Jun 04, 2024

Why Adisee - The Origin Story

“A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers.” describes wikipedia.

But come to think of it this definition doesn’t suffice. It is surely to wonder how a name becomes synonymous with trust, desire and devotion. This allure and fascination is what seeded Adisee.

The first few luxury accessory brands to originate from India were in the guise of western names trying to sell the international idea to freshly globalised India. Certain brands even went to the lengths of embossing “Vera pelle” (real leather) in Italian on their products to encash the allure of Italian craftsmanship.

Even today in the recent one year a fleet of western brands have mushroomed in India roping the biggest influences inside and outside Bollywood, whether it’s a Sonam Kapoor promoting Tods or a princess Gauravi Kumari of Jaipur promoting Jimmy Choo.

The aspiration and the allure of Italian craftsmanship and western names still looms largely over our country. In our three years of existence, through several interactions and research we have found how fascinated we as a nation are with western names when it comes to handbags.

When I went for my masters to Italy, I noticed a certain lens with which India was viewed, I was constantly pushed to pursue hand embroidery by my well intended mentors. I grew up in a household where my mother and aunt owned a small clothing boutique, so hand embroidery and such crafts were a daily affair for me, but despite all this existing workmanship I could hardly place in my head a “made in India” leather accessory brand.

The “vera pelle” label on a made in India product made me question the allure of Italy or the west and that pinching gave me the founding stone for Adisee. I wanted to build a made in India leather accessory brand with a similar allure or atleast give an option to people like me who would have felt similarly like I did.

The name Adisee is a culmination of my name Aditi and my mother’s name Seema. The former part of the name represents the new India seeking and promoting homegrown while the latter part pays homage to the Indian hand craftsmanship I got to witness through my mother.

But today I am glad to report that there are people who are ditching the mystique of foreign brands and are choosing to adorn homegrown brands on their wrists and shoulders.

The Fashion Accessory industry is slowly and steadily developing in India now and maybe in 10 years from today we will be at a place where there would be at least a few accessory brands at par with the aspirations of other international brands.

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