the vision for your brand? What do you hope to achieve with your company? What are your goals for the future?
At Roar for Good (RFG Lifestyle), our driving aspiration is to embody virtues of goodness, quality, and ethics across all our products, services, and engagements. Our ambition is to transcend being a brand and become a beacon of trust. From our exceptional offerings to our ethical practices, this vision underpins all we do. The vision of Roar for Good (RFG Lifestyle) goes beyond the realm of fashion and lifestyle products; it aims to be a trailblazer. We don’t just represent products; we embody a shared aspiration that reaches beyond ourselves. Through our endeavours, we aim to communicate a new language – one that resonates with goodness. Our voice reverberates with change, love, hope, passion, mindfulness, pride, peace, inclusivity, togetherness, and happiness.
3. What is your competitive advantage? What makes your brand unique? What sets you apart from other brands?
At Roar for Good, we incorporate sustainable raw materials into all our lifestyle products. We proudly integrate yarns sourced from upcycled plastic PET bottles into the uppers of our footwear and the linings of our bags. Our innerwear is made from ecofriendly and fast-growing bamboo. We make what we think are arguable the best-looking shoes made from jute. Our t-shirts are dyed using plant and flower-based extracts with no chemicals at all. Our upcoming collections will include products made from cork, linen, hemp, organic cotton, rice husk, etc. for us, sustainability is not just a concept, it is an active component of everything we design. Additionally, our offerings prove that eco-friendly does not mean expensive, uncomfortable, niche products – our lifestyle products are easy-to-use, of premium quality, fashionable with sustainability being the cherry on top. This is what makes us and our brand unique. This, we also believe is our competitive advantage.
4. What is your business model? How do you plan to make money? When will you break even?
Currently , we sell our products through our own website and through various like minded marketplaces (Amazon, Flipkart, Cred, Meola, Ajio) We are in the process of listing on more marketplaces as well as launching our offline presence this year. We are completely bootstrapped.
5. What are the biggest challenges you face as a startup? What are the obstacles that you need to overcome in order to be successful?
The biggest challenge we believe is in combating offerings by other brands which continue to greenwash their products as also educating and making the customer aware about sustainable alternatives for everyday lifestyle products. We battle a customer mindset that assumes that sustainable products are expensive, niche and with a short shelf life through our offerings.
6. What are your goals for the future? Where do you see your startup in five years?
Currently, Roar for Good is available through our own webstore and select online marketplaces. However, we have ambitious plans to expand our online presence further by partnering with platforms like Myntra, Nykaa, Cred, and other like-minded marketplaces. These collaborations will not only increase our reach but also amplify our message of sustainability to a wider audience.
Looking ahead, our sights are set on venturing into offline retail by the second half of 2024. We plan to establish a presence through Shop-in-Shops (SIS), Multi-Brand Outlets (MBOs), Large Format Stores (LFS), Franchise partnerships, and ultimately, our own Exclusive Brand Outlets (EBOs). This strategic move will allow us to engage with customers in-person, providing them with a tactile experience of our eco-friendly products while furthering our mission of promoting sustainable fashion.
We have plans also, to go international within this financial year. We are a make in India brand with a global vision.
7. How do you plan to build and maintain a strong team?
For building a good team, we share the powerful story of the two founders, the company vision, mission and values, short and long-term goals and the innovative and sustainable products. Also, we share the positive work culture that we are nurturing in the company. For retaining and engaging the employees, our initiatives are about creating clarity in goals, expectations, clear line of communication, training and hand holding in their assignments.
8. What are your thoughts on the future of the Sustainability Focused Brands?
With the threat of climate change booming large, we believe that sooner than later , each company will have to become a sustainable one. We seek to be ahead of the curve by designing all our products with sustainability as the cornersone.
In India particularly, there is a rising eco consciousness among consumers. This sentiment is now a part of the mainstream.
We are now battling a perception that eco friendly products are expensive, niche and impractical. Our lifestyle products are intended for the masses, reasonably priced and long- lasting. The idea is to project ourselves as a part of the solution and not the problem of climate change.
9. What are your thoughts on the risks involved in starting a startup in Sustainable Fashion space?
The market appears saturated because multiple brands make incorrect and non-genuine claims. The correct term for this is green-washing. Combating and standing out from their claims has been a challenge.
We are working on communication better.
We wish to substantiate our claims with relevant certifications for authenticity. In the absence of this, we risk falling into the just another brand with tall claims category.
10. What advice would you give to someone who is just starting up.
Establishing a business is easy, sustaining the business is the difficult part.
Remain self motivated, don’t be afraid to make mistakes, learn to pivot as a response to changing marketing demands, be authentic while making claims, be relentless – these are some suggestions from our end for aspiring entrepreneurs.
11. What are your strengths and weaknesses.
As an organisation, our visionary founders, specialised domain knowledge, strong team dynamic, base in India, use of innovative raw materials, making authentic and genuine claims are some of our strengths.
A weakness we are working to correct is communicating the correct fundamentals to our customers and making them aware that by buying our products, they are contributing to a greener future.
12. How can we believe that what you are claiming with regards to sustainability is true and not greenwashing like some other brands?
We have relevant certifications to back up our claims. We are open to having our claims can checked and authenticated by anyone on request.
