Why I Started Laarc: A Fashion Founder's Story
Most people assume fashion brands begin with a business plan. Mine began with a needle and thread. Long before I understood fashion as an industry, I witnessed it as an act of love.
Growing up, my mother and my nani made clothes not only for themselves but for all of us children in the family. This wasn't driven by trends or luxury. It was practical. Ready-made options were limited, and sewing was often the most sensible solution.
But what stayed with me wasn't the practicality. It was their creativity. I watched pieces of fabric transform into garments. I watched colours, textures and patterns come together through skilled hands. Every stitch carried intention. Every garment carried care.
At the time, I didn't realise I was learning my first lessons about fashion. Today, when I look back at the journey that led to Laarc, I can clearly see six influences that shaped the founder I became.
Influence #1: Fashion Began As Creativity At Home
My earliest memories of clothing aren't from stores or magazines. They're from home. I grew up surrounded by women who made things with their hands. Clothing was not disposable. It was imagined, created, altered and cherished. As a child, I naturally gravitated toward that world.
I dressed up dolls in handmade outfits. I sketched designs in the margins and on the backs of my notebooks. I spent hours imagining fabrics, silhouettes and combinations long before I knew words like "design" or "fashion." What began as play slowly became curiosity. And curiosity became passion. Frugality led to business practicality.
Looking back, I realise my first fashion education happened around the dining table, not in a classroom.
Influence #2: Building My First Fashion Business
In 2005, I transformed that lifelong interest into my first fashion venture, August.
Like many entrepreneurs, I started with excitement, ambition and plenty of unanswered questions. At the time, I believed I was building a fashion business. What I was actually learning was something much more valuable. Women weren't buying clothes. They were buying confidence. They were choosing how they wanted to feel when they walked into a room. They were expressing parts of themselves that words couldn't always communicate. That experience fundamentally changed the way I viewed fashion.
Clothing wasn't the product the emotional experience was.
Influence #3: Motherhood Changed My Understanding Of Women
A few years later, I stepped away from business to focus on raising my family. At the time, it felt like a pause in my professional journey. In reality, it became one of the most influential chapters of my life.
Motherhood gave me a deeper understanding of women's lives. I experienced the physical transformations, shifting priorities, emotional complexity and constant balancing acts that so many women navigate every day. I became acutely aware of how our bodies evolve and how confidence changes. How our relationship with clothing changes. This period taught me something that continues to guide Laarc today:
Women's lives are dynamic. Their clothing should support that reality.
Influence #4: Working With Thousands Of Women
In 2016, I began a new chapter working in women's leadership, diversity and organisational development.
Over the years, I had the privilege of working with thousands of women across industries, professions and life stages.
What fascinated me wasn't their differences, It was their similarities.
Whether they were executives, entrepreneurs, managers or emerging leaders, many of the same themes surfaced repeatedly. Women often underestimated themselves. They struggled to see their own strengths clearly.
And interestingly, confidence often showed up externally before it was felt internally.
The way women dressed, presented themselves and occupied space frequently influenced how they were perceived—and how they perceived themselves.
I became increasingly curious about the connection between clothing and confidence.
Influence #5: Understanding The Gap Fashion Was Ignoring
Through countless conversations, I kept hearing the same frustrations. Women were tired of choosing between style and comfort, between fashion and functionality, between trends and practicality.
Many felt overlooked by brands that designed for idealised lifestyles rather than real ones.
Workwear often felt uninspiring. Trend-driven fashion often felt disconnected from everyday life. And very few brands seemed to understand the needs of women navigating careers, families, ambitions and changing bodies simultaneously. The problem wasn't a lack of clothing. The problem was a lack of understanding.
That realization was a penny drop moment for me.
Influence #6: Age, Experience And A New Definition Of Style
One of the greatest gifts of experience is clarity. Over time, my own relationship with clothing has evolved. I became less interested in buying more and more interested in buying better.
I realised that not every trend was for me, not every beautiful garment had to be in my wardrobe. It's about wearing clothes that reflect who you are, where you are in life and how you want to show up in the world.
Without consciously planning it, I was developing the principles that would eventually become the foundation of Laarc.
Why I Started Laarc
By the time the idea for Laarc emerged, it wasn't driven by a single market opportunity, rather a singular frustration - do I really need to choose between comfort and style?.
It was the culmination of decades of experiences. A childhood spent watching women create beauty from simplicity. A first business that taught me fashion is deeply personal. Motherhood that revealed how women's needs evolve. Years spent working with women leaders and understanding confidence from the inside out. Conversations that exposed the disconnect between fashion brands and real women. And a personal evolution that redefined what style truly means.
Laarc was born from one simple belief:
Women deserve clothing that understands them.
Their lives. Their ambitions. Their transitions. Their individuality.
What Laarc Stands For Today
Today, every decision we make at Laarc traces back to those early influences.
We design with intention, prioritizing quality over excess. We celebrate individuality over trends.
And we create clothing that helps women feel confident, comfortable and completely themselves.
Because fashion, at its best, is not about changing who you are. It's about helping you become more of who you've always been. And perhaps that journey began for me many years ago, watching my mother and nani turn simple pieces of fabric into something meaningful—one stitch at a time.