When The Textile Magazine contacted Ami Sata, she was preparing to launch her brand Amouve online in September. The interview couldn’t have been timed better. “Amouve is the first of its kind mainstream certified organic bedding brand in India. All of its range is crafted from the finest long staple organic cotton, making it luxuriously soft and comfortable to snooze in, apart from being devoid of harmful toxins,” said Ami Sata, founder of Amouve.
It’s not every day that one encounters a bedding entrepreneur. So some prodding revealed that Sata’s interest in the bedding industry grew when she worked as a marketing professional for a bedding brand. Having learnt about the nuances of this category, she decided to establish herself in this segment.
Sata chose to create something meaningful and symbiotic for all associated audiences and hence opted for an organic bedding company as versus starting one with conventional, pesticide intensive products.
Dynamics of Amouve
Given the fact that we lead stressful lives, quality sleep is essential and while sleeping, bedding is the closest that people come to for many hours in a day, probably eight-nine hours. While there are abundant options in sheets with poly cotton and conventional cotton, the ones in the pure, certified organic category are hard to find. That’s where Amouve fits in, with its soft and natural feeling. “Conventional cotton consumes about 25% of the world’s pesticides, making it the ‘dirtiest crop’ in the world, a fact that needs to be seriously considered since we spend a third of our lives in bed,” said Sata, by way of explanation.
The skin is the largest body organ, and spending eight hours a day in bed means we are directly in touch with chemicals that promote skin allergies, respiratory problems and, up to a great extent, are carcinogenic. The brand seeks to highlight these along with differences between ‘Marketed’ and ‘Real’ organic. Amouve was conceived against this backdrop. As she put it: “The brand is inherently beneficial for all the associated target audiences; right from the farmers, workers, to the customers and combining it with everyday life. Amouve is sustainable for the planet, productive for cotton farmers and a luxury for customers.”
The brand aims to be beneficial for all the associated target audiences, right from the farmers to workers to the customers.
Sustainable brand
Amouve is positioned as a brand sustainable for the planet, productive for farmers and a luxury for consumers. “A visit to organic cotton farms gave me a holistic view of the situation, the challenges in conversion from conventional to organic farming and a peek into farmers’ living conditions,” she revealed.
While Sata does not source cotton directly, her partner factories adhere to the highest norms in implementing better economic and social welfare for the farmers. “We truly believe that farmers are direct stakeholders in the economy and ecology of our country and it is essential to give them their due,” she felt.
In the longer run, the entrepreneur would like to make provisions to farmer villages with facilities for better living conditions and training.
Digital challenges
It’s hard to imagine bedding being sold online, since consumers opt for the touch and feel route. Amouve will include in-depth product description with every detail of the fabric, right from the cotton to finer aspects about thread count to mattress charts. A trial policy is being set up for wannabe consumers. Amouve’s consumer is aspirational, educated, well-travelled and hence understands references easily, be it a certain colour or place.
While women are the primary target audience, the Bangalore-based entrepreneur is keen to cater to men with high-paying jobs, as a secondary audience. Specialized niches will be explored in the coming year. The range starts from Rs. 700 for cushion covers to about Rs. 15,000 for hand-made quilts.
The retail marketing strategy will be a heady mix of social media and content. Customers will be able to buy products from the website. Affiliate partnerships with scope for intended audience with a certain mindset for specialized products will be on the cards.
“I think a brand’s biggest contribution to their upliftment would be to create awareness about organic and its benefits to consumers, so more people buy it. If this is done successfully, the dynamics of demand and supply will automatically take care of themselves,” she summed up.
Photo Credit: Nayan Soni