Bengaluru Husband-Wife Quit Corporate Jobs To Sell Vintage Sarees That Remind People Of Their Grandmother – Clock Rs 1 Cr In Monthly Revenue

If there is one piece of Indian clothing that carries generations of tradition, grace, and emotion, it has to be the saree.

Don’t believe us? Try sneaking into your mother’s wardrobe and fiddling with her collection of sarees.

She would stop you in your tracks and sit you down for a session of “this was passed on to me by your grandmother, here’s the story behind it.”

“That is exactly what we thought was missing in the modern saree market. Somehow, the touch of vintage and tradition seemed to be getting lost, and everyone was on a mission to revamp and modernize the saree. And here we thought – why not have the cake and eat it too? How about merging traditional touches with contemporary aesthetics? That has, to date, remained our brand ethos,” Pooja Nadig, co-founder of Nerige Story, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Founded in 2021, Nerige Story is an Indian ethnic D2C saree brand rooted in nostalgia, tradition, and regional artwork. In 2025, the brand is achieving a monthly revenue run rate of Rs 1 crore. To date, it has catered to more than 60,000 customers across India, the United States, Australia, Germany, etc.

THE BACKGROUND

Nerige Story was founded by Pooja Nadig and Shashank Sivapurapu. They are a married couple from Bengaluru that decided to take the entrepreneurial plunge in 2020.

Shashank did his engineering degree from the CVR College of Engineering in Hyderabad.

“Halfway into college, I realized that it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I took up a job in the sales department of HP and later started a small startup in the realm of education training. Again, at 25 years of age, I felt like I needed more experience and wisdom to run a business,” Shashank tells Startup Pedia.

“Shortly after, I met Pooja and we started dating. Wanting to take our relationship forward, I knew I had to find stability. So I went to the Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines to pursue my MBA,” he adds.

Right after his MBA, from 2016 to roughly 2021, Shashank Sivapurapu joined a budding business and helped build it from the ground up.

As for Pooja, she is an engineering graduate from B.M.S College of Engineering in Bengaluru. Right after college, she secured a job at TCS and worked there for the next five years in the field of software testing.

“Honestly, it was a monotonous role for me. I remember catching myself staring into the abyss one too many times,” Pooja says.

So…how did the idea for Nerige Story come into being?

It was in late 2019 that Pooja literally woke up one day and told Shashank that she wanted to start a saree business. For a long time now, she had been designing her own clothes and getting them tailored at local shops. An interest in art and design was always there – now she just wanted to channel it in a more meaningful manner.

“At first, I was surprised. I had loads of opportunities in the tech world after my MBA. What Pooja wanted me to step into was entirely creative. But I was like, let’s go do this. Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic locked us in our houses. We got more time to truly self-reflect than ever,” Shashank shares.

They both came to one conclusion – they wanted to build a brand that would outlive them. Something that made a dent in the saree space and became a conscious part of people’s wardrobe.

But Nerige Story didn’t start as just another saree brand…

Pooja Nadig had already identified a key gap that she wanted to address: sarees in the market were increasingly becoming modern and contemporary, but losing touch with the emotional essence the attire had always been associated with.

“I am a huge advocate for vintage clothing and absolutely love old sarees. I have grown up raiding my grandmother’s wardrobe to take her sarees and style them in my own way for occasions,” Pooja laughs.

In 2020, Shashank Sivapurapu and Pooja Nadig quit their jobs and made an Instagram page for Nerige Story. They formally registered the brand in 2021.

Read More: “Typing ‘I love you’ never feels the same as saying it" - Meet Hyderabad founder who launches a voice-first app for real human connections

JOURNEY AND CHALLENGES

The entrepreneur couple pooled their savings of Rs 3 lakh to start Nerige Story, buy stock, and initiate marketing exercises.

But the journey wasn’t one without its fair share of challenges:

For starters, Pooja and Shashank didn’t have anyone in their families who had aced it in the business world. Being hyper-independent individuals themselves, they rarely sought help from anyone.

“Shashank and I both align on this a lot – we’d rather fail and learn than have someone do it for us entirely,” startup founder Pooja remarks.

Even though both of them had well-paying jobs, starting and growing a bootstrapped Indian ethnic D2C saree brand meant pooling in a significant amount of capital. To earn extra cash, Pooja took up gigs as a Zumba instructor, and Shashank gave personal fitness sessions.

While the vision for Nerige Story was clear, the entrepreneurs did not have one clue about the textile industry. Hours were spent in conducting research, speaking to retailers, weavers, and artisans. Weeks went into just understanding the nitty-gritty of D2C operations.

For close to nine months, the founders of Nerige Story undertook every function of the business themselves. For instance, Shashank would act as the photographer and videographer while Pooja became the model. Then, they didn't have any marketing agency to help them run digital advertisements. Additionally, for the first year of the business, they would manage shipping all by themselves.Till date, all their marketing exercises are handled in-house.

“All of this made us super, super resilient. All our fears, all our limiting mindsets, everything was just eliminated,” entrepreneur Shashank says.

Pooja and Shashank decided to go heavy into content creation and market Nerige Story with a story-telling approach.

“This has helped us so much with customer acquisition. People love watching visual stories about the origins and design language of our sarees on Instagram, and so many women who have never worn sarees feel comfortable enough to buy from us,” Pooja Nadig tells Startup Pedia.

Read More: Done with juggling between Ola, Uber, Rapido for cheap rides, entrepreneurs from BLR built an app to compare & book rides in one place

NERIGE STORY: TIME-TRAVEL THROUGH NOSTALGIC SAREES

Today, Nerige Story has become an Indian ethnic D2C saree brand that offers emotions to its customers, not just sarees.

From a saree that will remind someone of their grandmother’s era to a saree that takes you to your favourite part of India, Nerige brings nostalgia to the table, and much more.

“In Kannada, ‘Nerige’ means the pleats of a saree. I chose this name after many days of brainstorming. This fits perfectly with what we are trying to do – tell stories, bring traditional sarees back, and remind people of something they didn’t know they had forgotten. Like an old rose in a book gifted by your loved one, for instance,” entrepreneur Pooja Nadig says.

Nerige Story’s signature collection, the Vintage Collection, features understated yet beautifully detailed, simple cotton sarees that transported wearers straight back to the charm and simplicity of the 1950s. The collection resonated with the audience and became an instant hit.

While the brand aesthetic for Nerige Story is dominantly South Indian, it offers sarees in a wide array of designs – each embodying deep cultural roots and artistic diversity from across India.

“We are among the first in naming the sarees after the region they are from. We have also contributed to bringing back colours like vintage coffee brown and the distinct blue worn by M.S. Subbulakshmi,” Shashank remarks.

Some of Nerige Story’s sarees include Sihi Nenapu (ಸಿಹಿ ನೆನಪು), Gagana Mayuri (గగన మయూరి), Iravu Vaanam (இரவு வானம்), and Lal Ishq (लाल इश्क).

The fabrics are sourced from across India, and the manufacturing is outsourced to traditional clusters of weavers and artisans in Varanasi, Madurai, Jaipur, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kolkata, etc.

“While Pooja is primarily in charge of the design aspect of the brand, the weavers translate her vision into beautiful sarees that we quality-check and then package for our customers,” startup founder Shashank Sivapurapu mentions.

“But for the blouses, it’s a whole different story. We source a different kind of fabric for them and design and tailor them completely in-house for our customers,” Pooja adds.

The Indian ethnic D2C saree brand’s sarees are affordably priced – beginning at just Rs 1,899 and going up to Rs 24,999.

The average order value fluctuates between Rs 4,500 and Rs 5,000.

Apart from sarees and ethnic women’s shirts, Nerige Story has a men’s collection of artwork-inspired shirts and kurtas.

Read More: Gurugram Startup Eliminates Stress From People’s Life By Running Errands On Their Behalf – Clocks Rs 4.8 Cr In FY25

GROWTH STORY

Building on how deeply sarees are intertwined with Indian culture, Nerige Story has made consistent tangible efforts in bringing back demand for traditional, emotional sarees that tell a story and make a statement.

The Indian ethnic D2C saree brand has witnessed a 100% to 300% year-on-year growth since its inception.

From closing 2021 with a humble revenue of Rs 30 lakh, Nerige Story is currently achieving a monthly revenue run rate of Rs 1 crore in 2025.

“We ship across India and worldwide and have served more than 60,000 customers to date. About 80% of this chunk is domestic sales, and the rest are international ones,” entrepreneur Shashank mentions.

Nerige Story remains steadfast on one thing – Pooja Nadig and Shashank Sivapurapu are building a community of like-minded people who want to experience the warmth of Indian tradition, nostalgia, and culture in their fast-paced lives that rarely pause.

“We don’t sell sarees, we sell happiness packaged in an attire that will evoke real feelings. Maybe it’ll remind you of your grandmother or make you want to give your mother a big hug. Maybe it’ll remind you of the India you live in but often forget. Or maybe it will just make you feel divine, as if you’re part of something larger, yet deeply personal. Whatever it will be, we promise it will be soulful,” Pooja Nadig signs off as Shashank smiles.

Read More: Kerala Man Who Went To The USA To Become An Investment Banker Now Runs An AI-Trading Firm That Lets You Buy Real Estate In Fractions