How Urbanic Won Gen Z in One Savvy Move

Quick Life Updates

Navratri chaos but seriously, why do these domes have to be so crowded? 😂 Here’s to squeezing through, twirling anyway, sore feet, endless selfies, celebrating joy in its most chaotic, sparkly form and finding joy in the chaos all one garba circle at a time! between all the dandiya and dodhiya work is thriving, few months back I launched Blanq Creator Club out of sofa with the idea of a quality-first creator-brand circle that wasn’t just another “influencer thing.”
Execution? Much harder.
We had to convince creators, onboard brands, build systems… one brief at a time but hey…it’s officially a thing now and another intellectual property in the Blanq bucket!!
5 years ago, I wouldn’t have pictured this.

Hello Folks!

Scrolling is my cardio these days, and somewhere between endless GRWMs and hauls, I noticed one brand dominating the feed and it turned my curiosity mode on. Next thing you know I am writing it all down here for you guys!

When other brands attempt to reach out to Gen Z, they adjust the tone, apply emojis, and release a couple of reels. Urbanic went in a different direction. It developed a completely new brand from scratch, with that which Gen Z truly appreciates: velocity, uniqueness, affordability, and unapologetic self-expression.

You all know Urbanic? I’m sure your girlfriends, friends or sisters must have ordered at least once from there. Yeah that one! Savana is another brand by them.

This is not a side brand or a test season. Savana is a legitimate Gen Z-first apparel brand, driven by AI, constructed with intent, and designed to capture the cultural change this generation is driving. Simply put, Urbanic didn't roll out a teen line. It rolled out a forward-looking model for creating brands around changing digital behavior.

Let's get into how it all went down.

The Origin of Savana

Urbanic realized this. Their main brand was doing great with millennial and premium Gen Z customers, but a price-conscious, trend-driven younger segment wasn't being served entirely.

These younger consumers were:

• Spending more time online than ever

• Hooked on self-expression

• Continuously looking for fashion that resonated with their identity

• Driven by TikTok, Reels, and micro-trends

• Always eager to change brands according to relevance and resonance

Rather than adapting Urbanic to address these habits, they decided to create a dedicated brand that would accelerate faster, amplify louder, and connect deeper.

And so, Savana was born, a brand crafted exclusively for Gen Z women who don't just wear fashion, they live in it.

What Sets Savana Apart

1. Gen Z-First Design Thinking:

Savana was designed on Gen Z knowledge from day one. It is not about safe fundamentals or enduring wardrobe essentials. It is about self-expression, individuality, and being noticed. The brand does not trend-follow but it stalks them via data, digital activity, and cultural currents. Its design process is designed to react to trends in real-time, from show-stopping partywear to fun everyday fits.

2. AI-Driven, Demand-Led Production

Savana's technology foundation is its own AI model, which can influence anything from product development to stock planning. The AI is fed by data from social media signals, buying trends, and browsing patterns. This makes it very predictable to produce, with minimal excess, so the brand can expand new collections without inventory swelling.

This also makes the brand nimble. If something trends on TikTok this week, Savana can release a look based on it next week. And because it knows how much to make, it doesn't have to worry about overstock and markdowns, an economic and environmental win.

3. Affordability Without Compromise

Savana was highly deliberate in pricing. It understands Gen Z is cost-conscious, but not willing to tolerate low quality. The outcome is a clever equilibrium; low price points, combined with high-quality fabrics, efficient procurement, and technology-driven maximization.

From procurement to material choice, each is crafted for lean, impactful manufacture, which, in turn, enables the brand to deliver premium-feeling products at fair prices.

4. Digital-First, But Not Digital-Only

Even though Savana is a digital-first brand, it actively spends on offline moments. Pop-ups, community events, and brand partnerships are leveraged to produce physical moments with the product. A recent partnership with Fujifilm gathered more than 250 content creators, illustrating the power of offline events in intensifying online presence.

This blended strategy creates not only awareness, but trust and touchable connection, most precious in a category like fashion where fit and touch are important.

5. The D2C Advantage:

By remaining direct-to-consumer, Savana has total control over brand tone, price integrity, and feedback loops. It enables the brand to be agile by trying new collections, refining on real-time feedback, and cultivating a direct relationship with its customer base. It's not merely about lower margins. It is about higher ownership and smarter insights.

Marketing That Meets the Moment

Savana's marketing is centered on Gen Z's behaviors: creator-driven trust, creativity, and authenticity, and short-form video has never been a priority.

Here is how they are getting it right:

• Investing in micro-influencers who are relatable, rather than celebrity endorsements

• Pretending user-generated content to create community credibility

• Experimenting with AR try-ons to decrease purchase friction

• Utilizing TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts as foundational brand engines

• Embracing cause-driven messaging and culture-specific storytelling

• They are not trying to persuade through their marketing. They are attempting to connect.

How Is It Performing?

• Savana has enjoyed strong traction since launch:

• Digital activations have driven high engagement and word-of-mouth buzz

• Sell-outs across core categories indicate strong product-market fit

• Offline promotions are turning fans into customers

• Planned expansion into the Middle East and Latin America are underway

• Internal innovation on intelligent clothing and personalization are in development

 Savana isn't merely growing. It's developing into a scalable, exportable business model for Gen Z retail that is culturally attuned and AI-powered. 

Takeaways for Brands:

Savana isn't merely Urbanic's solution to Gen Z. It's a case study on creating a brand from scratch that is culturally relevant, and fuses speed, technology, emotional simplicity, and community mindset into a scalable business model.

Where most old brands attempt to bolt their current identity into the "youth-friendly" mold, Urbanic went another way but it stopped, looked, and elected to construct for the future instead of pulling the past out of shape. That choice made Savana feel deliberate, not expedient.

This wasn't about riding trends. It was about creating brand architecture around nascent cultural changes, changes that are defining the way young people think about style, shop digitally, and give meaning to their buys.

Savana knew that for Gen Z:

1. Self-expression is not a choice. Fashion is the language in which they express mood, values, even defiance.

2. Speed is important but so is sustainability.They crave newness frequently, but not at the expense of ethics.

3. They watch content, not ads. They pay attention because of story and relevance, not slick campaigns.

4. Digital-first does not mean digital-exclusively. Even the most digitally native generation craves IRL interaction for trust and touchability.

5. Price is a screen, but not the sole one. Affordability is key, but design, accessibility, and experience are equally important.

Savana's approach struck the sweet spot between emotional understanding and operational effectiveness. Savana leveraged AI to keep up with Gen Z's rapid fashion turnover while actively reducing overproduction and waste, making speed and sustainability work in tandem. It adopted a direct-to-consumer strategy not just to protect margins, but to foster a sense of intimacy and build a close-knit community around the brand. Its marketing was rooted in creator-led storytelling and cause-driven narratives, ensuring that communication felt native to how Gen Z already engages online. And importantly, by positioning Savana as a standalone brand rather than a sub-label, Urbanic allowed both brands to serve their respective audiences with clarity, focus, and without diluting their core identities.

In so doing, Urbanic didn't merely develop another sub-brand. It developed a fast, future-proof fashion machine but one that can scale around the world, respond in real-time, and yet still stay culturally keen.

To brand builders and business leaders, the Savana playbook provides a clear lesson:

When your audience is changing faster than your brand can flex, don't merely change and design. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do isn't to pursue relevance, it's to begin anew with clarity. Savana is what occurs when tech, empathy, and timing converge, and the outcome isn't merely commerce. It's culture.

lets create relevance together here.

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If you enjoyed this edition of Marketing Muse, you can also check out our top case studies here.

Book Recommendation: Gods and Kings by Dana Thomas is a riveting look at the rise and unraveling of fashion icons Alexander McQueen and John Galliano.

Stay relevant!!

Radhika.

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