Built on Instagram, this live commerce venture impressed the judges—but the founders still walked away without a deal. Here’s why

TBFO-Dresses Affordable Luxury For Indian Women, her story on Shark Tank India Season 5 started with Try On Video in a small room, today she told the whole story till becoming a Social Media Sensation. Shark Vineeta has praised the business with the expression of zero performance marketing and profitable growing doubling year on year.

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TBFO’s vision is to create luxury dresses for modern Indian women that define confidence, comfort and timeless style while perfectly blending contemporary fashion and Indian elegance.

About TBFO Luxury Dresses For Indian Women

 TBFO Luxury Dresses For Indian Women is a premium fashion brand that designs stylish, elegant and comfortable luxury dresses for modern Indian women.

Check the website : https://www.tbfo.in/

With her business skills and digital savvy, Yashica, the energetic founder of TBFO (@tbfo_by_yashica on Instagram with over three lakh sixty thousand followers and www.tbfobyyashica.com), is creating waves in the fashion world. Yashica’s journey from engineering student to fashion industry creator is proof of her enthusiasm, commitment, and acute awareness of modern customer demands.

TBFO is a movement that aims to bring fashion and culture together internationally, not just a brand. Yashica’s mission is to give women access to contemporary, cozy, and empowering apparel options. Her collection is current and available to people from a variety of backgrounds because it includes stylish coord sets and long dresses that provide freedom in attire.

The significance of comfortable attire for working women is one of Yashica’s most important discoveries. By ensuring that professional clothing doesn’t sacrifice comfort, TBFO’s designs help women succeed in their occupations. Yashica has also been a trailblazer in using e-commerce to broaden her company’s customer base, grasping the digital world long before many of her contemporaries.

Yashica has a creative and open approach to fashion. She builds a stronger bond with her audience by giving her clothing lines names that people can relate to. Her reputation as a socially conscientious entrepreneur is further cemented by her dedication to encouraging and supporting small enterprises.

Yashica’s transition from engineering to fashion is a perfect example of how technical expertise and artistic flare can coexist. Her company, TBFO, is a shining example of transformation, advocating for women’s comfortable and empowering apparel. Yashica continues to be a formidable force in the fashion world, encouraging innumerable women to follow their aspirations without sacrificing comfort or elegance.

TBFO focuses on women who prefer a contemporary look with a traditional touch. Here special care is taken of classy design, rich fabric and perfect fitting in every outfit, so that women can feel confident on every occasion.

In the TBFO dress collection that came on Shark Tank India Season 5, you get to see Indian aesthetics with modern silhouettes. The brand uses high-quality fabrics, detailed patterns and trendy color palette in its designs. Be it a festive celebration, a family function or a special evening event — TBFO dresses are made to make every moment special.

The special thing about TBFO is that the brand balances both comfort and luxury. Dresses are designed in such a way that they look elegant and feel easy to wear.

Due to lightweight materials, breathable fabric and thoughtful stitching, the dresses remain comfortable for a long time, which is considered perfect according to the Indian climate.

The founders claim that they make exclusive luxury clothing, whose prices are very affordable. Today the company has more than 3.6 lakh followers on Instagram. People like Yashika live very much. She often comes live at 3-4 pm, when women are free after doing household work. In such a situation, he watches their live a lot. The traffic looks different on the website when it is live.

Where did Avneesh’s story begin?

Avneesh’s father had a construction business, which was good earlier, but later its condition deteriorated. Avneesh thought of helping his father, but left that too in 2016 because he was not enjoying it. He has been creative since childhood and is interested in fashion.

In 2017, someone told Avneesh that like Orkut, Facebook will also be closed and Instagram is about to come. At that time one of his friends told him about the shoes. Then he started posting videos of shoes on Instagram.

 Avneesh and Yashika met through Instagram

Meanwhile, he saw a video of Yashika, when he DMed, they both talked. Yashika wanted to get into a relationship, but Avneesh was not ready. So first he stopped talking to Yashika, then things progressed. When both of them saw that Instagram was growing rapidly, Yashika started making videos.

Yashika Used to make videos by ordering clothes from Jobong

Yashika told a story from her schooling days. When she was in intermediate, she used to order clothes from Jobong, a website of that time, during break time. After this she would make a video of those clothes and then return them. When both of them met, their interest was found. In the beginning, both of them started selling clothes to people by going door to door.

Most of the company’s customers are girls in the age group of 25-35 years. Currently this startup makes clothes only for women. There are two segments of their clothes. The first one is affordable, which is manufactured in India only, whose price ranges between Rs 1000-2000. The second segment is a little luxury, which Avnish designs from Hong Kong, whose price ranges between Rs 2500-4500. These clothes are made in China.

The company was registered in 2021 and its sales in 2021-22 were Rs 38 lakh. The next year the company made sales worth Rs 75 lakh. After that, the company’s earnings increased to Rs 1.21 crore in 2023-24. The company’s revenue in 2024-25 was Rs 3.55 crore, with 16 percent profit. This year the company has done a business of about Rs 3.2 crore till September and has a target of sales of Rs 8 crore by the end of the year.

The founders sought funding of Rs 1 crore in lieu of 5 per cent equity. Every shark praised this startup and the founders a lot, but no shark gave any funding to the company. Kunal said that if you withdraw money, then you will be pressured by investors for strong returns, so I don’t think you should withdraw money. You’re building a good business, let’s keep it going.

Vinita found it risky to invest because the reliance on Instagram, the entry of AI and changes in algorithms prevented her from investing. At the same time, Viraj said that you do not take investment, you are increasing your business with profit. However, he offered an endorsement for VIBA in Bhopal. Namita gave many suggestions so that the business becomes even better. At the same time, Varun did not give funding due to problems in scalability.

Conclusion

The story of TBFO proves that in today’s era, big funding is not necessary for big business. The right content, the right timing, and direct engagement with customers can build a strong brand. Using Instagram as a sales channel, TBFO has shown a new way.