Bengaluru startups are producing quirky Kannada merchandise, and shipping their products worldwide.
Business peaks during October-December, with the Rajyotsava season beginning on November 1 and corporate offices placing big orders. Orders are shipped across the country and also to the US, the UK and Australia.
Iruve, Hanumanthanagar, sells T-shirts, hoodies, masks, keychains, mugs and badges featuring Kannada film actors Dr Rajkumar, Rakshith Shetty, Yash and Darshan. Sharath Padaru, co-founder, says his company also produces film, TV and artist specials.
“Some of our most popular designs are ‘Monday bisi’ (referring to Monday blues, and punning on ‘bisi’ which sounds like ‘busy’ but means ‘hot’ in Kannada), ‘Nodi swami navirode heege’ (Look, sir, we can’t help being like this), ‘Weekend kelsa madalla’ (Won’t work weekends) and ‘Oho Haagenu’. (Oho, is that so?),” he says.
Started in 2015, the startup used to see a surge in year-end sales, but the pandemic has dampened the business. “Bulk orders are not coming in because very few events are taking place, but otherwise, business is slowly picking up,” he says.
Hemmeya Kannadiga, an online startup from Bengaluru, sells T-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies.
Sameer Mutalikdesai, founder, says, “Our top seller is the T-shirt with ‘Hemmaye Kannadiga’ (proud Kannadiga) printed on it. Our aim is to communicate the pride we take in being Kannadigas.”
The site, started in 2014, also produces merchandise to promote Kannada films. Orders come even from Germany and the USA. “For November 1, we used to supply T-shirts to more than 80 companies, but that came to a halt during the pandemic. This year, we have received orders from 27 organisations and we are meeting their requirements till December,” he says.
Popular film dialogues like ‘Yen ninna problemu?’ (What’s your problem?), and ‘Sari bidu’ (Never mind) are printed on T-shirts and other merchandise.
Bengaluru connection
BatteBare, an online store launched in 2017, takes pride in its Bengaluru identity.
It makes items with ‘Made in Bengaluru’ and ‘Namma Bengaluru estd.1537’ printed on them.
“We popularised T-shirts with 1537 printed on them. It is popularly believed that 1537 was the year Kempegowda founded Bengaluru,” Sagar Gowda, director and founder, explains.
Another T-shirt mentioning ‘Bangalore torpedo’ refers to a weapon that
revolutionised World War II, first manufactured in Bengaluru. “The torpedoes are known as Bangalores across the globe to this day,” he explains.
Their T-shirts are meant to reach even non-Kannadigas and “help them understand and embrace Bengaluru’s history and language”.
A hot-selling line of merchandise has a quote from the Rajkumar mythological ‘Hiranyakashyapu’.
Magnets, badges in Kannada
Instagram page Slangaluru, run by Ikyatha Yerasala, features Kannada words in the Roman script. Badges, magnets, bookmarks and pillow covers with quirky words like ‘by2coffee’, ‘Clean Krishnappa’ (depicting a fully devoured banana leaf meal), and ‘Daari bidi masala ready’ (showing the city’s love for masala dosas) are her specialties. The pandemic encouraged Ikyatha to pursue these ideas. “Conversations like ‘Kannad alwo gubbal, Kannada’ are also available.” “We also use a mix of Kannada and English words sometimes. Using the English script for Kannada words helps reach more people, including non-Kannadigas and those just visiting the city,” she says.
More options
Kannada T-shirts can also be found on websites like Amazon, Flipkart, Benki, and Roasted Engineers.
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