Starting online and opening stores later is still a risky move for many brands, and most hesitate to try it. A few do, and the results are often much more rewarding than expected.
East India Retail looks at some of these brands, and today we focus on Kisah.
Kisah is a Kolkata-based men’s and kids’ ethnic and occasion wear brand, founded in 2018. It sells kurtas, sherwanis and bandhgalas, plus newer pieces like bomber jackets and flared trousers. Its main audience is wedding guests and younger customers, not just grooms.
Digital first, stores later
Kisah did not open a shop and then go online. It grew on online marketplaces first, then added its own website, and only then moved into physical retail. Marketplaces such as Myntra, Amazon, AJIO and Nykaa still account for most of its online sales, while its own D2C channel contributes around 20% of business.
Price positioning helped. On Myntra, Kisah’s average selling price is around ₹4,000, against roughly ₹1,000 for the platform’s wider ethnicwear category, according to co-founder Yash Sarawagi. That puts it at the premium end of online ethnicwear, but still below traditional offline brands.
The revenue curve
Revenue grew 65% in FY25 to ₹41.8 crore, up from ₹25.3 crore in FY24, and profit roughly
doubled to about ₹2 crore. For FY26 the company reports ₹65 crore (a company figure, not
audited) with an EBITDA margin of around 5–6%. It expects to cross ₹100 crore in FY27,
which would be about 54% growth.
International markets add around 8–10% of revenue, with the US as the main overseas
market.
Then the stores
Kisah’s first store opened in Kolkata’s Gariahat in 2025. According to the co-founders, it
made around ₹45–50 lakh in its first partial year and has since reached annual sales of about
₹70 lakh. That early result pushed the brand to move faster. A flagship in Bengaluru’s
Indiranagar followed in September 2025, then Hyderabad in November. Kisah now has 12
stores across Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Visakhapatnam, among others.
In 2026 Fireside Ventures led a ₹35.9 crore Series A at a post-money valuation of around
₹211 crore. The money goes mainly into the retail network, along with supply chain,
warehousing and technology. Sarawagi says the brand is still learning retail and plans to use
the funds to build its playbook, with franchisees funding most further expansion.
What comes next
Kisah expects offline to grow four to five times in FY27 and contribute 25–30% of business.
Over the next 12–18 months it wants to connect its online and offline operations. The long
term goal is about 100 stores and ₹500 crore in revenue before entering broader categories.
Sources: Kisah’s About page (kisah.in), Inc42, Entrepreneur India, Indian Retailer, Franchise
India, Apparel Resources and Venture Intelligence.
