About Us
Hey Hoku is an AI-powered personal styling and digital wardrobe web app designed for Gen Z and urban millennials who want sustainable, creative, and personalized fashion experiences.
Our Story
Hey Hoku is a next-generation, AI-powered digital wardrobe and personal styling platform built for Gen Z and urban millennials. We exist to solve the everyday struggles of fashion lovers, from having "nothing to wear" despite full wardrobes, to making wasteful shopping decisions, to struggling with self-expression through style. Our mission is to make fashion personal, sustainable, and empowering for the next generation.
The Problems We're Solving
Fashion today faces some critical challenges:
- Wardrobe underutilization – 80% of clothes are rarely worn.
- Decision fatigue – choosing what to wear every day is stressful.
- Ineffective personalization – trends dominate, but individuality gets lost.
- Unsustainable consumption – fast fashion fuels overbuying and waste.
Hey Hoku is designed to tackle these challenges head-on, empowering people to use what they own, express themselves authentically, and shop smarter.
Industry Context
The global fashion-tech industry is at a turning point. AI-driven personalization is shaping consumer expectations, while Gen Z and millennials demand sustainability, creativity, and cultural flexibility in fashion. With growing awareness around conscious consumption and the rapid adoption of AI-powered lifestyle tools, Hey Hoku is uniquely positioned at the intersection of fashion, technology, and sustainability, addressing a market that is both massive and underserved.
Our Solution
Hey Hoku makes fashion personal, intelligent, and sustainable. Here's how it works:
- Upload & manage your wardrobe – digitize your closet in minutes.
- Get AI-powered outfit suggestions – tailored to your mood, weather, and lifestyle.
- Reduce decision fatigue – let our styling assistant do the thinking.
- Shop smarter – receive curated recommendations that complement what you already own.
- Express yourself – explore style pods and creative prompts that inspire self-expression.
Our Features
Meet Our Team
We're a passionate team of creators, technologists, and innovators, united by a mission to reshape how people experience fashion.
Swethaa Ajai
Co-Founder, COO & Community Manager
Swethaa Ajai is Co-Founder and Community Manager at Hey Hoku. With 8 years of hands-on experience in fashion design and as founder of Lilia Fashion House Private Limited, she brings deep expertise in styling, sustainable apparel design, and consumer trend insights. Swethaa owns Hey Hoku's product curation, styling taxonomy, and community programmes, ensuring the app's recommendations are rooted in real-world fashion practice and user behaviour.
Ajai Aravindh
Co-Founder & CEO
Ajai Aravindh is Co-Founder and CEO with more than a decade of experience in branding, marketing, and product positioning. He founded and runs Nextab Branding and its incubation centre for the last 5 years, delivering strategic brand and growth work for established clients. At Hey Hoku Ajai leads strategy, go-to-market, and partnerships, converting brand insight into product direction, user acquisition, and sustainable growth.
Melbin Sibi
Senior Director of Sales
Melbin Sibi is Hey Hoku's Senior Director of Sales, responsible for go-to-market strategy, revenue operations, and investor relations. As an advisory director at Nextab and founder of Edstat, Melbin blends data-driven marketing with commercial leadership. He drives Hey Hoku's customer acquisition strategy, monetization experiments, and investor communications.
Wasim Bijili
AI/ML Developer
Wasim Bijili is Hey Hoku's AI/ML developer, focused on personalization and recommendation systems. He has practical experience building ML features at Multiply and Oran Tech and is currently working with DoZeal. Wasim develops the models, feature pipelines, and validation workflows that power Hey Hoku's smart styling suggestions.
Ankush Choudhary
Full-Stack Developer
Ankush Choudhary, a full-stack developer, is responsible for Hey Hoku's front-end and back-end systems. He develops scalable, production-ready features and collaborates closely with the AI team to integrate model outputs into the user experience within Howdee and CRM tools. Ankush is committed to reliability, performance, and delivering the product features essential for beta users.
Surya Prakash
Graphic Designer & Marketing Assistant
Surya Prakash leads visual design and social content for Hey Hoku. He creates UI assets, campaign creatives, and social graphics that make the product feel polished and culturally relevant. Surya also supports marketing execution and helps translate product capabilities into compelling visuals for users.
Prathima Priya
Customer Support & Sales
Prathima Priya manages customer support and sales operations, overseeing beta user onboarding and in-app support. She runs feedback loops that inform product decisions and helps convert early users into active, satisfied customers.