Seeza Bhardwaj built a D2C skincare brand after she had just given birth to a child. Here’s how the startup, Green Loom, is making a mark in the natural skincare space. The company clocks an annual turnover of Rs. 36 to Rs. 48 lakhs.
Seeza Bhardwaj, 28, had just given birth to a baby girl in February 2018 when she decided to follow her long-held dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Within the next 50 days, she launched her direct-to-consumer skincare company, The Green Loom. The Panchkula-based firm has now selected a collection of 31 ‘premium natural’ skincare items, ranging from face packs and creams to cold pressed oils.
In India, the startup has a presence both online and offline. As she looked at the overcrowded D2C skincare industry, particularly “organic,” the mompreneur had been pondering over the concept of creating “simple, transparent, and fit-for-all” skincare products for a long time.
Organic is the most overused word in skincare today. It has become a type of status symbol. People, in actuality, do not want to be misled to and prefer simple items “according to the founder
Green Loom has chosen to be ‘quality natural,’ which is devoid of unnatural ingredients such as parabens, petrochemicals, sodium lauryl, synthetic colours, and dyes.
It specifically avoids labelling its products as ‘organic,’ instead naming only those that have received the necessary certification.
“Half of the items on the market are labelled organic yet are not. The typical shelf life of a Green Loom product with plant-based preservatives ranges from 6 to 18 months, depending on the product. Green Loom’s concept of “not pushing out items” for enormous but short-term benefits, and of keeping everything transparent, has earned the company a committed community of over 800 regular clients.
Seeza, an engineering graduate from Pathankot, Punjab, was always interested in sustainable agriculture/farm practises, farmer’s rights, and soil depletion concerns, among others, and took on the position of educationist-cum-activist after graduation. She also completed an organic farming course at Navdanya in Dehradun with famous environmental activist and author Dr Vandana Shiva, in addition to organising other courses (centred on sustainable agriculture techniques) throughout Punjab.
The concept of launching a skincare line came much later. “I wanted to be an agriculturist but couldn’t since I couldn’t be a member of the agricultural community in any manner,” Seeza explains.
Seeza, a qualified formulator, founded Green Loom in 2018 with Rs 1.5 lakh and hasn’t taken a single dime out of the company since, instead continuing to invest.
Initially, she worked as a one-man army, handling all aspects of the business, including design, sourcing, marketing, and packaging.
She faced significant losses in 2020 as rains ruined over 90% of its supplies. At the moment, the firm, which has a 10-person staff, functions both online and offline. It has its own website and is featured on online sites such as Flipkart, and it has a shelf presence in stores such as Gormetgarh around the local region.
It intends to expand its offline reach over the following few months. While there are a slew of big names in natural skincare, such as Khadi, Biotique, Kama Ayurveda, and Mamaearth, Green Loom faces stiff competition from local brands such as Just Herbs, Tvakh, Betty’s Holistics and Skincare, Hanoor, and Pahadi Local, among others, who are dabbling in the ayurvedic, organic, and natural space.
Green Loom generates an average monthly income of Rs 3-4 lakh through its outlets and has customers in the tricity region (Chandigarh, Panchkula, and Mohali), Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and portions of Gujarat.
As part of his hyperlocal marketing approach and research, the entrepreneur holds micro-DIY workshops and exhibits.
As a result, the firm has built a small but important community of DIY skincare lovers, which has contributed to the brand’s value and recall.
