- Abhinav, you’ve built Escape Plan around the idea of ‘fashion-forward, design-first travel accessories.’ When you look at modern travellers today, what design elements or functionalities do you think they value the most — and how is Escape Plan addressing them?
Modern travellers have evolved beyond the old travel paradigms. They don’t want to be gear enthusiasts or luggage experts; they want their stuff to work, look good, and not slow them down.
That’s the everyman insight that drives everything we do at Escape Plan. We consistently try to find brands and pick the ones that are breaking norms of utility and going deeper on solving problems that the gear today doesn’t solve. Small things like wet-dry pouches in our HRX Zanzibar style aren’t just for extreme athletes; they’re for the office worker who hits the hotel pool.
Scratch-proof PC shells of our Force style aren’t for adventure photographers; they’re for families navigating crowded train stations. Expandable designs of our urban traveller aren’t for minimalist backpackers; they’re for everyone who’s ever stood in front of their suitcase thinking, “I just need a little more space.”
We design for the universal travel truths: everyone gets caught in the rain, everyone overpacks sometimes, and everyone deserves gear that doesn’t make travel harder than it needs to be.
- Your entrepreneurial journey has taken you from transforming in-store retail payments at Perpule to reimagining the way people travel with Escape Plan. What lessons from your first venture have shaped the way you’re building Escape Plan?
At Perpule, I learned that the most successful products don’t just solve problems — they solve problems people didn’t even realise they had, in obvious ways, once you experience them.
This shaped our entire curation philosophy at Escape Plan. When we partner with brands like HRX, we’re not chasing the extreme users or the luxury segment. We’re looking for partners who understand that true innovation happens when you make premium thinking accessible to everyday people.
At Perpule, our biggest wins came when small business owners — not tech experts — started using our solutions naturally. At Escape Plan, our validation comes when a first-time international traveller feels confident with our gear, or when a frequent business traveller realises they’ve been overcomplicating their packing routine.
The lesson? Don’t build for the edges. Build for the centre, but build it so well that it elevates everyone’s experience. Whether we’re curating brand partnerships or designing products, we ask: does this serve the person who travels twice a year as well as the person who travels twice a month?
That’s why our HRX collaboration works so perfectly. Hrithik’s brand has always spoken to people who want to be better, not people who are already the best. It’s aspiration grounded in reality — exactly the sweet spot where transformative businesses are built.
The most important lesson from Perpule was this: when you truly understand your everyday customer, you don’t need to choose between mass appeal and meaningful innovation. You can deliver both.
- You mentioned that your travels across Europe and the US inspired you to start Escape Plan. Could you share a particular travel moment or encounter that really sparked your vision for the brand?
I was at an airport in Spain, watching travellers navigate with their gear, and I had an epiphany: the people with the best travel experience weren’t necessarily spending the most money. They had gear that worked with their lifestyle, not against it.
Why should Indian travellers settle for products that make them choose between looking good and travelling smart or buying expensive gear? That’s when I realized there was a massive gap in the market. Indian travelers were being forced to choose between design, functionality, and fair pricing.
Escape Plan exists to eliminate that false choice. Good travel gear shouldn’t require compromise — it should make everything else easier.
- Reaching a ₹100 crore ARR in under a year is an impressive feat for any startup, let alone in the travel accessories space. What has been the secret to achieving such rapid growth, and what challenges have you had to navigate along the way?
We stopped trying to be everything to everyone and started being exactly what most people needed.
Our curation strategy focuses on the overlap between aspiration and accessibility. We partner with brands like HRX because they’ve mastered the art of making excellence feel attainable, not exclusive.
The numbers prove the approach: when you create products that work for the software engineer, the small business owner, the college student, and the young parent equally well, you’re not limiting your market — you’re expanding it.
Every partnership we choose reinforces this ecosystem of accessible progression.
With an omnichannel presence, plans for a dedicated app, and global ambitions, where do you see Escape Plan in the next 3–5 years? Do you envision it influencing how the next generation of travellers pack, plan, and experience the world?
We’re building India’s first truly democratic travel ecosystem — where good design and smart functionality aren’t luxury exceptions, they’re baseline expectations.
Our curation lens will expand to cover every aspect of modern Indian travel: from tech accessories that work in both Tier 1 and Tier 3 cities, to travel fashion that transitions from flights to meetings to family dinners.
The HRX partnership is our template: find brands that share our belief that everyone deserves an upgrade. Whether we’re collaborating with fitness brands, tech companies, or fashion labels, the question remains the same: does this partnership make better travel accessible to more people?
Five years from now, when someone says “I need travel gear,” we want Escape Plan to be the obvious answer — not because we’re the most expensive or the most technical, but because we’re the most thoughtful about real people’s real needs.
Because the best travel brand isn’t the one that impresses other travel brands. It’s the one that everyday travellers recommend to their friends.
