In India’s fast-growing fashion ecosystem, most brands compete on aesthetics, influencer marketing, and aggressive discounting. But for WomanLikeU founder Zoheib Jilani, the real opportunity lay much deeper in solving the fundamentals of fashion itself.
During a conversation , Zoheib shared how years of experience in the fashion industry led him to identify a critical gap in India’s apparel market: the lack of serious attention to product engineering, body-fit science, and functional design tailored for Indian consumers.
Rather than building another fast-fashion label, WomanLikeU was created with a product-first philosophy, one focused on comfort, fit, functionality, and technology-led garment development.
Turning Years of Industry Experience Into a Consumer Brand
Before launching WomenLikeU, Zoheib spent nearly 16 years across multiple verticals of the fashion industry. His exposure ranged from retail and manufacturing to startup ecosystems and fashion operations. Over time, one observation became increasingly clear to him: while global fashion brands invested heavily in engineering products for specific body types and use cases, Indian fashion largely remained trend-driven.
According to Zoheib, Indian consumers were often expected to adjust themselves to the garments, instead of brands designing products around real body diversity and comfort needs.
This insight eventually became the foundation for WomenLikeU.
The company positioned itself in the vacation wear and lifestyle fashion segment, but with a far more research-oriented approach than traditional fashion startups. Instead of beginning with marketing campaigns, the brand focused first on understanding women consumers at a granular level.
Building Fashion Through Research, Not Assumptions
One of the most defining aspects of WomanLikeU’s early journey was its extensive consumer research process.
Before scaling operations, the team reportedly interacted with more than 1,000 women to understand sizing issues, fit challenges, comfort expectations, and purchasing behavior. Rather than rushing to market, the company soft-launched its products to a smaller consumer base and iterated continuously based on feedback.
For Zoheib, this process was less about validating designs and more about building trust through listening.
He emphasized that fashion brands often underestimate the importance of product correction cycles. At WomanLikeU, customer feedback became central to refining silhouettes, improving garment construction, and creating products specifically optimized for Indian body types.
This consumer-first iteration process helped the company strengthen credibility in a category where loyalty is difficult to earn.
Why Product Engineering Matters More Than Marketing
One of the strongest perspectives Zoheib shared during the conversation was his belief that fashion businesses today overly depend on marketing theatrics while neglecting actual product quality.
According to him, influencer campaigns and discount-driven acquisition can temporarily drive visibility, but long-term retention only happens when the product genuinely solves user problems.
WomanLikeU’s approach reflects this philosophy clearly. The company prioritizes:
- Better fit engineering
- Functional design elements
- Fabric technology and comfort
- Wearability for Indian climates and lifestyles
- Long-term repeat value instead of impulse buying
Zoheib believes that if the product experience is strong enough, consumers eventually become advocates themselves, reducing dependence on excessive promotional spending.
This disciplined mindset has also shaped how the company approaches growth and capital deployment.
Scaling With Financial Discipline
Unlike many consumer brands that aggressively raise and burn capital early, WomanLikeU adopted a more measured scaling approach.
The company initially bootstrapped operations before later securing approximately $150K in funding from 100X.VC. Zoheib also reflected on the company’s appearance on Shark Tank India and how investor visibility helped strengthen awareness around the brand.
However, he emphasized that external funding should not become the foundation of a company’s survival strategy.
One of the most insightful themes from the discussion was his repeated focus on frugality and financial independence. According to Zoheib, founders must build businesses capable of sustaining themselves operationally rather than relying endlessly on investor capital.
For him, discipline is not simply about cutting costs, it is about ensuring clarity of purpose and long-term sustainability.
Understanding the Shift in Consumer Behavior
Zoheib also shared interesting observations about how digital-first consumer behavior has evolved in India over recent years.
He noted that consumers today are significantly more comfortable shopping online than they were a few years ago. Prepaid transactions have increased, return rates are gradually becoming more manageable, and trust in digital commerce platforms has improved considerably.
At the same time, he highlighted how influencers and creator-led discovery are reshaping fashion consumption. Consumers increasingly discover products through relatable digital personalities rather than traditional advertisements.
However, despite these shifts, Zoheib believes one principle remains unchanged: product quality ultimately determines whether a customer returns.
This belief has helped WomanLikeU stay focused on its core identity instead of chasing short-term market trends.
Building a Brand Without Losing Its Core Identity
As competition intensifies in online fashion commerce, many brands evolve into purely transactional businesses. But WomanLikeU aims to avoid that path.
Zoheib explained that the company consciously continues to position itself around garment engineering and functional fashion rather than superficial trend cycles. He believes this creates a stronger long-term story and allows the brand to maintain authenticity in a crowded market.
For him, the vision is not simply to build another fashion label, but to create a trusted wardrobe brand that consumers consistently rely on.
That long-term orientation influences not only product development, but also hiring, operations, and company culture.
A Founder’s Advice: Build With Conviction, Not Dependency
Towards the end of the conversation, Zoheib shared valuable advice for young entrepreneurs building modern consumer brands.
He encouraged founders to rigorously test their hypotheses before scaling and to deeply understand why their community or customer base would care about their product in the first place.
More importantly, he stressed the importance of maintaining clarity of vision. According to him, founders often lose direction by over-optimizing for funding cycles, trends, or external validation.
He believes enduring businesses are built when founders stay committed to solving real problems while remaining financially disciplined and operationally grounded.
Looking Ahead
As WomanLikeU continues to grow, the company appears focused on strengthening its position as a product-led fashion brand built around functionality, fit, and thoughtful design.
In an ecosystem where many brands compete for attention, WomanLikeU is attempting to compete on understanding the consumer better, engineering products more thoughtfully, and building trust more patiently.
And in a fashion industry increasingly driven by speed and visibility, that slower, research-backed approach may ultimately become its strongest differentiator.
Interview By : Kashish Srivastava
