Mr. Khozema Jiruwala – Keva Socks
Starting a business out of nothing is never easy because it takes a greatly dispassionate view of the world as well as of your own abilities and ideas, and yet Mr. Khozema Jiruwala pretty considers it to be part of his blood. Born to a family of the Dawoodi Bohra community that is generally business-oriented, he grew up watching his brother and father build an honest business as salesmen for socks. It is that environment that gave him a very realistic understanding of how people’s needs are served in a market environment and how businesses work.
He is also deeply spiritual and considers his spiritual mentor Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin (TUS), who he credits with helping his community develop mental fortitude and emotional stability that has helped him and others in the community build and run successful businesses.
This deep sense of spirituality has probably come handy to him over the years, because of the number of hardships he has had to face. Ranging from setbacks due to political conflicts to him losing his beloved mother, life has tested him physically, mentally, and emotionally to the limit. He, however, kept his sense of self and his clarity of purpose intact, and eventually created a socks brand called ‘KEVA socks’ that has since become extremely successful.
life has giving me my fair share of difficulties. But, as they say, it’s not about how hard you hit but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward that makes you successful.
Speaking to him reveals his deep sense of understanding of market behavior and consumer needs that he has. In an environment of globalization of markets and businesses, he understood that the shiny advertisements about flashy clothes and shoes did not reflect the realities of a majority of the Indian market. Rather, he understood that a majority of Indians wear footwear that exposes their feet, and so he chose to build a designer brand of socks that he understood would matter just as much to a large number of people.
Fashion is always a big part of our life. Everywhere we go, we are bombarded with the need to look good and adorn ourselves with fashionable attire. But, the one thing I always felt missing was an emphasis on the feet. Yes, big shoes brands were fighting for our attention. But, in the Indian market, where we spend most of our time without our shoes on, unlike in the west, socks play an important role in completing our fashion.
After a decade of designing and advertising related freelancing, jumping into a completely new field, and beginning a new enterprise from scratch was an incredibly daunting experience. However, Mr. Khozema Jiruwala took it head-on. Continuous perseverance and incredible sincerity over the years has brought him to a situation where he runs one of the fastest-growing socks’ brands in the country.
This achievement, in addition to being validated by the multitude of recurring customers that his enterprise services, has also been upholstered by an official felicitation – in 2019, his firm won the India Excellence Award for “Fastest Growing Designer Socks Brand.”
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