Today we’d like to introduce you to Sutanuka Sinha.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Sutanuka. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Ever since I was a child I have been good at interacting with people. This has always helped me to do something off the beaten track.
Before my marriage I used to run a media relations firm with a few of my friends. As a part of our work we used to do something similar to what you are currently doing – talking to people and getting their stories out to the wider public for consumption. After moving to Houston, for a few months I was the host of a radio talk show for a channel pertinent to expat Indians. The show involved bringing celebrities from India and showcasing their songs while interviewing them. This helped me demonstrate my creative side in addition to gaining a lot of exposure within the Indian community.
All this time I had hopes of getting into the fashion and jewelry business. What helped was the fact that I had an eye for jewelry that was unusual, elegant and affordable at the same time. A friend of mine and I initially decided to take the plunge and we started planning around this. She eventually had to pull out because of some uncertainties around whether she could continue living in Houston, so I decided to go ahead and launch Allurina by myself with some seed money and ample support from my husband.
I started out initially only with a web-based storefront, but when the locals of Houston wanted to see the jewelry before purchasing, I converted one of the rooms of my house into my physical storefront. It has been a long journey since the inception, and seeing that Allurina will complete 3 years this March makes me very happy and giddy with excitement.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The first few months were a challenge, which is to be expected for any person wanting to get into a market that already has several players.
While my products were unique and affordable, the difficulty lay in getting the word out to people. People within my friends’ circle were my first customers, but I wanted to expand to the Houston Indian community, then the overall Indian populace of the US, and eventually all women across the US. This was proving hard on multiple fronts. As a newcomer my inventory was not as extensive as my competitors’, and while Allurina had a good e-commerce front, I hadn’t invested much on branding. I even remember going to my first exhibition 6 months after starting, and racking up a loss because I failed to recoup the rent I paid for the booth.
This was a valuable lesson, and subsequently I put a good amount of thought and money into expanding my offerings, and creating a visible and tangible brand for my products. In parallel, I was lucky enough to have my friends recommend me to their friends, and soon I started receiving many buyers in person, as well as several orders online. The new buyers often paid this forward and told other people, and very soon I was able to establish Allurina as a reliable brand.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Allurina – what should we know?
The USP of Allurina has been its emphasis on making the wearer of the jewelry feel a connection to its maker.
All of my collections are painstakingly built. Each piece of jewelry has a story to tell from Indian history, and often world history. Take for example the Shantiniketan collection that has its roots in the ancient Indus-valley civilization, whose artisans have passed on the craft over thousands of years to tribes now residing predominantly in eastern India. Or, for that matter, the Kabul and Lhasa collections that have been sourced directly from tribes of Afghanistan and migrant workers from Tibet that handcraft these pieces. Very few of my pieces are entirely machine-made, and almost all have a significant manual involvement in their creation.
As a part of my work I sometimes also make or customize jewelry personally upon special request. For such cases my requirements are simple – I need to know what type of clothes you are wearing, and for what type of occasion. Obviously my focus in personal creations is more around Indian attire and celebrations.
My objective has been to make beautiful, culturally significant jewelry accessible to every woman. The proudest moments for me are when a client sends me a photo of herself wearing one of my pieces, or writes a review about how happy she is with something that she bought. And when the client is someone that I don’t personally know, my happiness multiplies.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
A key factor for Allurina’s success has been transparency.
As I mentioned earlier I started out with a website. As is the case with every e-commerce website, the first core aspect of selling is photography – the photos have to be true to the product and appealing at the same time. For every item I am selling I spend a lot of time taking multiple shots, then present a select few to the customers. This has helped me sell my products more easily, and more importantly it has ensured that I have very rarely received a return on the grounds that what I am selling doesn’t match what is presented on the website.
The second facet of transparency (and e-commerce) is the pricing. From the very beginning I have ensured that my price is competitive, and more importantly, it is displayed to every person for every product. This helps Allurina stick to a code of ethics, in the sense that there are no “friends and family” prices, and everything is out there for everyone to see.
At the end of the day, all of these dovetail into my goal of making the jewelry accessible to everyone.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://allurina.com/
- Phone: +1-832-543-3411
- Email: allurinas@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theallurina/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAllurina/
Image Credit:
Sayontan Sinha, Kokonad Sinha
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