My Story
My journey in fashion has always been about understanding what happens behind the scenes — what makes a fashion business work, where brands get stuck, and what it really takes to build something that lasts.
The journey
With a postgraduate degree from NIFT, India, my professional journey began in fashion design, and then as a designer under Sabyasachi. Over the years it carried me across India, Singapore and parts of Europe before bringing me to Dubai — and each place introduced me to a different fashion ecosystem, a different business culture, and a different way of understanding the industry.
When I established Indibala, my fashion production and buying office, I spent almost the first two years simply waiting for clients. And when my first production order finally came through, the factory I was working with failed to meet several of the client’s requirements. It was a difficult, but defining, experience.
I realised two things: working alone would not take me far, and my suppliers couldn’t just be vendors — they needed to become stakeholders in the process. That is when I took Indibala beyond my office and into the international fashion-trade circuit, through CIFF in Copenhagen. It gave me the chance to meet international designers, understand their production expectations, build relationships and establish a stronger network of manufacturing partners.
But something else was happening alongside the production business. As I worked with designers on their orders, I began advising them on far more than manufacturing — I questioned their collection choices, their product mix, how they presented their orders, and whether their assortments actually made commercial sense. Through regular calls and emails, I stayed close to my clients, wanting to understand what happened after their collections reached the market.
The responses became my biggest learning. Some founders were sitting on unsold inventory. Some struggled to scale. A few sold their collections but with barely any margin. And some grew successfully.
That was the moment my perspective shifted — from a buying-office professional to someone who understood the complete business journey of a fashion brand.
“A beautiful collection is only the beginning.”
Before establishing Leena Listens in 2016, I pursued Business Fashion Management in Milan and business coaching with Bailey Balfour in Singapore. Those experiences, combined with years of working alongside designers and manufacturers, shaped my whole approach to consulting and mentoring.
Every founder has a different vision, financial capacity, customer, challenge and ambition. My role is to understand those realities before helping them make the right decisions. That philosophy became the foundation of Leena Listens.
Moving to Dubai opened another important chapter. I knew that to genuinely support fashion brands, I needed more than business knowledge — I needed to understand the retail landscape, buyer expectations, consumer behaviour, and the people who could create real opportunities for my clients. Those relationships gradually became an important part of the value I bring to the brands I work with.
With over 25 years across fashion design, production, international buying, business development and brand consulting, I now work with fashion founders and businesses across different markets. My work spans the journey from idea to expansion — helping founders understand their customers, develop commercially relevant collections, build financially viable pricing, find the right production partners, prepare for retail, and create a realistic roadmap for growth.
I don’t believe in pushing brands to grow faster. I believe in helping them build the right foundations, recognise the right opportunities, and grow with clarity and confidence. That is what Leena Listens stands for.
