Money was a pressing matter, something he needed to earn. At first, Dhir joined a call centre as a young man, aged twenty-one. He sold wireless AT&T to Americans for a year. “It was a good experience in hindsight,” he says. After a year of long nights at the call centre, he saved some money and decided to hit the road. 

Dhir travelled from Dharamsala to Goa and onwards to Pondicherry. He hit the ‘quintessential hippie spots’ in a good old fashioned journey of soul searching and self-discovery.

“Happenstance:” that’s how he describes his discovery of fashion. “I got into fashion by chance. Or maybe because I was so decisive of what I did not want to do,” says Dhir. It was a tearful moment during a deep discussion with a childhood friend, who encouraged him to apply to the National Institute of Fashion Technology. Perhaps a career in fashion was not entirely accidental for Dhir, who loved painting, sculpture and tin work as a young boy.

That is where the journey began.

In 2009, he co-founded his own brand with his wife Svetlana. The couple work out of Delhi. Drawn first to menswear, Dhir’s line has expanded to womenswear as well. From the bomber to the lehenga, Dhir believes that his garments possess an “Indian soul”. In his collections, hints of the India he discovered are plain to see, and his patterns mirror the treasure trunk of life experiences he has had.

As his business and elan grows, Dhir remains anchored to his roots. He finds his occupation and work close to what his grandfather did for a living. There are similarities in their approach. “Dada was involved in sourcing and producing quality fabrics,” he says. His own label uses natural fibres to make all their garments, each motif tells a story. 

Dhir’s rise has been illustrious, from dressing a Nobel laureate to winning the prestigious Woolmark Prize. His love for traditional textiles married with the modern silhouettes, is a testament to the many possibilities of Indian fashion.