“Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go to Salsa. That’s my best-selling T-shirt for women” laughs Abhishek Tiwari, 26, the founder and CEO of the one-of-a-kind T-shirt venture, Salsa Tees
“But why Salsa?” one is tempted to ask.
Abhishek has an answer for everything. “I wanted something to define me as a dancer; to wear my dance attitude, if you will. When I began looking for such T-shirts, I found them to be very expensive – 1500 to 2000 rupees a piece. So I decided to make my own T-Shirts with funny captions. Initially, it was all for me. But when I got on the dance floor, everyone began asking, ‘Dude, where did you get that shirt? I want it too!’ That’s how my little idea became a busin
Not just a business, but a flourishing one at that. Abhishek says what helped him take off is “the big gap between demand and supply. People want such shirts – good designs at affordable prices but no one does them.”
“What about Tantra?” I interject.
“Tantra is very broad. They do a lot of things but my product is for dancers alone. It’s an outward expression of the art they love. It’s an additional way for us to bond, and a unique way for us to give back to the community.” In that Abhishek feels he doesn’t sell T-Shirts; he gives his clients a piece of themselves – a reflection of their art, a glimpse of their drive, a drop of their passion.”
“And what sets you apart?”
“My designs!” Abhishek jumps at my question as if he had been waiting when it would come. “We offer the widest range of shirts. One of my most popular designs include, ‘In a relationship with Suzy Q’ – a very tough move to master in Salsa.”
Then there is ‘Salsa Man,’ a T-Shirt that unabashedly sports the Superman ‘S’. ‘Salsaholic’, ‘Salsa – Connecting People’ and ‘Certified Salseras!’ are all a part of Abhishek’s colorful portfolio, including my personal favourite, ‘It’s not a mistake, it’s a variation.’
“And which is your favourite?”
“It’s hard to choose!” But after a pause, he says, “The Osama one! We had this shirt, ‘I wanna Salsa before the Americans kill me.’ It went out of stock when he was killed. Now we do a variant, ‘He did Salsa the night before he was killed.”
“So where can I find these shirts?”
“You can create your own shirt and order online on our Facebook page. We also sell at special dance studios across India – Salsa India in Delhi, Danza de la Liga in Pune, and have other locations coming up.”
Salsa Tees will also have their own stall at the 6th International Salsa Congress in Bangalore from 12th-15th August so look out for them.
It’s not every day you meet a young entrepreneur, who can run a business he’s deeply passionate about alongside a full-time job and its travel commitments. But Abhishek is full of energy and you can tell he and Salsa Tees will go places.
“Any last words?” I ask him.
“Live life Salsa size!” he smiles.
For Salsa Tees designs,
visit: www.salsa-tees.com
Salsa Tees on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/salsatees
Salsa Tees on Twitter: twitter.com/salsatees
