Brands
Shobhit Gaur puts his best foot forward with sock startup The Sock Street
MUMBAI: There’s a new disruptor on the block, and it’s not in tech, crypto, or AI.
It’s socks.
Yes, socks—the humble, often-overlooked foot soldiers of fashion.
And leading this sartorial rebellion is media industry veteran-turned-entrepreneur Shobhit Gaur, who’s ditching Powerpoint decks for power heels (well, almost) with his new venture ‘The Sock Street’.
Launched in April 2025, The Sock Street (TSS) isn’t your average ‘pair and spare’ startup. It’s a direct-to-consumer lifestyle brand aiming to turn your toes into trendsetters. With a wild ambition to clock Rs 100 crore in revenue in just two years and open 500 dark stores, Gaur is clearly not here to toe the line.
“At The Sock Street, we are aiming to be a Global Sustainable organisation and Redefining the Socks industry,” said Gaur. “With this vision, we want to be a 100 Cr company in the next two years. We are not only creating a company we are creating a movement that challenges traditional perceptions of everyday essentials.”
Joining this sock-powered saga are two seasoned leaders: Udit Mayor as chief executive officer and Saurabh Srivastava as chief business officer. Between them, they bring decades of experience in manufacturing, branding, and digital wizardry. Mayor has been a staple in the sock industry for over 20 years, while Srivastava recently led digital marketing for Popeyes under Jubilant Foodworks.
“I am honoured to lead The Sock Street into its next chapter of growth alongside a talented team committed to innovation and sustainability,” said Mayor.
Srivastava echoed the sentiment, saying, “Joining The Sock Street is an incredible opportunity to drive meaningful impact through bold strategies that resonate with customers while building a sustainable future.”
Gaur, who cut his teeth in media and advertising across Asia for two decades, founded TSS in 2024 with a mission to reimagine socks as bold lifestyle statements—not just footnotes in fashion. Now, as the brand steps into its second year, Gaur is moving into a more strategic role as founder and advisory member, focusing on mentoring his leadership team and steering the overall vision.
With plans to roll out hundreds of dark stores—those mysterious, hyper-efficient online fulfillment hubs—and a sustainability-first playbook, TSS is shaping up to be a serious player in the lifestyle game. Think fewer boring black pairs, more electric patterns with purpose.
Mayor, with his manufacturing pedigree, is tasked with scaling the business and making ‘premium men’s socks’ the next big lifestyle flex. Meanwhile, Srivastava will juggle procurement, supply chains, finance, sales, marketing, and production—all while keeping the company’s carbon footprint light and stylish.
If socks were ever in need of a PR makeover, Gaur and his motley crew are here to give the industry a swift kick up the ankle.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
