TRYB | Learn how this startup is providing high-performance customized sports innerwear

• ByStartupStory     |    February 21, 2023

Startup story had an interview with Vikranth Reddy and Sridharan Jayabal, the founders of TRYB, a sports innerwear brand that combines fashion and functionality for athletes and anyone leading an active lifestyle. With a combined experience of over 30 years in the textile industry, Vikranth and Sridharan noticed a gap in the Indian market for sports-specific innerwear and decided to fill it with their brand.

TRYB has an amazing team who have been with them since the inception of the brand. Vikranth and Sridharan are friends first and team members second, having met each other at the gym and maintained a friendship for years before starting TRYB. They share common interests in physical and mental wellness, and the same vibe is passed on to their team members where each member is given free rein, on completing the tasks at hand.

Founder’s inspiration towards this startup?

The idea for TRYB came about when Vikranth and Sridharan observed international athletes making embarrassing adjustments to their innerwear on the global stage. They felt that this was a need not many people knew they had, and they were determined to disrupt the market by introducing garments made with the highest quality standards, ideal fabric blends, and superior packaging. After a pilot launch that lasted a year, they formally launched in the market in August 2022.

What kind of material-based products this brand is providing? 

TRYB is a sports innerwear brand that combines fashion and functionality for athletes and anyone leading an active lifestyle. With their high-quality standards, unique fabric blends, and superior packaging, they are disrupting the market by introducing their first brand to make sports-specific innerwear in India. 

Their USPs include being the first brand to make sports-specific innerwear, having the highest spandex content than any other brand in the country, unique fabric blends (Nylon spandex, Kooltex Spandex), 36TX stretch, which allows the wearer to stretch to their maximum without hindrance, and DRYTEK, a quick-drying fabric quality that allows the wearer to stay dry even during their most intense workouts.

Challenges they faced and overcame! 

The brand’s customer experience has been fantastic, with anyone who has tried their products loving them.

The first challenge was their pilot-run garments which were launched in 2020, and as we know this was a crucial year for most businesses and it affected them very negatively. Although to overcome their first-ever launch, they did home-based and remote photoshoots. The founders stated, ‘We had a tough time navigating many initial challenges, especially doing it all online’.

However, another challenge has been getting customers to try their products, as a D2C brand, they are unable to extend the luxury of touch and feel of the product before making a purchase. They do their best to explain the features of TRYB via pictures, videos, copy, customer feedback, unboxing experiences, and giveaways.

Are their competitors and future plans? 

TRYB launched their own D2C website, to build a direct relationship with the customer. To this day, both Sridhar and Vikranth make phone calls to get customer feedback on the product, ease of website navigation, payment, and delivery service. Although they don’t have much competition in terms of sports innerwear, they are forced to compete in the men’s innerwear space, which is currently being dominated by the likes of Jockey, Rupa, and VIP, with new players like Damensch, Bummer, and T&C carving out their own market shares.

Looking towards the future, TRYB plans to launch a women’s sports innerwear line by the end of 2023 and a few more collections for men by 2024. Currently bootstrapped, they are working on their financial projections for the next two years and  figuring out the right investors to join hands with.

A message from founders! 

In conclusion, despite being a relatively new brand, their customer experience has been fantastic. They also told our readers that “the world is changing rapidly, and they need to constantly upgrade themselves and their brand. The good thing is that there is information available to be consumed in various formats, and they just need to find out what works for them”.

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