How Plum started
Plum was built around cruelty-free, ingredient-transparent skincare, at a time when few Indian brands were willing to explain what was inside the bottle.
Shankar Prasad founded Plum in the early 2010s, building the brand around two commitments that were not yet common in Indian skincare: being cruelty-free and being genuinely transparent about ingredients.
The problem they saw
Indian skincare shelves were crowded with products making vague, aspirational claims — "fairness," "glow," "radiance" — without much explanation of what was actually inside them or how those ingredients might affect different skin types. Cruelty-free formulation was barely discussed in mainstream Indian beauty marketing, and customers who cared about it had few clear options to choose from. Prasad saw an opening for a brand that treated ingredient honesty and ethical formulation as the core of its identity, not a footnote.
What they sold first
Plum's early catalogue centred on skincare products formulated without animal testing, with ingredient lists and their purposes explained clearly rather than hidden behind marketing language. The brand built its positioning around specific, named ingredients and what they were meant to do, appealing to a growing group of customers who wanted to understand what they were putting on their skin rather than trust a vague promise.
The decisions that mattered
Committing to cruelty-free formulation from the outset, at a time when it was not a widely marketed feature in India, gave Plum a distinct ethical identity that resonated with a specific, values-driven segment of skincare buyers before that segment became mainstream.
The brand invested in explaining its products clearly, treating ingredient education as part of the customer experience rather than assuming buyers would take claims on faith. This built a different kind of trust than emotional beauty advertising typically relies on.
Plum grew primarily through digital channels, which suited a brand whose appeal depended on detailed information and community trust — the kind of relationship that is easier to build through a website and social content than through a shelf label in a crowded store.
- 1Product choice
- 2How it is delivered
- How it is explained
What a small brand can take from this
Taking a genuine ethical stance early, before it becomes a market expectation, can define a brand's identity in a way that is very hard for larger, slower-moving competitors to copy convincingly later.
Explaining your product honestly, rather than leaning on vague claims, builds a different and often more durable kind of customer trust, especially among buyers who are used to being skeptical of beauty marketing.
A values-driven positioning does not need mass appeal to succeed — it needs to genuinely resonate with the specific customers who share those values, and grow from there.
If your brand stands for something specific and you want a store to say so clearly, you can start with early access.
Varchas Stores is not affiliated with Plum. This is an editorial story based on public reporting, written for founders who are starting out.