“What should I wear today?”, a question that has bothered women since the dawn of time every time they get ready for office or for an occasion, now has a solution. EstiloRobe is a mobile app that lets women digitize their entire wardrobe, then suggests them what to wear based on what they have, therefore, removes the hassles of selecting a dress to wear.
EstiloRobe is the brainchild of Pahul Kathuria & Pooja Aggarwal, who realized how much time it consumes to decide what to wear, and how digitizing things can be helpful. Thus, the idea for EstiloRobe occurred.
Pahul has previously worked in apparel retail sector and Pooja has more than 3 years’ experience in IT. Together, they make an ideal team to launch a tech startup of the fashion industry. The EstiloRobe app will launch on July 29, 2016 and is being awaited by thousands of women who have come to know about it during its prelaunch marketing phase.
Please provide a brief overview of your product/ service.
EstiloRobe helps you organize your closet and create outfits by mixing and matching what you already own. Click pictures of your wardrobe items, upload them in the app under the right category, and boom! You have your virtual closet at your fingertips. Create new looks every day and share these with your friends too. If you need help in deciding what to wear, send in your queries. Based on your profile details, our stylists will suggest trendy looks that can be created using your existing clothes. You can also plan your outfits ahead of time. Just save an outfit for a particular date & occasion, and the app will send you reminder notifications so that you can avoid any last minute rush.
What inspired you to build the above product/ service?
Our App is based on an idea to help women in deciding or planning their outfits by providing them access to their wardrobe on their smartphones. With new clothing brands’ popping up every now and then, every woman finds herself being pressed between time and money and it becomes frustrating when it comes to dressing up and getting ready.
These challenges motivated us to come up with a solution & laid the foundation stone for our app ESTILOROBE. The app lets the user create a virtual closet by uploading the images of their current wardrobe items which will help the women today to re-vamp and re-invent their style of dressing by mixing-matching and creating new looks from their old wardrobe.
What is your life mantra?
Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen.
What was the most challenging part of your journey till now?
A startup throws new challenges at every step. Getting like-minded people who were equally enthusiastic and passionate about the idea was one of the hurdles we faced during inception phase. Another challenge was finance. Since we are a self-funded start-up, building a good product under limited resources and then marketing it to the target audience has been challenging. The journey so far has been challenging, as well as a good learning experience. The only thing that has kept us going through all the tough times is our belief in the idea and positive feedback that we received from women across all genre and age groups.
How did you overcome those challenges?
Right mix of team and belief in our idea helped us in overcoming the challenges we have faced.
Share some details about the investments that you have been able to fetch for the business till now.
We are a self-funded start-up, but will be seeking out for investors soon.
How do you protect yourself from the problem of Brain Drain?
We are a small team so haven’t faced these issues till now.
According to you, what are the three qualities an individual must have to achieve success?
Imagination, Determination and perseverance.
Which online tools/ services/ apps do you use the most and would like to recommend as well?
Polyvore / Instagram (Anything that smells fashion)
Share any one habit which you think makes you more productive.
I prioritize my work for each day and instead of waiting for deadlines I try to finish them ASAP.
Share any one habit which you wish to change in yourself.
I tend to delve into finer details of everything. However I think at times you need to let go few things in interest of bigger picture.
Answer in less than 50 words
Believe in yourself and follow your dreams, if you have dreamt it you definitely have the ability to make them true.
- One mistake you believe every individual must avoid:
Don’t let other people’s opinion drown your own inner voice, have courage to follow your heart and intuition
- One most important lesson that you have learnt till now:
Never give up… there is absolutely nothing in this world which cannot be achieved, if you put yourself completely into it.
What are your plans for next 3 years?
We have made a detailed plan with defined timelines & milestones in order to increase our target audience for this year. Currently we are self-funded, therefore will be looking for investors soon to accelerate our growth and market penetration. Once we have the funding we will introduce various other exciting features in phase 2 and phase 3 of app release.
What are your top three getaway destinations?
- Goa –I believe that Goa is more like a state of mind than actually a destination.
- Paris –I fell in love with this place long before I actually visited, the French air clears up the brain and leaves you bewitched with its beauty.
- Antarctica – I haven’t yet gone there, but one day I will definitely explore the beauty of this white continent.
Share a quote that inspires you the most.
There this quote that I really like, don’t know who said it but I definitely believe in it — “An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. When life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means it’s going to launch you into something great. So just focus and keep going!”