“India is no longer trying to blend in,” said Aparna Thyagarajan, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of , at the grand finale of YourStory’s MSME Sparks 2026, on June 26 at ITC Gardenia, Bengaluru.
Delivering the opening keynote of the day, titled ‘Woven for the World: Taking Indian Traditions Global’, Thyagarajan traced her journey from a childhood spent stitching a birthday skirt out of leftover saree fabric in the early ’90s to building Shobitam into what she described as the largest cross-border ethnic fashion platform in the US and Canada.
"I chose to be different wherever I went.
I took a piece of India with me, even in my Western silhouettes, and I did not look like someone who was odd.
There was a ‘wow’ factor to it.
