Who are we?
Fashion has for a long time, not only been about style and design but about expressing our identity. Although fashion is so intimately a part of our every day in this manner, it’s astounding how out-of-touch it is from reality. In India, huge percentages of people are unable to find well-made and well-sized clothes due to sizing and fitting issues, and that’s why we’re here.
O&I stands for ‘Odd and Imperfect’. We are a garment brand focusing on body neutrality and inclusivity around sizing in fashion. O&I is the brainchild of our founders Ayushi, Trishala, and Sunil, and they came together to be the brand that fits you best.
About our clothes — and what sets us apart.
Keeping in mind the specificities Indian body and the conviction that fashion should be about inclusivity rather than exclusivity, our collection ranges from sizes triple-XS to quadruple or four-XL and is envisioned to be gender-neutral. We have taken size inclusivity a step further to adopt a new sizing dimension on the basis of height—with tall and petite sizing to cater to folks of all heights. Our style can be expressed as minimal and is made to fit the Indian body with the intention of a feel-good measure.
About our founders
Being a brand born from passion and need, O&I was created by our three founders, who came from different walks of life but all believed in the need for height-inclusive clothing. Together, they came on board to fight for this cause.
A little about our founders in focus:
From early on, fashion had always been an integral part of Ayushi’s life. Having researched sizing and textile for the major part of her education and then relating her experience to the issues she faced with finding well-sized clothes, this brand was a much-envisioned arrival. Bright and full of ideas, she is, in essence, the heart of the company.
Conversing and connecting with people has always been a natural strength for Trishala. She does this with the warmth of a bonfire on a cold night but the firmness of a judge in a courtroom. She is in many ways the glue of the company. Even though she is of “average height”, she too has faced difficulty in finding clothes that fit her well. Thus, Trishala joined in building efforts to fight for better height equity in fashion.
Coming in with over a decade of experience in business, Sunil is our mentor and the brain behind the brand. He stands tall at 6’2” and has constantly faced a struggle to find clothes that fit his stature in terms of length. Seeing how his struggles in finding height-appropriate clothing coincided with those of Ayushi and Trishala, he joined the cause, and thus completed the team.
How did we come to be?
Although India's fashion industry is impressive, it primarily adheres to traditional ideals of beauty, including those of height. Because of this, it can be challenging for those with non-conventional physiques to find clothing that fits and still looks good on them. For instance, it might be difficult for people who are taller to find pants that are long enough to fit them and conversely, it can be challenging for those who are shorter to find clothing that is not too huge in terms of length.
From our research, we found that our challenges are shared by millions around the country, and how they dress affects their self-confidence. Something seemingly as simple as the fit of your clothes can have a lasting impact on the way we perceive ourselves, and therefore how others perceive us. Having faced this ourselves, we understand the impact that fashion and dressing well have in our lives, and hope to improve that experience.
What do we want to achieve?
People that are more petite are often forced to shop in the kids' section for well-fitting clothes, while the options to find fashionable clothes in plus sizes count from few to none. Where people with above-average heights struggle to find well-fitting pants that don't end at awkward lengths and make them look like giants, people with below-average heights often can't find clothes that don't make them look like they're drowning in their clothes, even though they both purchased the “right size”.
Because of the persistence of an ideal body in garment manufacturing, there is a tendency for us to blame ourselves in these situations where ready-to-wear clothes don’t fit our bodies right. We think that perhaps our bodies are the problem when this is simply not true. Bodies cannot and should not be tailored to the clothes, and therefore the latter shouldn’t have the power to reflect on our self-confidence.
Having to overpay for garments that don’t fit our bodies well, or are made for a particular body type, is not only unfair but a huge inadequacy of the industry. After facing these issues for as long as we have, we started O&I as a solution to this stubborn and pestering issue.
O&I was born in 2023 and is here to change the way clothes fit you. Our clothes are truly ready to wear. You no longer need to visit the tailor bhaiya to get your clothes altered—we are your couturier and you are our model.
How are we doing this?
Though versatile sizing is still not as common in the garment industry as one would like, sizing based on height is all the more so. Variety in height is a chief concern for our brand because it helps us deliver an inclusive sizing that is more holistic. We offer clothes from triple-XS to four-XL in ‘Petite’ and ‘Tall’ options to help with not only size but also fit. So far, we only manufacture in twenty sizes, along with custom solutions, but we aim to offer a much wider size range in the near future.
If you would like to know more about us, visit the ‘About us’ section of our website! Happy shopping :)