Simrita S Dillon
Founder, SANDA Brands
To understand how we work at SANDA, one needs to know our founder. Simrita studied in Milan, launched Zegna in Mumbai, built a brand herself and now leads SANDA.
She built this agency to be the bridge she wished she had when she started.
A legacy of cross-border execution, traced from its origins. . .
MILAN - THE FASHION CAPITAL OF THE WORLD
Our Founder, Simrita S Dillon went to study & live in the Fashion Capital of the world where she dreamt of working in Fashion. She learnt fluent Italian, studied at the prestigious SDA Bocconi, and got a break into the Italian Fashion world.
A chance breakfast meeting with Paolo Zegna, co-CEO of Gruppo Ermenegildo Zegna led to a full-time job offer at the venerable Fashion House. Paolo Zegna was fascinated by the potential of the India market, before India became what it is today.
MUMBAI - THE ZEGNA LAUNCH
She trained at the Ermenegildo Zegna headquarters, and then returned home to Mumbai, India to launch Ermenegildo Zegna in Mumbai, India as India’s first Luxury goods manager.
Dressed President Bill Clinton in the Zegna suit and Hotmail co-founder, Sabeer Bhatia in the Guru Suit by Zegna. The Guru Suit Collection is now available worldwide at Zegna Stores.
Photo Credits: Mr. Nathaniel Goldberg
Photos from Zegna 2009 collection.
NEW YORK - THE TRAUB DIALOGUE
She met with retail legend Marvin Traub, former CEO & President of Bloomingdales known for his impact on the American retail industry worldwide and pioneering merchandising and marketing as we know it today on one of his trips to India.
She represented Marvin Traub in India on his projects with American Fashion Houses. Marvin Traub made an indelible mark where perhaps the idea of Sanda was seeded.
Photo Credits: Marvin Traub with First Lady Betty Ford at Bloomingdale’s, 1976. Courtesy of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
INDIA - CREATING A FASHION BRAND, GOLMAAL
On one of her trips to Fashion week in Italy, Simrita came upon the idea of creating clothing for the modern contemporary consumer using Indian textiles - silks, linens, jacquards but with sharp tailoring and clean lines that she had learnt at Zegna.
GOLMAAL was born and along with her brother, they expanded the eponymous label into monobrand retail and own manufacturing. GOLMAAL garnered a fan following amongst fashionista’s, TV celebrities, newscasters, actresses, singers, MTV anchors and writers and became one of the top Indie-fashion retail brands in Mumbai, India.
SPOTS A PAIN-POINT - THE SANDA CONCEPT
Sanda brands was born from her own need to expand her clothing line into Anthropologie in the U.S.
Every evening, Simrita would call from India and leave voice messages for the fashion buyers at the retailer, Anthropologie but to no avail. Frustrated, she thought, there must be a better way to represent international brands as an extension of the Brand’s team.
WASHINGTON D.C. - THE STATE DEPARTMENT HONORS
The watershed moment in Simrita’s journey was a call from the US Embassy in India with the nomination to the prestigious Fortune - U.S Department of State Global Women’s mentoring partnership.
She was paired with Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx and world’s then youngest self- made Billionaire who she had on her vision board for over a year. She spent two weeks at SPANX headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
MIAMI - THE GLOBAL HUB
Soon after, Simrita launched Sanda Agency and also aligned with the Women's Education Project and moved to Miami, Florida. Sanda Agency works with the world’s best brands and scales them globally.
As India's market becomes the fifth largest economy in the world, her knowledge of the terrain and years of experience in the country is most sought after.
Sanda Brands is making a difference one brand, one founder at a time and will do so, for a long long time
