Early November, home grown sneaker label Gully Labs hosted its first international Gully Labs Baithak at an art gallery in Camden, London—far from the brand’s flagship store in Delhi’s Panchsheel Park. What was meant to be a “community hangout with a small diaspora crowd” drew over 400 people—musicians, students, creators and sneaker lovers. The London Baithak happened organically, say founders Arjun Singh and Animesh Mishra.
Ever since opening their flagship store in September, Gully Labs has been hosting their signature Baithak on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Envisioned as a space to talk, share ideas, debate, sing along or just lounge around with coffee, the store has hosted a mix of free and ticketed events, including a concert by musician Darzi and an open mic called Jamghat with Kommune. For a young label still cementing its place as a serious sneaker maker, positioning itself as a cool culture curator helps it stand out. But it’s not the only one taking this approach.
Late last month in Bengaluru, around 80 people gathered at Kaash, an atelier gallery housed in a heritage bungalow in the neighbourhood of Langford Town, for an evening that blended fashion, art, music and food. Titled Bandha, it had singer Bindhumalini Narayanaswamy performing a medley of classical and folk tunes alongside the ongoing art show As Below So Above. The evening was hosted by RareFore, a cultural platform launched by Akshika Poddar, co-founder of Bengaluru-based fashion retail group, The House of Rare, which encompasses menswear, womenswear, kidswear and shoes.
RareFore, Poddar says, began as a way to give shape to her long-standing love for India’s performing and visual arts. She acknowledges that it also brings the brand closer to customers. “You wear us through our labels, and now you can feel us through our events.”
Young homegrown retail labels are tapping into the soft power of culture to build deeper connections with customers. “As shopping habits changed and retail became more experiential, we realised we didn’t just want a store—we wanted a cultural adda,” says Singh, referring to a popular Bengali/Hindi word used to describe people getting together to have relaxed conversations or impassioned debates. At Pour Decisions, a monthly series that’s hosted at the Gully Labs Baithak, attendees are invited to vent/joke about their workplace woes. Recently, the brand hosted an exclusive listening session of Bengaluru-based indie band Parvaaz’s unreleased album, Na Gul, Na Gulistan, at the store followed by a virtual chat with the band members.
For many consumers, this culture-first approach is more appealing than standard market ing. “People today are done with brands that engage in loud promotions or ‘in-your-face’ campaigns telling you to ‘buy, buy, buy’,” says Shalika Sandeep, 28, a communication consultant in Bengaluru. “They want brands with personality and a capacity for storytelling.” A fashion enthusiast, Sandeep frequently attends these events with her friends. “We get to know of them mainly through word of mouth. I like them because they are planned well and are so aesthetically done,” she says, citing a recent launch party organised by Levi’s. “They’d collaborated with an ice-cream shop and a speciality coffee brand, so besides shopping, you got to experience multiple things at once.”
STORES AS STAGES
In an era where 10-minute deliveries have made almost everything available at the snap of your finger, people are driven to seek hyper-immersive, communal experiences that make them feel like they belong. And fashion brands are responding to this need by transforming their stores into dynamic performance arenas. Multi-brand sneaker and street wear boutique VegNonVeg (VNV) is a prime example. “Every store that we have has a strong component of a third space where people can come together,” says Abhineet Singh, who founded VNV in 2016 along with Anand Ahuja and Emilia Bergmans.
At their Delhi store, this takes the form of a thriving skating community (they skate outside the store and the brand also has skating merch like shoes), weekend DJ sessions, vinyl workshops, and an art space activated “purely for the love of the arts,” as Bergmans says. Their new 4,200 sq. ft Hyderabad store—their biggest yet—pushes the idea further. “The store is designed like a stage, so we can host film screenings, photoshoots, music gigs and more,” Bergmans adds.
The House of Angadi, a Bengaluru-based luxury textile label, has been hosting events at its Ashoka Pillar and Sadashiva Nagar stores long before “experiential retail” became a buzzword. “Before Instagram and TikTok, a brand could express itself to customers only through one-to-one connection and conversation, so we chose to use tools such as talks, workshops and cultural events that aligned with our brand language to do that,” says Supria Radaraman, co-founder and group COO. While events in the initial years focused on talks and concerts, the brand now also hosts workshops in horology, sari draping and perfume-making along with wellness-oriented talks—an extension of the lifestyle products it sells alongside silk saris and textiles. Angadi hosts these events roughly twice a month, with publicity largely driven through WhatsApp and Instagram.
At a quick glance, the biggest gain from taking a culture-first approach is it helps brands build an organic community from the ground up. “Each event of ours sparks new collaborations, micro-communities, creator meet-ups, and conversations. Today, people don’t want to just buy; they want to belong,” notes Mishra. For Radaraman, authenticity is key, as it “helps a brand stand out from its competition”. And for VNV’s Singh, it’s less about generating sales and more about “doing something for people that is fun and creates some buzz.”
As these examples show, fashion stores are evolving into places where people can slow down, discover something new and find community. “Today, no one likes to be told what to buy or wear,” says Sandeep. “This culture route becomes a subtle way to entrench the brand in the customer’s mind so they buy willingly.”