Life is all about experiences and learning. Some experiences in the past have made me realise how true the saying is — “the grass is always greener on the other side.”

While building and nurturing Rakhi Apparels, I have gone through all kinds of experiences — some very rewarding, and some deeply challenging. One of the most disappointing experiences we faced was in the online marketplace.

There were times when customers placed orders with us and then cancelled them, giving the false reason that we had delivered the wrong product. But what was even more upsetting was that instead of returning our actual merchandise, some would send back their own personal garments — torn clothes, old kurtas, jeans, or completely unrelated items. In many such cases, our original products were never returned to us.

There have also been cases where customers ordered garments, used them for an occasion, and then returned them later by giving one excuse or another. For a small brand, experiences like these are not just disappointing, they are exhausting. They affect you not only financially, but emotionally too, because every product is made and sent out with so much effort, care, and hope.

That phase made us pause, reflect, and rethink the way we were working. We took some decisions, made some changes, and became more aware and careful in how we handled our online business.

But we did not stop working online. We are still online, still growing, and still believing in the opportunities that the digital market offers — just with more awareness, more caution, and a lot more learning from experience.

This journey also made me think about morals and ethics in society. At the same time, I feel this is something many entrepreneurs, especially small brands, go through at some point. The online market has opened many doors for businesses like ours, and for that we are grateful. But this is also one of the more difficult and painful sides of that space.