At Savana, they are serious about trends. From dramatic bows and Coquette core to K-Pop and Bridgerton, if it is trending it is on Savana’s app, in the form of garments and accessories. Launched last month by the UK-based fashion brand Urbanic, this venture is targeted at Gen Z and the app already has 3 million downloads.
Urbanic was launched in India in 2019, by James Wellwood (based out of London), head, strategy and partnerships, and Rahul Dayama, founding partner, head, brand and communications. While it also caters to a mature audience, what James and Rahul noticed was that their young consumers were growing at a rapid rate. “We learnt that the young generation is dynamic, and they are clued in to social media and things happening globally. That’s why we created Savana that has super high resonance to what’s going on now,” says Rahul.
Savana’s debut collection emphasises on party wear. They even have a category titled Midnight Dancingfeaturing chain bodycon dresses, sequinned tube tops, slit cocktail dresses… The other gamut of options also includes swimwear, lounge wear and active wear. “Savana will have a new drop every week as opposed to Urbanic which does four drops every quarter,” says Rahul. It will also be more affordable than Urbanic as it is catering to a young crowd. Both Savana and Urbanic are big on technology, says Rahul, adding that after five years of Urbanic they learned that young people are app-friendly and so Savana launched as an app only brand.
Rahul insists that theirs is a tech plus fashion brand and you’ll find more tech engineers than designers. “Inventory management, stock related issue, site map, preference of customers will all be handled through AI,” he adds.
The brand is taking one step at a time towards sustainability. To begin with, Rahul says, AI will make sure there is less inventory waste. “While we use cotton, linen, jeans, satin, crochet, nylon, and mixed fabric to create the garments, we are trying to get more sustainable materials in the future,” says Rahul.
James and Rahul first met in 2018 at the Milken Institute in California. “We wanted to use technology to sort problems in the fashion industry, like for example, dead stock. We wanted to do something that’s digital-driven,” says Rahul. Eventually, after a lot of R&D, Urbanic took shape. “We wanted to focus on quality. Our idea was to target emerging markets. We launched in India, then Latin America, and the UK. We will be launching in the Middle East markets soon,” he adds.
