Pallavi Patodi.

In her own words

In 2011, my husband Darshan and I started Yellowfashion.in from a rented room next to our home in Mumbai. We had no plan and no money — only a love for the saree my mother wore, and a stubborn belief that there were other women like us who would want something more thoughtful than what the high street offered.

We learned by doing. The first hundred orders, I packed myself. The next thousand, I answered every WhatsApp personally. By the time I stepped away in 2021, we had served over three hundred thousand women across India and six countries abroad. Brides in Bangalore. Mothers in Manchester. Daughters in Dubai who wanted to wear what their mothers had worn at their weddings.

I learned what scale teaches you, which is that the women who came back — again, and again — were the ones I had spoken to personally. The ones whose names I knew. The ones whose Pinterest boards I had looked at properly.

The Sovia is for them. And for you.

I am not a designer. I never have been. I am the person who finds, sources, and brings together the karigars, master tailors, and partner ateliers across India who make what you want — pieces that don't already exist on a hundred other websites. My job is to listen, to look at what you've been saving, and to put together the team that can make it real.

What I do

I read every WhatsApp myself. I look at every Pinterest board myself. I curate every video shopping session personally — though our karigars or partner stylists may join the call, depending on what you need. I make sure that whatever leaves our hands and arrives at your door is the thing you imagined.

Where I come from

Born in Hatpipliya, a small town in Madhya Pradesh. Built a business in Mumbai. Raised two children alongside. Stepped away from scale because I missed the conversations.

— Pallavi