There’s nothing I respect more than business owners who actually put in the hard work themselves to get their ideas off the ground. When I met Saloni & Gurav Sanghai about a year ago, I could tell they were doing exactly that as the founders of Homebird— a high quality, home essentials brand specializing in bed and bath linens. Today I’m sitting down with them for my To The Trade series to ask 5 questions about starting a business, their mission, and of course, Homebird.
At just over a year old, Homebird has jumped head first into the industry is already spreading their mission to deliver premium quality, responsibly made, great looking bed and bath linens to North American’s at an accessible price point. I’m a firm believer that quality speaks for itself, and media outlets like CNN, National Post, Well+Good all agree. In the studio at Megan Baker Interiors our priority is to design homes that feel as good to use as they look in the photos and Homebird bedding is now a staple in our inventory. A combination of the sateen and percale bedding is in my personal collection, and I can tell you that like all truly good linen, it only gets better with use. Not to mention the ultra-crisp-hotel-like crinkle when crawling into bed— dreamy.
Read on to learn more about the kind, hard-working and savvy founders behind Homebird!
Question | Tell us about yourself. Who are you when you’re not at work?
Hi, we are Saloni and Gaurav, co-founders of Homebird. We’re originally from India, and moved to Canada in 2018. Saloni is our in-house textiles expert and has spent her career working in the fashion industry in New York and Vancouver – she handles all of our product development and sourcing. While Gaurav is from the finance world and looks after our day to day operations.
Outside of Homebird, we have a 2 year-old who keeps us on our toes! We love exploring the outdoors with her and it’s been quite a ride for us juggling a new business and a newborn!
Question | When did you get started on your journey to bedding design, and how has it been to launch a brand during a pandemic?!
As we spent time at home during the pandemic we decided to give our bed and bath linens a refresh. We were looking for high-quality and great-looking products that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. Having lived in the U.S. prior to moving to Canada, we were used to having many options to choose from. However, this simply wasn’t the case when it came to finding bed & bath linens in Canada!
We saw a gap in the market that we thought was worth going after, and that’s when we decided to start Homebird.
The last couple of years have been an absolute whirlwind for us! Not only did we have our first-child, we were also able to fully conceptualize and launch Homebird. While we’ve loved every minute of it so far, there have certainly been many sleepless nights along the way!
Question | What can our clientS expect from Homebird?
First and foremost, we are about offering the highest-quality products. We work with some of the leading manufacturers of bed and bath linens globally and we spend a lot of time trying and testing each one of our products personally before we bring a new product to our customers.
We make each one of our products with the consumer in mind – from contemporary designs and on-trend colours, to the tiny details that make life just a little bit easier – we’ve thought of it all.
Having products that are made with consideration for our planet and the people who make them is also extremely important to us. That’s why all of our products are made with 100% certified organic cotton that is free from toxic chemicals and gentle on your skin.
We also work only with Fairtrade-certified partners, which means living wages and good working conditions for everyone who has a hand in making our products. We have chosen to be completely transparent about every step of our supply chain. What we’ve realized is that there is a lot of ‘greenwashing’ out there, so we have chosen to give our customers an inside look into the journey of each one of our products so they can be assured when they choose Homebird!
Question | Share your top three favourite products from Homebird. Why do you love each of them?
We offer a wide selection in our bedding collection and our bath collection, and it’s hard to pick a few as we truly love each and every product we offer. But if we had to pick, our favorite products (currently!) are:
- Piped Sateen Sheets – Our piped santeen sheets are so soft and cozy. They have a clean piped border finish which makes them look simple, yet look so elegant. They are perfect for the holiday season as we get ready for a lot of hosting and snuggles
- Percale Sheets – Our percale sheets are cool & crisp and perfect for hot sleepers. Saloni for one would wake up in sweats every night, but after we switched to percale her quality of sleep has improved significantly. They’ve also been our best-seller and we’ve added so many new colours that we are getting an amazing response from our customers. We currently offer 8 beautiful colours (with more to come!)
- Plush towels They are unbelievably soft and fluffy and are our hotel-quality towels. We love the feeling of wrapping up in these towels after a bath!
Question | What’s next for homebird?
We have many new launches coming in our bedding collection very soon, so stay tuned and sign up for our Newsletter to be in the loop!
bonus Question | What item in your space makes it feel the most like home?
Our current fave is our Waffle Throw. They’re so soft and cozy and are perfect for snuggling in!
Inspired to upgrade your bedding essentials? Continue reading with my Bedding 101 post for every piece you need to make the perfect bed. Then shop Homebird for my favourite bed linens to bring the look (and feel!) to life. Sweet dreams!