The Pant Project, a fashion brand specialising in custom-made and ready-to-wear pants, has raised $4.25 million in its maiden funding round led by Sorin Investments, an early-stage investment firm founded by former KKR India chief executive Sanjay Nayar.
The round also saw participation from marquee investors MGA Ventures, Huddle, Dexter Ventures, and Indian Silicon Valley, as well angel investors like Arjun Vaidya, founder of Dr Vaidya’s, and Avni Biyani, founder of Foodstories, among others.
The fund will be used for offline retail store expansion, branding and marketing, technology development, and team growth, Dhruv Toshniwal, cofounder at The Pant Project, said. This digital-native brand, which presently operates three brick-and-mortar stores—two in Mumbai and one in Bengaluru—plans to open 25 to 30 stores across the country over the next three years.
“Today, a large part of our revenues, i.e., 65% of our revenues come from our own direct-to-consumer (D2C) website,” Toshniwal told ET. It has catered to over 100,000 customers on its own website to date, he added.
Founded in 2020 by Dhruv and Udit Toshniwal — third generation members of the Banswara Syntex family, The Pant Project initially launched with men’s pants and later expanded to include women’s pants. It now provides over 250 styles across formal pants, chinos, jeans, cargos, joggers, power stretch knit pants, luxury linens, and wool pants.
Banswara Syntex is a Rajasthan-based listed manufacturer and trader of textile goods.
“We’ve managed to grow to about Rs 31 crore in revenue last financial year as a bootstrapped company,” Toshniwal said. The brand aims to cross Rs 100 crore in revenue within the next 18-24 months, he added.
The company gets about 60% of its revenue from top-tier cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, and Ahmedabad, and the balance 40% from tier II cities. “So, we’ve got a healthy revenue mix from tier I and tier II, and we are looking to open exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) in all major cities where we have a large customer presence,” Toshniwal said.
Mandar Dandekar, partner at Sorin Investments, said, “The Pant Project has created a strong brand recall as a destination for bottom wear for all occasions demonstrated by deep customer love and repeat behaviour. We are excited to partner with Dhruv and Udit who have in-depth understanding of men’s fashion and the associated supply chain, coupled with a DNA for product innovation which is visible through their high-performance fabrics providing better fit and comfort.”
Many fashion startups have raised funds in recent months.
In May, ET had reported citing sources that men’s apparel and fashion brand Rare Rabbit is closing its maiden institutional funding round of Rs 500 crore led by investment fund A91 Partners.
On April 26, ET had reported that former Zomato senior executive Mohit Gupta and Myntra founder Mukesh Bansal raised $26 million for their omnichannel fashion startup Lyskraft which was led by Peak XV Partners.
On March 8, ET reported that direct-to-consumer apparel firm Bummer raised Rs 9.25 crore in a funding round led by Nikhil Kamath-backed venture capital firm Gruhas’ Collective Consumer Fund.
