Founder’s Story

by Bindu Dendukuri

Roots, reinvention, and a dialogue between two worlds.

Roots by the Sea

I was born in Vizag, a sunlit beach town on India’s southern east coast — daughter of a brilliant, eccentric scientist and a mother who was the steady nucleus of our large family. Though I earned a master’s in molecular biology and biotechnology, creativity always lived in my hands. At 17, I started an NGO in India; at 20, I moved to the U.S., carrying both my roots and contradictions.

A Seed That Was Always There

Fashion was never the plan, yet the seed was planted early. My childhood was filled with sketching and oil painting. My mother designed my clothes with a modern edge, my father crafted shirts of his own, and together they sourced fabrics like treasures. I grew up knowing I wanted softness against the skin, simplicity with edge, uniqueness without weight.

The First Sari

I still remember my first sari. It was senior year of high school, and tradition called. The thought of stiff silks and ornate embroidery made me recoil. So I created my own — a plain black drape with satin trim, understated tan peeking behind a black mesh panel. Looking back, it feels like the quiet beginning of Rebel Roots.

“I still remember my first sari… a plain black drape with satin trim and mesh detail. Looking back, it feels like the quiet beginning of Rebel Roots.”

Why Rebel Roots

Years later, searching for South Asian fashion that felt like me, I came up empty. Too often, the fabrics were uncomfortable or ornate. I longed for pieces that were both wearable and statement-making, red-carpet worthy yet breathable. Rebel Roots was born from that gap — a brand where South Asian and Western silhouettes meet, where tradition is reimagined as everyday couture.

A Dialogue Between Two Worlds

For years, I carried responsibility managing my father’s biotech labs in India, even playing CEO from afar while living in the U.S. That world taught me discipline and resilience. But it was love that gave me permission to begin again. My partner of 19 years, and husband of 11, reminded me it’s never too late to follow passion. With his quiet faith, I found the courage to trade expectation for passion, science for design, responsibility for reinvention.

“Rebel Roots is my story stitched into fabric — a dialogue between heritage and home, between the girl who sketched in Vizag and the woman building a life in America.”

Rebel Roots is for those who crave simplicity with edge, tradition with rebellion, roots with wings.