Deepika Reddy Unveils Hyderabad’s Premium ‘Almari’

Almari, started by a young girl named Deepika Reddy is now one of the most premium Multi designer stores in Hyderabad. She always wanted to be an entrepreneur but what is important is the fact that she made it happen and she started from scratch. Without any formal training, she ventured to start a fashion boutique which curates collections from budding fashion designers from all over the country.

Feministaa hunts for inspiring, motivated women and we knew we are doing it right when we came across Ms Deepika Reddy and asked her a few important questions.

Deepika’s inspiration is not one person but rather an idea of “being the best”. It motivates her to keep pushing herself to do better. She says, “I like to give myself small realistic goals whose attainment gives me the confidence to take up more challenging tasks to better present and execute Almari”

It is a fact that the fashion industry in India is growing by the day and we see a budding fashion designer everyday. Its becoming a cliche career for every girl who loves to dress up. However, Deepika thinks that there is an immense amount of talent in our country and its amazing to see a new generation of strong individualistic designers who don’t all have formal training. She believes that  India has opened up so much that a variety of opportunities are emerging in Fashion and  there are a variety of fields such as fashion designing, fashion journalism, merchandising, styling, blogging, make up/hair and many more which girls can go for.

Facing the Obstacles

While setting up this venture, there were some challenges which she had to face and dealt with them like a survivor. It took her one year to conceptualize the store. In order to do that, she first researched the market by organizing niche trunk shows which broadened her understanding about the the market and her consumers market.  She realised there was a huge market for affordable luxury in India targeting young women and the challenge now was to design an amazing space and curate quality on trend products.

There were several challenges. I had to create an expensive space on a very tight budget, convince established designers to take me seriously, design an appropriate marketing strategy, train staff who are older to me and set up a functioning model for the store. Things didn’t always go as planned but patience is key for holding up.

Career or Passion ?

Feministaa believes that the best thing in life would be if you could make your passion into a career. Deepika truly believes that having a career you are passionate about is a blessing and women should pursue their calling in life. Even if their passion is not a career option, women should pursue it to some extent because you will always get a sense of satisfaction.

Marriage for you ?

Most women who are at the top level in corporates prefer not getting married. For Deepika, Marriage being a barrier is very debatable. She thinks that a lot of factors need to be considered such as the woman’s personality, her husband’s personality and the presence of a strong support system. However, more often than not, she has seen marriages in India act as barrier in regard to allowing women reach their full potential but she believes that this scenario, on a positive note, is slowly changing.

Hyderabad women are different ?

Deepika says that Hyderabad as a city has become very cosmopolitan in the last 15 years. As a result , women are more exposed and more independent. There is a huge segment of the female population which is very much on par with women living in cities like Bombay or Bangalore. However, there is still a sizable population which is more conservative but not ignorant.

One point I must add which I feel is very specific to Hyderabad is the obsession with marriage. Marriage is in a lot of cases is made to seem like the end goal for every girl. However, the times are definitely changing.–

We wish Deepika Reddy all the very best for for venture and we hope she makes “Almari” a one stop place for all the young women to buy their Indian Clothes.