In this episode, Chirag Chadha (VP, Elevation Capital) speaks with Vedang Patel (Co-Founder & CEO, The Souled Store) on the journey of building The Souled Store, India’s largest fan merchandise destination and one of the most loved casualwear brands.

Founded in 2013 out of a sheer passion for pop culture, The Souled Store started with the belief that India needed a dedicated fan merchandise destination. The core insight was that the customer, back in the day, had only two extreme choices when it came to purchasing fandom-based apparel - super expensive US imports or the cheap, poor-quality fakes that were sold in unorganized retail markets. The Souled Store caught on to this missing middle and launched fan merchandise with proprietary designs, and at an affordable price, largely scaling the business through their own channels.

Over time, as the company witnessed very high retention, the team realized that the customers came to TSS, not just for designs, but also for the right quality of fabric and fit. The Souled Store then started evolving into a casual-wear brand, and this segment now contributes to ~40% of the revenue. The company now boasts of having a registered user base of ~5 Mn customers and an annualized net revenue run-rate of INR 300 Cr while being PAT profitable. TSS is a true D2C company, with 90%+ revenue coming from its own channels - web, app, and offline stores.

Tune into this episode to hear Vedang sharing his thoughts on building a brand and its essential elements. Vedang also speaks about bootstrapping for the first 6 years and how that built discipline, frugality, and good culture.