Tailor-made touch

But most of the time, it’s the balance sheet of her expanding business that keeps this 30-year-old busy through the day. She is the marketing brains behind Ensemble, the city’s premier store which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. And that savvy is now taking her to the capital. In August, Ensemble is opening two new stores in Delhi her designer brother, Tarun’s new hometown. "Delhi has grown as a market. There is a tremendous emphasis on lifestyle and people have a lot of disposable income there," she says.

But terms like disposable income, net profit and gross taxes are more familiar to Tina than Tarun. "It was clear from the time we were kids that Tarun was more artistic and I was more into math and economics," she says. So, when the business reins of Ensemble were passed on to Tina, it came as no surprise.

An investment banker for First Boston Corp, Tina had stayed on in the US after completing her studies. In 1990, when she was in Mumbai on a long leave, Ensemble (Tarun’s brainchild) was really beginning to take-off. But even then she had no thought of running the show. "I had no notion I would become involved in the family business," she says. But when Tarun decided that design was a priority and that he was off to New York to study, there was a tailor-made place for Tina in the business. "At the bottom of my stomach I knew I’d always end up here," she says. And her decision was ratified when she met her fund manager husband.

Ensemble had started out as an occasion-wear store, where every item had a price tag that only a few could afford. Tina soon changed that. One of the first things she did was to introduce an in-house, more affordable range with prices starting at Rs 2,000. Carrying that strategy further, she tries to ensure that 40 per cent of the garments have a "pret" label. "When we started out we had no concept of marketing. We were selling brocades in June. We have become a lot more sensible now," says Tina.

Besides Tarun’s clothes she also stotks designers like Arjun Khanna, Monisha Jaisingh, Krishna Mehta and Shahab Durazi. Does big brother get special treatment? "There is no difference, he is treated as one of the designers," she says. In fact, Tarun’s growing interest as a designer was one of the reasons he pulled out of the management side of the business. "It would be a conflict of interests for a designer to be promoting other designers," says Tina.

And promotion is what Tina views as her strength. "My forte is marketing luxury goods," she says. This could be the reason why Lancome have personally chosen her as their representative in India. The products will be imported from France, but Tina has not decided where they will be available. Family ties exert no pressure, as Tina is not considering using Ensemble as the base. "Make-up and perfume need to be in a place where there is a lot of traffic," she says. Lancome’s association with Tina is not new. A couple of years ago, Tarun flew all his regulars down to Goa for a fashion show by the beach. And though it rained that night, Devika Bhojwani, Simi Grewal and Shobha De danced the night away on the beach. Also present were Lancome reps who did all the make-up for the show. Having been with Ensemble for so many years now, Tina has also picked up the basics of design. But this business women is very happy in her management role and has no intentions of turning to the needle.