Tzár, a contemporary lifestyle brand, aims to rethink wardrobe essentials for the ‘modern man’. The brand leans into refined minimalism — pieces designed to transcend trend cycles and age with purpose.

In our January issue, we caught up with the husband-wife duo Shalini Singh Rathore, founder and chief creative officer, Tzár, and Vaibhav Singh, co-founder, Tzár, to unpack the brand’s thinking, from the gap it sees in Indian menswear to its take on quiet luxury and longevity over novelty.

For Rathore, the idea for Tzár did not emerge from spotting a white space on a market map. “This wasn’t about identifying a gap in the market. It was more of a craving, a need to create something I couldn’t find myself in,” she shared. It began with a deeply personal frustration — the absence of a brand that reflected her aesthetic, values, and expectations of quality.

That frustration became more pointed when she went looking for a meaningful gift for Singh before their wedding.

“Luxury gifting automatically meant foreign brands, and that perception bothered me. That’s where Tzár began,” she said, pointing to a long-standing cultural dependence on international labels for anything considered premium.

The brand’s first product was built not from trend forecasts but from daily life.

“That piece is now part of the Tzár collection as the Alexander was built entirely around Vaibhav’s lifestyle,” Rathore shared, grounding the brand’s design philosophy in use, function, and longevity rather than seasonal relevance.

Through her research, she noticed a broader behavioural shift. “After 20 or 25, men move out of fast fashion but aren’t sure what comes next,” she said, describing a transitional stage where style maturity increases but guidance disappears — the confused middle that Tzár aims to define.

Singh reinforces this insight from the consumer side. “Men don’t want to spend mental energy figuring out what to wear, especially as their lives get busier,” he added, adding that simplicity, ease, and reliability are central to male buying behaviour. “Men become repeat buyers when things work.” For Tzár, that means focusing on utility and consistency over constant reinvention.

All of this feeds into a larger shift in consumer mindset. “The old dependence on foreign brands is fading. Indian brands are producing exceptional quality,” Rathore said, positioning Tzár within a growing confidence in homegrown premium brands.

From the outset, emotional connection has been as important as product.

“People connect most deeply with brands that build an emotional bond,” Singh voiced, framing brand-building as emotional architecture rather than marketing alone. That thinking led to initiatives like the brand’s storytelling campaigns. “We invited people to share their ‘Tzár stories’, men in their lives who quietly stand out," Singh added.

Rathore added that the idea of 'a Tzár' is deliberately fluid. “When someone asks, ‘Who’s your Tzár?’, it could be someone you admire, or it could be yourself.” The brand is designed to function as both a product and a mirror.

Operational simplicity is part of that emotional ease. “If someone enters our website, they should be able to exit in a minute or a minute and a half,” Rathore remarked, especially in gifting, where decision fatigue often blocks purchase.

On the question of quiet luxury, Rathore rejects the idea that it is a Western import. “Quiet luxury is deeply Indian,” she said, pointing to the country’s long traditions of craft, restraint, and material culture. “We design for endurance. A piece shouldn’t feel irrelevant even 30 years later.”

Singh situates this within a global shift. “That dilution has created space for soft luxury — brands focused on craft, quality, and longevity,” he said, referring to how logo-led luxury has lost some of its meaning post-pandemic.

Sustainability, for Rathore, is not a slogan but a design principle. “For us, sustainability means longevity," she shared.

That thinking extends into how the brand supports its products over time. “We introduced Tzár Care and Tzár Club because maintenance anxiety stops people from investing in leather,” she said. “If we’re serious about longevity, we have to stand by it.”

Looking ahead, Singh wants Tzár to feel emotionally owned by its customers. “We want people to feel a sense of ownership and pride.”

Rathore anchors that ambition in responsibility rather than aspiration alone. “It’s about taking responsibility for what we sell. Not just as a brand, but as a relationship."

This conversation first appeared in our January issue. Click here to buy the copy and unlock the whole conversation.