Becoming a mother seems to have given more ideas and opportunities to actor-cum-entrepreneur Alia Bhatt, who is juggling movies, business and parenting but said that she loves challenges.

The actor had even taken up the challenge of launching her kids wear brand Ed-A-Mamma in the middle of the pandemic and now she is launching more categories to expand the business.

"We launched Ed-A-Mamma in 2020 and started our kids' wear brand from ages 4 to 12. But right from the inception of the brand, the intention was to create a world. It was never just about a kids' wear brand. Subsequently, we launched teens, then maternity wear and now infants," Bhatt told Moneycontrol.

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The clothing line for infants starts at Rs 499 with dresses for girls, sleepsuits, bodysuits and more.

"I have always looked at the story we are trying to tell. So, for prints for the infants wear collection, I suggested if we could have elephants and made sure there were elephants on a couple of clothes. There is a certain sense of cuteness that I bring (to the brand)," Bhatt added.

More than just clothes

She added that what started as storytelling is moving to tangible storytelling. "I am hoping to get the animation series live this year," she said.

We are not going to stop at just fashion, she added. "We are not just going to be a brand that delivers clothes. We are going to eventually branch out into categories like storytelling, educational toys, hopefully animation series, and personal care for your babies. The possibilities are endless and we have eyes on all these possibilities. We just want to take one step at a time. However, we have expanded and there has been a lot of learning. The journey has just started," said Bhatt.

The clothing line for infants will also be followed with products like swaddles and blankets. "Infants can become significant contributors to business and add to the top line as this segment is relatively less explored," said Iffat Jivan, business head, Ed-A-Mamma.

She said that with the current run rate, the company will be crossing Rs 100 crore in revenue in 2022-23.

"It becomes a lot easier with Alia (Bhatt) sharing her thoughts and when she thought of maternity wear, we got excited. It is not easy to please Alia (Bhatt) and her taste. She was particular in what she wanted in the product and that made it a lot easier for us to translate. We had 80 percent sale in the first three weeks of the launch (for maternity wear). Post that we launched teens, then nursing. In the last four months, we came up with four collections," said Jivan.

Maternity started with me putting together stuff in my wardrobe, said Bhatt. "I made things work by adding elastic to my jeans, finding flowy dresses. Also, I didn't want to lose my sense of personal style just because I was pregnant. I wanted to keep my personality intact and I was not able to find those clothes. Even if I did, I found those clothes in London and other international markets. That's when I thought to turn this into a limited edition collection. Maternity category was like my baby."

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Then came the post-pregnancy phase, where Bhatt saw the gap in nursing styles.

"We needed to add more styles for maternity and after that I realised we needed to have more nursing styles that are front open. Also, we wanted clothes that can be worn during and post-pregnancy as well and didn’t want people to put money on clothes that last just a couple of months."

Expansion plan

With the brand currently valued at Rs 300 crore, Jivan said that all eyes are on expansion to more markets.

"We started offline by being available at Lifestyle and Shoppers Stop across 22 stores. Now the focus is on expanding to newer markets. We are looking at the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. We will soon go live with Amazon.com and we will be available in the US as well. In terms of offline presence in India, we will be launching in the next fortnight at Reliance's new premium format Azorte. We are also increasing our footprint in tier II and III cities," Jivan said.

Soon to follow will be Ed-A-Mamma experiential stores.

Bhatt said that the timing of all the three new collections—maternity, nursing and infant—is perfect as she just became a mother. "I am continuously filling gaps in my wardrobe. That’s what I did with maternity wear. It all fits right because we are trying to create a world. When I say world, I want Ed-A-Mamma to be that one-stop shop for all things related to you, your baby childcare, kids care, kids wear."

Looking to launch experience stores, Jivan said the reason they held on to starting exclusive brand outlets was because they didn't want to be just clothes-selling stores. "We are hoping the experience stores will be up and going soon," she said.

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