THE ESSENCE OF BANARAS: KHINKHWAB

Business Clothing
May 5, 2019
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Opening new doors to the ancient art of weaving, in Banaras, Khinkhwab brings entracing Banarasi silk art, which is as old as the city itself, close to the modern world. The brand is an internet based shopping label that has the most authentic, selectively handpicked, and breathtaking collection of Banarasi Sarees, Lehengas, Dupattas and Banarasi fabric, available online. Khinkhwab is an exquisite amalgamation of heritage and culture of Banaras, woven into pure Banarasi silk sarees and lehengas.

Khinkhwab was born over a phone conversation between Mrs. Ruchi and her mother Mrs. Geeta Agarwal. Khinkhwab is a team of 4 people, Mrs. Ruchi Agarwal, her mother Mrs. Geeta Agarwal, her father Mr. Ashok Agarwal and her brother Mr. Amit Agarwal. Mrs. Agarwal looks after curating and all the finer details and finances are taken care by Mr. Agarwal. Mr. Amit & his wife looks after events in India and overseas, whereas Mrs. Ruchi Agarwal is responsible for curation, marketing, advertising and exhibitions in Singapore & South East Asia.

Mrs. Geeta Agarwal was equally excited with her daughter’s idea, when she told her mother that she wanted to start this business. They started to brainstorm for the names for their new brain child. “I read about Kimkhab, which is a type of gold weaving done on the Banarasi fabric. Inspired by that name, I decided to go with this unique and wonderful name Khinkhwab, which also means weaving dreams in Persian.” Says Mrs. Ruchi Agarwal, founder and owner of Khinkhwab.

She further tells us about the idea of laying the foundation of her golden dream, “Living in Singapore for many years, I have been seeing many Indian ladies wearing sarees and saree sellers in abundance. However, there wasn’t anyone who was doing authentic Banarasi silk sarees.

This created a spark and I thought why not bring Banarasi silk to Singapore and in turn the world, as I have access to such rich culture from my hometown. To any woman, possessing a Banarasi is always a moment of pride. So, I started off with some 20 sarees, but then this idea took off so well and I received so much support and appreciation from the people around. So that was how Khinkhwab, the golden dreams took off in my life.”

Khinkhwab aims to cater all the sections of society; and offers variety and range of products. “We want every woman to enjoy authentic Banarasi essence. We plan to do more events overseas and have our in- house looms to make our own designs. I have many ideas in mind, let us wait and see that what all we can implement.” Mrs. Ruchi Agarwal unfolds her hearts desire .

Ethnic lovers from across the world, cherish Khinkhwas’s mesmerizing product range, with traditional flavor of Banaras, which are sold in many countries, Australia, New Zealand, US, U.K, Germany, Dubai to name a few.

Khinkhwab has clients worldwide. They also have website visitors from China & Japan. A Design Studio in Singapore, where the products are displayed and people can take a look and purchase the exclusive range of products available in different types of fabrics. Banarasi Sarees, Dupattas, Lehengas, Suits, Stoles, Fabrics etc. are the main products that Khinkhwab offers, and also customized products as per the requirements of the ethnic clothing lovers.

Fine Varieties of Silk

The spectacular range is woven using pure Handloom and Handwoven Silks chosen from amidst the fine varieties of silk such as Katan Silk, Tussar Silk, Moonga Silk, Chiniya Silk, Tissue Silk, Linen Silk, Georgette Silk, Crepe Silk to name a few. Out of these varieties Mrs. Ruchi Agrawal absolutely loves Katan silks. “I love Katan silk. It is the purest and the richest form of Banarasi silk.” She Says.

Price and Customization

Khinkhwab offers best prices and authentic pieces to the clients. Team Khinkhwab tries to customize as much as they can for the clients. They have some of the clients for whom they have got sarees woven from the scratch and the customers have patiently waited for their masterpieces. For pure silk, price range start from INR 15000 and for some real zari, exclusive sarees can go up to 15 to 20 lakhs depending upon the grams of Gold used in the zari. In fact, a real zari saree for one of the loyal client had been commissioned for INR 6 Lakhs.

About the Man force- The talented weavers

The city of Banaras houses over 100,000 weavers, considering the fact that weaving is what Banaras is known for, apart from the rich culture, the city embodies. It takes 10 days to 6 months to weave a saree, depending upon the detailing.

Customer Satisfaction- The Dignified Commitment

Team Khinkhwab ensures the on time delivery of the package and also ensures to deliver what they have committed as customer satisfaction is the most important aspect for the team. “I remember once I had committed to one of client that we will deliver her dupatta by a certain date, but due to some problem the courier got delayed. I called up the courier service, picked up the piece from their warehouse and personally delivered it to her place. That’s how important our commitment is. Our customer service starts after the purchase, it does not end there.” Mrs. Ruchi shares her take.

Coverage in the Market and Marketing Strategy

The focus of our marketing strategy has been to make sure that we are able to take the essence of Banaras products to all the possible Banarasi silk customers worldwide. Towards this, we have developed a robust e-commerce website as well as optimized blogs giving the best of information about all the varieties of products that we offer. We also promote our businesses in a large scale through Social media handles like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Mission and Vision Statement

The primary mission of Khinkhwab is to promote handmade and handloom industry and offer original
and the best of Banarasi silk products to our customers worldwide. What makes Khinkhwab stand out among the rest is, its vision to elevate and inspire thousands of skillful weavers of Varanasi to showcase their artwork in a modern way.

By promoting and incorporating unconventional modern designsand colors into their work, Khinkhwab’s vision is to bridge the gap between the authentic work pieces of these weavers of Varanasi and
the Banarasi silk lovers.

Some of the key achievements of Khinkhwab has been the opportunities to collaborate with some beautiful bloggers, doing interviews with Mrs., Vijayalakshmi jee, Mrs., Chinna Dua jee, and be part of some top-notch events like IWA Bazaar Singapore, Wedding Asia, Red Trunk Singapore, Runway bridal wedding show by Mrs. Ramola Bachchan.

In addition, love on Instagram and Facebook with increasing followers every day.