How a broken suitcase led to the founding of Mokobara, a new-age Indian design brand

Meet the founders of the Bengaluru-based start-up who are passionate about luggage, research and thoughtful design

In July this year, new-age design company Mokobara grabbed headlines for being one of actor Deepika Padukone’s investment choices. Their luggage, frequently spotted on social media channels in pleasant hues and decidedly attention-grabbing colours, has gained popularity during the pandemic years. A direct-to-consumer approach makes Mokobara, a digital first brand, for whom social media promotions is the key marketing strategy.

A far cry from the VIP and Safari luggage days, the Indian market is now flooded with luxury brands such as Tumi as well as popular mainstream brands like Delsey, American Tourister and, of course, the heavyweight, Samsonite. But the reality is that revenue in the Luggage and Bags segment amounts to US$12.74 billion in 2022. The market is expected to grow annually by seven per cent (CAGR 2022-2026). In global comparison, most revenue is generated in the United States (US$25,460 million in 2022). According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), India is ranked tenth among 185 countries in terms of travel and tourism’s total contribution to GDP in 2019. By 2028, the Indian tourism and hospitality industry is expected to earn US$ 50.9 billion as visitor exports compared with US$28.9 billion in 2018.

Launched in 2019 by Sangeet Agrawal and Navin Parwal–former colleagues at Urban Ladder–Mokobaro, could have been an idea that exuberantly fizzed and then fizzled out. In many ways, the new-age luggage brand is a “pandemic baby,” say the founders. “Good things take time, and the pandemic helped us drown out the noise and double down on product design,” says Parwal. “We engaged with an award-winning product design agency from London to help us create the most functional and beautiful range of luggage. We developed real relationships with our consumers who shared valuable insights that informed our design process,” adds Agarwal.

It’s a move that paid off richly, as the duo managed to raise $6.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Saama Capital, Sauce VC earlier this year. The start-up counts amongst its investors: Varun Alagh, co-founder, Mamaearth ; Ashish Goel, co-founder, Urban Ladder ; the founders of Licious ; Ramakant Sharma, co-founder, Livspace ; Raul Rai ( Nicobar , Good Earth ); and the Chona Family Office, along with Padukone. Edited excerpts from a Zoom and email interview with Agarwal and Parwal.

Tell us about the genesis of the brand?

It was a misadventure that led us [Sangeet Agrawal and Navin Parwal] to embark on our biggest adventure yet. Sangeet was on a trip when his luggage simply broke down. It was somewhere between perhaps the 20th and 25th luggage option he had seen, when he realised the real dearth of premium luggage that fit the design sensibilities of the modern traveller. It seemed to be either functional or fashionable, rarely both. And when it did check both boxes, it cost a bomb! Seeing a need in the market, we set out to create luggage, bags and travel accessories designed to solve real travel problems while finding a way to seamlessly blend into the everyday traveller’s wardrobe, to make them stand out.

Are you a luggage company?

We’re a design company that happens to make products that elevate the joy of travel. We aim to revamp every travel accessory from backpacks and totes to slings and wallets. Oh, and luggage, of course. We’re only just getting started. The aim is to tap into newer and more relevant consumer insights, identify real travelling pain points and create designs that solve them–designs that blend with the aesthetics of the modern traveller to become a part of their identity.

How did Mokobara get its name?

Like most great ideas today, it started with an accidental Instagram find. Sangeet was scrolling through his Instagram feed when he found a post by the brand Moko Nuts. The word ‘Moko’ seemed to grab his attention. A few clicks later, he found out that it was regarding the Maori tribe from New Zealand. They bore face tattoos, symbolic of their identity called ‘Moko’. Not only did the word ‘Moko’ seem to have a lovely ring to it, but also seemed to tie back to the core philosophy behind the brand– to create products that allow people to carry their identity. And that’s what the name, as you know, literally translates into. ‘Bara’ is Swedish for ‘carry’.

Tell us about your social media strategy

As a brand, we want to be the life of the party, and we want this to translate across platforms. So our social media strategy is simply to have fun and create content that excites our consumers. One thing that stands out, and has worked well for us is influencer collaborations. We believe in giving influencers complete creative freedom in terms of what they want to put out for us. We just identify the people we think are doing cool things, and we’ve seen stunning results. We prioritise keeping things light, fun and visually stunning on our feed, trying to keep sales-talk out of it (ad fatigue is real and we know it).

Which is your best-selling product?

The Transit Backpack is not only one of our most exciting products currently, but also our bestselling one. It effortlessly combines style and functionality, maxing out on both fronts. This excitement and vision for the product seems to also have struck a chord with our audience.

Why should a traveller opt for a Mokobara product?

Mokobara [wants to] redefine the luggage space by creating products that people want to take pictures of, and are also functional and have a premium build. Here’s another way to look at it: Mokobara products are designed based on the principle of ‘lagom,’ which translates to ‘not too much, or too less’. We don’t want to overdo the design but we also don’t want to design something too minimal or boring. We worked hard to strike the right balance between the two, to create something that’s visually exciting and works even better.

What's been the process of research and development?

Intuition plays a major role in the design processes. As avid travellers, both of us put ourselves in the consumers’ shoes to figure out the kind of product they’d love to see and use in their everyday lives. We’ve designed products for ourselves, our friends and loved ones, and when we feel like it’s good enough for them, we back the designs with data.

We’re always on the lookout for elements that can elevate the joy of travel for the consumer. We spend a lot of time talking to existing customers. Consumers also guide the team on the kind of product developments that can take place. For instance, 40 per cent of our consumers are women. We noticed that 60-75 per cent of the Cabin Duffle purchases were by women. When we spoke to them, we discovered they were actually purchasing it to carry it to the office. So as a spontaneous reaction, the team created the Daily Work Bag–a smaller and sleeker version of the Cabin Duffle.

How has living through a pandemic been beneficial for you as entrepreneurs?

The one thing the pandemic taught us is to just be patient.It takes a lot of heart, sweat and tears to build a consumer brand. When we first started, we did so with just one type of luggage on the website. As the lockdown restrictions began to ease up, we noticed that people were really keen on buying that one singular product. We also had the time to then go back to the drawing board and double down on what more we could build for consumers.

What was the biggest challenge you faced while launching your business?

SA: “The first year was actually the most exciting one because of all the ideas and plans we wanted to start setting into motion”.

NP: “We also got very lucky, at every stage, from product design to finding the right investor;, luck played its role in making the process smoother.”

What’s been the process of looking for funding?

You need to know the industry you’re in and discover what kind of investors typically invest in your kind of business. It’s also important to keep in mind finding investors who are open to investing at the stage you’re in. Finding the first investor is as hard as finding a co-founder. More than anything, it’s super important to find the right partner who will be with you through your ups and downs.

Could you share with us the colour palette for Mokobara and how you arrived at it?

Travel is exciting, travel is colourful, and we believe our products should reflect that. Finding the right colour is one of the most important pillars from the philosophy of product design, as colour has the power to elevate the overall consumer experience. If you look at the colour palette for our signature line, or our general palette, you'll see a lot of bright hues. That’s because we believe in ‘magic over mundane’. That being said, we don’t choose colours that are too loud and scream over the consumer’s personality.

In an industry flooded with blacks, blues and greys, we wanted to create something refreshing. We don’t shy away from experimenting with colours, even if they aren’t conventional or popular choices. Some of our first ever products came with a dual-toned hardshell, which is super unique not just to us, but also to the market in India. Here, the front shell and the back shell were of different colours.

Who is a role model for you?

The clichéd example is Apple. We take inspiration from how that one product ( the iPhone) travelled all around the world and into each and every pocket. In terms of fashion labels, we look up to Birkenstock. What started as a brand meant for people who needed footwear that provided extra support or care has now evolved into the go-to choice for millennials. It’s the simple, unique product design that makes it so timeless.

How do you view the luggage market from a consumer EQ perspective?

More and more consumers are realising that luggage isn’t just a box to carry your clothes–it’s so much more. It’s something that’s always with you as you transit, at the hotel, and is your home between homes. So finding the right luggage changes your entire travel experience. There is now a conscious movement where consumers are not only looking at luggage from a utility point of view, but are also looking at options that best reflect their identities.

Any advice for budding entrepreneurs?

Focus all your time and energy on finding the right idea. It’s important to be your biggest critic as well as test the demand and creativity of every idea. Once that’s done, spend the same amount of time developing the right product. Refine it, re-work it. At Mokobara, we spent over a year working on product development, to develop the first-ever product–the Cabin Luggage.

Secondly–and this is more on the brand front–consistency is key. It’s easy to start off with a burst of energy, but the real work is in seeing that quality remains steady, if not improves. Stay consistent in terms of quality, creativity and communication.

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