Alia Bhatt on building trust beyond celebrity glow with Ed-a-Mamma

In 2020, when Alia Bhatt launched Ed-a-Mamma, it entered a crowded but growing space: sustainable children’s wear. Three years later, in September 2023, Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd., led by Isha Ambani, acquired a 51% stake in the brand, signalling that the venture wasn’t just another celebrity side project.

Last month, Ed-a-Mamma took its biggest leap yet, entering the high-trust, high-frequency baby care category. And in a market where celebrity-led brands are launched almost every quarter but rarely survive beyond the hype cycle, this expansion raises a larger question: Is Ed-a-Mamma becoming a serious parenting brand or testing the limits of celebrity equity?

In an exclusive interaction with afaqs!, Alia Bhatt, founder of Ed-a-Mamma, speaks about premiumisation, pricing, trust and what it takes to compete with legacy baby care giants.

“From the very beginning, Ed-a-Mamma wasn’t envisioned as just a kidswear brand; it was imagined as a brand that grows with families. Clothing was just our starting point,” she says.

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Beyond the celebrity multiplier

India has seen a surge in celebrity-led brands across beauty, wellness and fashion. Few manage to outgrow the initial fan-fuelled spike. Fewer still enter categories where trust in the brand is more important than love for the brand.

Bhatt is aware of that distinction. “A face or a name can get people curious, but if the product is not good, it will not work,” she says. “Our goal is to build trust in a very thoughtful and transparent way.”

That’s easier said than done in baby care, where ingredient lists are scrutinised and paediatric endorsements matter more than campaign films.

Every formulation, she says, is dermatologically tested and paediatrician-recommended – an attempt to position the brand on credibility rather than celebrity recall.

But what prompted Ed-a-Mamma’s shift from kidswear to baby care?

This is where the business lens sharpens. Apparel purchases are discretionary and seasonal. Baby washes and lotions are replenishment categories. Frequency changes the economics.

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“Parents use baby care products every day, so we wanted to make sure ours were accessible without compromising on quality,” Bhatt says. “We did not want safety or clean formulations to feel out of reach.”

That statement hints at the tightest balancing act in Indian FMCG today: premiumisation without alienation.

Competing beyond the celebrity halo

Bhatt emphasises clinical validation as core to the range. “Every ingredient and every detail is thought through,” she says.

Each formulation is dermatologically tested and paediatrician-recommended in an attempt to position the brand on credibility rather than celebrity recall. She adds that even packaging design, from bottle shapes to materials and colours, is viewed through a parent’s daily-use lens.

The premium vs accessible balancing act

Baby care is also a high-frequency category. Unlike occasion-driven fashion buys, lotions and washes are replenishment products. Pricing, therefore, becomes a strategic lever.

Ed-a-Mamma positions its baby products ranging from Rs 269 for wet wipes to Rs 539 for massage oil and bundled gift sets priced between Rs 1,899 and Rs 3,799.

Interestingly, she reframes premium not as expensive but as thoughtful. “Premium doesn’t mean out of reach. It’s about high quality and products you can trust,” she says, adding that the brand focuses spending on ingredients and functional design while cutting “anything unnecessary.”

In a price-sensitive market like India, that balance will likely determine whether Ed-a-Mamma becomes a niche urban label or scales meaningfully under Reliance’s distribution muscle.

Omnichannel, not just D2C

“It’s an omnichannel play for us,” Bhatt says. D2C for community building. Offline retail for accessibility and credibility. Marketplaces for discovery.

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That layered approach aligns with Reliance Retail’s ecosystem advantage. While Ed-a-Mamma began as a D2C-led brand, baby care demands shelf visibility and scale logistics areas where Reliance’s backing becomes significant.

Gifting and emotional economics

There’s also the gifting layer.

“Gifting in this category is emotional; it’s tied to new beginnings, milestones and rituals,” Bhatt notes. The brand is positioning packaging to feel “thoughtful” and “meaningful enough to be gifted", while remaining practical.

In India, baby showers, hospital visits and naming ceremonies drive a sizable portion of baby care trials. For a relatively new entrant, gifting could function as an acquisition funnel.

From kidswear to parenting brand?

When asked how she wants parents to view Ed-a-Mamma five years from now, Bhatt doesn’t restrict it to clothing or baby lotions. She says she would like it to be seen as “the one-stop brand they can truly trust for everything they need as parents.”

That’s a long runway and an ambitious one.

The Indian baby care market is crowded with legacy FMCG giants, new-age D2C brands and pharmacy-backed clinical players. Celebrity-led brands often struggle once novelty fades.

Ed-a-Mamma’s move into baby care signals an attempt to transition from a personality-led label to an ecosystem brand.