Omnichannel marketing is the future of retail: Shankar Kumaraswamy, RmKV Silks
Shankar Kumaraswamy, Director of RmKV Silks talks about preserving and reviving traditional crafts and his hopes from the online market
RmKV Silks Pvt. Ltd. had a humble beginning in Tirunelveli - an ancient city in the state of Tamil Nadu. In a journey spanning close to a century, the brand has diversified its core offering of silk saris into selling wide varieties of readymade garments.
The brand also has been a pioneer in the art of experimenting with handloom silk weaving techniques. They were one of the first retailers to enter the e-commerce segment.
In conversation with exchange4media, Shankar Kumaraswamy, Director, RmKV Silks Pvt Ltd spoke about the brand’s journey over 100 years, the innovations and hopes for online stores.
Excerpts:
Looking back, how has the journey been so far and what are the factors you attribute success to?
RmKV’s journey has spanned close to a century. In that time, we have grown significantly as an organisation in myriad ways. For example, our geographic spread and customer base have expanded from the town of Tirunelveli to towns and cities across India and abroad. Moreover, we have diversified beyond our core offering of silk saris into selling a wide variety of readymade women’s, men’s and children’s garments.
Over the years, we have always tried to stay true to our founding ethos of delivering quality products at fair prices. We owe our success to the patronage of our customers and to the hard work and dedication of our employees.
RmKV has been a pioneer in the art of experimenting with handloom silk weaving techniques. Tell us more about that and other innovations such as Hamsa Damayanthi sari?
Our customers have always been the main driver of our experiments with handloom silk-weaving designs and techniques. We invest in research to understand customers’ preferences and tastes. As a result, we have been able to innovate in terms of design, colour as well as fabric.
One of the most exciting designs to emerge from our creative team has been our Hamsa Damayanthi silk sari. This sari depicts the eponymous paintings by Raja Ravi Varma, which combines traditional Indian crafts with techniques gleaned from French tapestry weaving, and which have won the brand a National Award. Prior to this, we were also presented with a National Award for our Aishwarya Pookal sari, which takes inspiration from the intricately carved ceilings of the Padmanabhapuram Palace and features a striking double pallu with 90 unique flowers.
Mastery over cutting-edge dyeing technology has also enabled RmKV to create a sari that features 50,000 distinct colours, a design that remains a favourite among customers. Another one of our unique, color-focused designs features a stunning chevron pattern based on the work of Victor Vasarely, a pioneer in the European Op Art movement.
From a practical perspective, we responded to customer feedback to create a special, lightweight version of our silk saris. These saris utilise a unique weaving technique that results in fabrics which are 40 per cent lighter than traditional silk.
Tell us more about your association with local weavers across the country.
In addition to sourcing handloom products from weavers across the country, we also have our own looms in Kanchipuram and Arni weaving clusters in Tamil Nadu. In 2015, we launched the Modernised Pneumatic Handloom (MPHL), which mechanises all lifting operations in a loom. As a result, MPHL eases the weaver’s physical effort and increases productivity while simultaneously preserving the skill that goes into the weaving process.
What are your hopes for your online stores? Do you think an omnichannel is the future?
RmKV certainly believes that omni-channels are the future, with a fair share of customer transactions happening online. We recognised this trend quite early and were one of the first retailers in our segment to enter e-commerce. In addition to online sales, our website also helps advertise our collections to customers who shop in our stores.
How do you cater to contemporary ethnic wear without missing out on traditional crafting techniques?
Contemporary ethnic wear need not be limited in scope; it can comprise a variety of garments, from saris to anarkalis, kurtis to lehengas. It is defined instead by current design and styling trends. Even while we focus on creating timeless, handwoven garments, we try to be familiar with the fashion zeitgeist. We also have our own ethnic wear label known as Srinika, with its own in-house design and production team that is constantly updating and refining its style portfolio.
What are your key goals for the next five years?
As we near our centenary year, we will continue to work towards preserving and reviving traditional crafts, while simultaneously championing new weaving, dyeing and design techniques.
We hope to be a strong and relevant brand by constantly understanding the needs of our customers, without compromising on our core values of quality and trust.
