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Indian sari firm Nalli opens shop in London
There are several sari shops in UK towns such as Leicester, Birmingham and Manchester, catering to the community’s demand primarily during the wedding and festive seasons.
Nalli Silks, which was established in Chennai in 1928, has opened its first shop in London after receiving support from the Department for International Trade, officials said on Tuesday, adding to the growing number of sari shops catering to Asians in the UK.
The shop is based in Wembley, which has a large population of Asian origin. There are several sari shops in UK towns such as Leicester, Birmingham and Manchester, catering to the community’s demand primarily during the wedding and festive seasons.
“The investment of approximately £300,000 will include a 2,500 square feet store in Wembley with up to 8 members of staff. The firm, which previously gifted sarees to King George V and Queen Elizabeth, is expected to open more stores in London and Birmingham to serve UK customers,” the department said in a release.
Minister for investment Gerry Grimstone said: “I am delighted to welcome Nalli Silk to the vibrant cadre of many Indian companies present in the UK, which support jobs in this country across all sectors.
“As both the Indian and UK economies recover from the impact of Covid-19, increasing investment in each other’s markets is more important than ever. Brands like Nalli Silk are sterling examples of the opportunities available to Indian businesses if they wish to sell high-quality goods to a strong base of customers in the UK, including an Indian diaspora of 1.5 million people”.
When King George V visited India in 1911, he was gifted a Kanchipuram silk sari hand-crafted by the company’s founder, Nalli Chinnasami Chetty as a souvenir. As it was the year of the King’s coronation, Nalli wove a rich silk saree with a special coronation-themed border (’Durbar Pet’) to mark the occasion. Queen Elizabeth was also gifted a Nalli silk sari by the state of Tamil Nadu for her coronation in 1954.
The company’s vice-chairman Ramnath Nalli said: “Our South Asian customers living in the UK are some of our most vocal and passionate patrons. When our friendly skies were still friendly, almost every week we would greet a few UK customers at our flagship stores in India, requesting for a Nalli store nearby.”
“Soon we started receiving social media requests from non-Indian brides asking advice on saris for their bridesmaids (or themselves) as more and more people go in for themed Indian weddings held in their own locales, or as a destination wedding”.
The department said that the sari company’s investment follows a number of Indian retail investments into the UK, including Delhi-based heritage occasion wear retailer Frontier Raas, and Mumbai-based luxury fashion house Purple Style Labs.
Trade between the UK and India increased by 10% from the previous year, to £24 billion in 2019. At this year’s Joint Economic Trade Committee, the UK and India agreed to deliver an Enhanced Trade Partnership to deepen this important trade relationship.
