How The Souled Store started
The Souled Store began by selling officially licensed pop-culture merchandise to Indian fans who had almost nowhere legitimate to buy it.
The Souled Store was founded in 2013 by a group of friends who shared a simple observation: Indian fans of movies, shows, comics, and music loved wearing that fandom on a t-shirt, but there was almost no legitimate way to buy well-made merchandise built around it.
The problem they saw
Officially licensed merchandise for global franchises was hard to find in India, and what did exist was often imported, expensive, or simply unavailable in local sizes and styles. Meanwhile, markets were full of unlicensed prints of the same characters and logos, made without any relationship to the original creators and often at questionable quality. Fans wanted to express what they loved, but the honest, well-made option barely existed.
What they sold first
The Souled Store started with graphic t-shirts featuring officially licensed designs from popular characters, shows, and franchises, aimed at young fans who wanted to wear their fandom without resorting to counterfeit prints. Going the licensed route from the beginning was a deliberate, harder path — it meant deals and approvals rather than just printing whatever was popular — but it built a foundation of legitimacy the brand could grow from.
The decisions that mattered
Choosing licensed merchandise over easier, unlicensed alternatives was a defining decision. It cost more effort early on but meant the brand could build long-term relationships with franchise owners and expand its catalogue over time, rather than operating in a legal grey area that would eventually catch up with it.
The founders started online, using digital platforms to reach a young, internet-native fan base directly rather than trying to negotiate limited retail shelf space for a niche product category. Fans of a specific show or franchise are often scattered across the country rather than concentrated in one city, which made an online-first approach a natural fit.
The Souled Store also expanded its product range gradually beyond t-shirts into other apparel and accessories, always keeping fandom and pop culture at the centre of the catalogue rather than diluting into generic fashion.
- 1Product choice
- 2How it is delivered
- How it is explained
What a small brand can take from this
Doing things the harder, more legitimate way can become the foundation of a brand's credibility, even if it slows things down at the start. Customers and partners both notice which path a company chose to take.
A specific, passionate audience — fans of a franchise, a genre, a hobby — can be a stronger starting point than trying to appeal broadly from day one, because that audience already has a reason to seek you out.
Staying close to what made the brand's first product special, even as the catalogue grows, keeps a niche brand from losing the identity that built its early following.
If you have a specific audience that already loves what you make, you can build a store made for them with early access.
Varchas Stores is not affiliated with The Souled Store. This is an editorial story based on public reporting, written for founders who are starting out.