Rashika Mittal is the founder and sole proprietor of Rashika Mittal, a luxury womenswear label rooted in Indian craftsmanship, memory, and emotion.
Raised in Tinsukia in Upper Assam, she manages design, production, communication, and strategy, making the brand a personal extension of her journey. Her collections focus on handcrafted silhouettes and thoughtful detailing that tell stories through clothing.
Inspiration
Rashika Mittal grew up in Tinsukia, where family life and the wardrobes of the women around her shaped her relationship with clothing. She reveals,
“My inspiration came from home. I grew up surrounded by people excelling across fields as diverse as medicine, law, business, technology, music, and art, where excellence was never spoken about loudly, and it was simply lived every day. Yet, it was the women in my family who were my strongest inspiration. My mother, grandmother, and aunt were homemakers who held the family together and shaped my understanding of strength and grace. For the longest time, I only saw them wear sarees. A colour for every day, a fabric for every season. Kota for summers, silks and brocades for occasions, and yellow on Thursdays. They never followed trends but were the trend. Their wardrobes held pieces that were meant to last, to be remembered, and often passed down.”
Obsessed with clothes as a child, she chose fashion design to make the pieces she could not find, launched small self-funded collections, and learned sourcing, sampling, coordinating with karigars and production on the job.
Her label now draws on vintage photographs, wedding outfits and traditional drapes to create handcrafted silhouettes with emotional resonance.
A Competitive Edge
What sets Rashika Mittal and her label, Rashika Mittal, apart, is a refusal to frame the business around competition. Rashika’s design language sits between minimalism and maximalism, shaped by the restrained, monochromatic sensibility influenced by her upbringing in Assam and the bold color confidence drawn from living in Jaipur.
While much of the industry moved toward pastels, her work gravitated toward deeper and more extreme tones, relying on color itself to carry meaning rather than heavy embellishment. She says,
“I believe colour itself can be powerful enough to speak without excessive embellishment, and this balance, along with a strong emotional and cultural narrative, has become the core identity of my label.”
Rocky Road
Moving to a new city to build a fully handmade label posed immediate practical hurdles. Rashika had to find reliable artisans and karigars, translate a precise design vision into hand-executed production, and absorb higher-than-expected upfront and hidden costs while managing cash flow and quality control for small-batch runs.
Running the brand single-handedly intensified those pressures. She adds,
“As a sole proprietor, I handle everything myself, from design and sourcing to production, communication, and decision-making. It has been demanding, but also deeply grounding, pushing me to deeply understand every aspect of the business.”
What has helped her through the challenges is her sustained belief and family support, both emotional and financial. Rashika asserts,
“When someone truly believes in your vision, everything becomes a little easier to carry.”
The Journey
“Success, for me, has never been purely about numbers. I measure it symbolically through the people I’ve met, the feedback I’ve received across cities, states, and the world, and the strength built through multiple rejections and failures.”
One of Rashika’s major milestones is getting featured in Grazia, a magazine she collected in her college days for inspiration. Nominated for Elle Graduate 2024 in the Ready-to-Wear (Indian Wear) category, she is also one of the first and youngest designers from Assam to be stocked with leading global multi-designer platforms like Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop, Aashni + Co, and Elahe. She shares,
“Carrying the identity of my home state onto global platforms has always mattered deeply to me, wherever the brand goes. Despite never being confident in drawing or having formal training in art, this journey has taught me that the universe finds its own ways.”
Regarding her plans, Rashika is not a big believer in five- or ten-year plans. She asserts,
“That’s not how I work creatively. I choose intuition over rigid planning. Instead, I focus on one step at a time, allowing the brand to grow organically while staying open to change, new ideas, and possibilities as they come. Too much planning can sometimes limit creativity. I prefer to stay present, focused, and flexible, an approach that has worked for me so far as the brand continues to evolve.”
Words of Wisdom
Throughout her journey, Rashika has learned that businesses are built by patience and consistent effort, not overnight or by social media numbers. She believes it’s perfectly fine to start where you are, with what you have, and invest time in research and sampling. As she signs off, she leaves a note for entrepreneurs highlighting,
“Listen to advice, but trust your instincts, even if that means being wrong sometimes. You’ll learn more from your mistakes than from your successes. Take it slow. Don’t rush the process, and keep your support system close. Most importantly, don’t give up because believing in your work and staying consistent always takes you forward.”
