Designer dagliwala
Kaizad Wadia wearing one of his bespoke daglis
Cut, fit, finish, style and detail options are what big brands miss out on, Wadia maintains. Perhaps the sales and other staff are just not passionate enough, he feels. That’s why he exerts himself to provide clients with bespoke service — from selecting the fabric to deciding which style is best suited to the body type rather than what is currently in vogue. The starting price for a suit created by him would be around Rs 15,000, while a designer dagli with a trouser is Rs 12,000. For a traditional dagli-trouser set made from a blend of cotton and polyester, his charge is Rs 6,000.
Wadia was reluctant to make the traditional dagli but when a customer Neville Patel persisted he stitch one for him and his son on the occasion of the son’s navjote, Wadia came around. He states "the response has been good."
While Wadia was studying to be a chartered accountant he was handling the accounts of a European company exporting suits from India. The entrepreneurial bug bit him and he offered to supply the suits to the company. His mother Gulshan having been a fashion designer and seamstress, Kaizad had grown up observing her cut and stitch navjote and other dresses. "There was no looking back." His brother, Yohan, who is settled in Lithuania, manufactures T shirts in India liaising with his suppliers through WhatsApp. His father Xerxes was a ship captain and later worked as the general manager for South India Shipping Corporation. Married to Nooshin (née Kotwal), the Colaba based couple is expecting their first child in December, says Kaizad, when the dagli maker will take a month off from work to be with his family.
Bombay based customers may meet Wadia personally at his residence: G/2 Heera Meher, Wodehouse Road, Colaba, Bombay 400005. He may also be contacted by email at: kaizadwadia@gmail or telephone: 9833619246.
Other noted dagli makers are D. Shamji and Company and D. D. Tailors, both on Perin Nariman Street in the Fort area and Blue Sky Men’s Shop run by Mehernosh Bharucha near Kuppawalla Agiary in Tardeo.