Hey Pressto!

Priyanka Joshi talks to Radha Kapoor who chose to launch India’s first premium drycleaner service, Pressto, rather than follow in father Rana Kapoor’s banking footsteps.

For Radha Kapoor, 26, the daughter of Yes Bank MD and CEO Rana Kapoor, a career in banking was never an option. “Having seen my dad, I knew the banking world just wasn’t my destination.” So the first thing she did after studying fine arts with a major in communication design at Parsons in New York was set up her own holding company called DoIt Creations.

This holding company has brought India’s first premium drycleaner business, Pressto, to Mumbai and New Delhi. Drycleaning, Kapoor says, is a Rs 5,200-crore market in India. It is dominated by local players, though there are national drycleaners like Wardrobe by Diamond Fabcare and Fabricspa by Jyothi Laboratories.

 

“Drycleaners wash expensive garments in solvents like petrol, in huge barrels with hundreds of other people’s clothes. Or for a premium price, you could get your clothes cleaned at a five-star laundry,” Kapoor says. The absence of high street drycleaners who understand textiles, embellishments such as embroidery and delicate garment pieces, convinced her of Pressto’s potential. The first outlet opened in 2008 in south Mumbai’s Juhu area.

Since then, Kapoor has delivered over 2 million garments, painstakingly learnt the finer points of cleaning Indian garments and can hold detailed conversations on domestic drycleaners versus what laundry services are in Western countries. “This is all because of the extensive training programmes we underwent in Spain while training our staff,” she admits.

Today, Pressto has 12 outlets in Mumbai and New Delhi and has an A-list clientele which includes Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Gopinath Munde and Mukesh Ambani, among others. Kapoor now wants to expand Pressto’s footprint, both in terms of geography and service. “We are aiming to grow to about 100 outlets by 2015, and the idea is to get the brand closer to the burgeoning upper-middle class. We plan to set up outlets at high street and crowded neighbourhoods. In terms of service, we plan to extend our cleaning services to shoes, upholstery, and waterproofing garments to prevent stains.”

Kapoor is also an artist. Her DoIt Creations has invested in a venture called Brand Canvas along with one of India’s leading creative designers, Alok Nanda, to focus on enhancing wall interiors. “We want to turn bare walls into eye-catching wall-scapes at hotels as well as public spaces like airports and corporate offices,” she enthuses. Brand Canvas, she says, has worked on the walls of Barista coffee shops and Tata Housing. “My work is a classic interpretation of art, often in understated hues that work for any corporate or residential project,” says Kapoor.

But Rana Kapoor need not lose heart that his children aren’t following in his footsteps. His younger daughter, Raakhe, has been training since last year as a business manager at Yes Bank so she can evolve as a financial entrepreneur. She is also busy watching her older sister’s business moves carefully. “I do provide my feedback whenever she [Radha] wants, but it’s really about learning how she has balanced the two business ventures,” says Raakhe.

But there’s one common interest that binds the two sisters — Bharatnatyam. “Having learnt the dance form for over seven years and performed in Mumbai as well as New Delhi, we find it deeply relaxing,” says Radha. And even though it’s getting harder to find time for dance, both sisters make sure they update and consult their father at the dinner table every night.