What’s spurring more and more Indian designers to open stores in Hyderabad?

The city of Nawabs is increasingly on the radar of several Indian designers seeking nationwide growth—we find out why

In August this year, when New Delhi-based occasion wear designer Ridhi Mehra wanted to expand her footprint outside of the capital city, she chose Hyderabad as the destination for her second flagship in the country. Contemporary wear and leather accessories brand Cord just opened its biggest store yet in Hyderabad, while multi-brand retailer Aza also entered the city’s retail-scape earlier this year, with a store spanning 12,000 square feet across four storeys.

Homegrown jewellery brand Outhouse has announced that its largest store yet, is due to launch in Hyderabad in November, while festive wear label Qbik will also open doors to an outpost here in early 2024. These brands are the latest in a growing set of designers who are moving—and moving rather quickly—to tap into the potential that the city and its burgeoning client base offer, with standalone stores. Sabyasachi (who also opened a dedicated jewellery store here this January), Tarun Tahiliani and Vikram Phadnis identified the opportunity here as early as 2012. Over the years, the biggest players of Indian bridal and festive wear have continued to trickle in—Shantnu & Nikhil, Manish Malhotra, Gaurav Gupta, Shyamal & Bhumika, Anita Dongre, and Raghavendra Rathore. Last year, Falguni Shane Peacock opened a 6,000 square feet store designed by Gauri Khan. Signage announcing Rahul Mishra’s imminent arrival have been recently spotted as well.

“India has become the most happening place in the world right now, and Hyderabad has become the most happening place in India,” says Hyderabad-based entrepreneur and philanthropist Pinky Reddy. “It’s quite similar to the boom we saw in New Delhi about 20 years ago,” she adds.  

The gem that is the city of Nawabs

According to Knight Frank’s Wealth Report, Hyderabad with its 467 ultra-high net worth individuals (or UHNWI—an individual with a net worth of US$30 million and above) ranked second in India, right after Mumbai in 2021. They also reported that this ultra-wealthy population in Hyderabad is expected to increase by 56 per cent to 728 by 2026. This increase is predicted to be significantly higher than even the national and global growth rates of 39 per cent and 28.4 per cent in 2016, respectively.

“A lot of money has come into Hyderabad because of the IT, pharmaceutical, and real estate industries. Moreover, the younger generation is very well-exposed because of the Internet. And exposure and money together is a powerful combination,” says Pinky. It follows there is immense spending power for designers to tap into. “Locals spend big on clothes. They don’t think twice before making expensive purchases—there is no dilly-dallying,” adds Jayanti Reddy, a Hyderabad-based designer for occasion wear.

No dearth of shoppers 

With stores in New Delhi and Mumbai, Jayanti’s home market still continues to be her biggest one. “People here have many occasions to dress up for, and they celebrate them in a huge way. There is an appetite to be well turned-out in designer wear for these events,” she explains. 

Local resident Radhika Pitti, a wedding invitation designer, says up until about a decade ago, they mainly discovered new brands through exhibitions and pop-ups. It was the opening of multi-brand stores like Ogaan and Ensemble that changed things for shoppers like her. “They exposed us to so many new brands from across the country, presented local brands in a better manner, and started bringing the designers themselves down for events too,” recalls Pitti. “And Hyderabad is the kind of city where once something does well, it really does take off. There was basically a Lovebirds endemic when Ogaan first introduced them—everyone was wearing their clothes! I don’t wear mine here anymore, only when I travel,” she adds. 

Jayanti adds this makes the market for contemporary wear a bit tricky to crack—the trendsetting shoppers don’t want to be seen in Western pret that many others are wearing too. “But festive wear does exceedingly well, as there is scope to customise too. People in Hyderabad are fairly fashion-forward and experimental, and often don’t want pieces exactly as seen in campaigns and look books,” she carries on.

The sweet spot

Jayanti represents the cohort of Hyderabad-grown occasion-driven labels—including the likes of Gaurang Shah, Anushree Reddy, Suhani Pittie, Mrunalini Rao, Aisha Rao, Sailesh Singhania, and Mishru among others—who have gone on to become coveted across the country, and in a very short span of time at that. While their popularity among the local residents remains unwavering, what is prompting designers from other parts of the country to race here as well?

For Cord, the store has been in the pipeline for three years. “Hyderabad has been a very good market for us for some time now, and we get a lot of online orders from the city,” says Neha Singh of Cord. “Shoppers in Hyderabad have been responding well to the homegrown designer-wear market in general. They also have the spending power to invest in designer pieces, and it is not as saturated as say, New Delhi or Mumbai,” adds the label’s co-founder Pranav Guglani.

Vrinda Sachdev, co-founder of Qbik, reveals that while Mumbai was the initial choice for their second flagship store, Hyderabad trumped it for several reasons. The key reason being not just the potential of Hyderabad’s local consumer, but its newfound status as a designer hub for shoppers from across India. “We were observing that our clientele from the South had reduced their travel to Delhi to shop. Our research showed that fashion-hungry consumers from Chennai, Bengaluru, Raipur, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar and other satellite towns are all travelling to Hyderabad to shop instead,” reveals Sachdev.

Jayanti adds that it’s not just shoppers from the South, but even those from Northern and Western India who are heading to the Telangana capital for festive and trousseau shopping today. They have access to the country’s biggest labels alongside the famous designers from Hyderabad, all in one place. An abundance of space ensures the stores are sprawling and immersive. These are situated in close proximity to each other, making logistics and access easier as well, thereby turning the entire experience into a win-win for everyone involved.

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