Group of young entrepreneurs who are all set to win hearts of men through VIRILE
Text: Shalet James Photos: Virile
Men’s grooming and personal care market in India is now turning tides. According to recent reports, men’s grooming industry continues to register a strong growth with increased focus on personal grooming. There is a rising aspiration among Indian men to look good and better groomed, which has led to the Indian men’s grooming market’s rapid growth of more than 42 percent in the last 5 years. The study further shows that this pamphlets is faster than the growth rate of the total personal care and beauty industry in India. Additionally, as more Indian men are looking to remain competitive in the workforce, they are seeking products to help them maintain a youthful look.
“Interestingly, men who fall in the age group of 18 to 25, spend more money on grooming and personal care products than women in India. The aspirations and requirements of today’s young Indian men are rapidly evolving. This, became an apt launching pad for a group of youngsters to introduce their brainchild Virile in the Kerala market. The word Virile means strength, manly and masculine and thus these vibrant entrepreneurs embarked into their business that fosters style for an urban bearded man with their products – beard oil and beard balm.
“Bearded men are strong, happier, healthier, manly and better looking than clean shaved men,” this is what the founders of Virile had to say when asked about the reason for launching beard grooming products in Kerala market. Beard styles, moustaches have become almost expanding statement for the youngsters now. Changing the stereotypical images of bearded men, were the Malayalam movies like Premam and Charlie that helped team Virile to gain a momentum in Kerala. With the tagline ‘Changing Perceptions,’ Virile is all set to transfigure the stigma associated with a beard by defining the statement “the beard does not define the man, the man defines the beard.”
“Entrepreneurship was there with me while I was pursuing my B-tech. As I was compelled to take up this course, an intense urge to start something on my own remained with me always. After my course, with the help of my friends and with intense planning and research Virile was started in 2016. The team includes Ferraz Mohammed who looks on research and development, myself – Shafar Sulaiman – PR and Marketing, Harith Das – the man behind the idea, Shefin Shukkoor and Althaf Shamsudeenbusiness development,” said Shafar, one of the founders of Virile.
The new movement Movember also serves as extra perks for the Virile brand. “Last year, many youngsters were seen coming forward and supporting the cause. The guys across the world celebrate this in the month of November as No Shave November or Movember. Guys grow moustaches and beard instead of spending money on shaving. The idea is to spread cancer awareness and donate the money saved by not shaving, to charity,” adds Shafar. Studies suggest that men’s grooming is an evolving trend in India and men are beginning to look at innovative grooming and personal care products created specifically for them. As more men were seen adopting the new trends of growing long beards, Virile found a lucrative niche to sell their products that gel with the new line of facial hair care segment. “Before launching the product, we did an extensive research to find out the rate of acceptability for beard among men. To our surprise, we found out that beard men received great admiration in the public and many followed the trend. Now beards have become a fashion statement and symbol of identity among different demographical groups,” said Ferraz, one of the founders of Virile.
Adopting a unique way to set traction in the Kerala market, Virile aims to be also a socially responsible firm by making their products environment-friendly and promoting sustainability. “We have developed our phamlets as seeds paper, so that when people throw away the pamphletes, it dosen’t harm the environment and in a way offset our carbon emissions. We have payed close attention to most of the details to minimise impact on the envirmoment by using recycled paper packaging and boxing,” added Ferraz. After staging a strong footing in Kerala market, Virile is planning to penetrate into foreign markets through their Beard oil and Beard balm and later by introducing Beard wax and Beard wash too. “In order to get some response for our products, we set up a stall in the On Flea.k market which was recently held in Kochi. We distributed samples of Beard oil among the people. We received an overwhelming response for our products,” said Shafar.
With some important ingredients like Jojoba oil, almond oil, argon oil and other essential oils, Virile boast of using only natural extracts in their products. Each 15ml of beard oil costs Rs 370. “Ours is a special oil that promises to turn men’s whiskers into lustrous, sweet-smelling beards. Virile Beard oil and balm will be soon available in online cart of Amazon and Flipkart,” adds Shafar. With a desire to reach out to beard lovers in Kerala, Virile is looking forward to expanding its services by associating with events that promote travelling, riding and environment conservation.
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