Our Story

My father Ashok Varshney (AV), came from humble beginnings. Born in New Delhi India, the oldest of eight siblings in a working class family, he was sent to Delhi to work on the floor of a garment factory at a young age. He spent his days doing hard labor and learning the garment trade. At night he took business classes, then returned to the factory to sleep in the workers’ quarters. He sent money back to support the rest of the family.

In his early 20's, Ashok distinguished himself with his intense work ethic and his natural ability to see solutions where others saw problems. He rose quickly through the ranks and earned the opportunity to run the factory. At the age of 27, Ashok partnered with the prince of Nepal to open the largest garment factory in the country. Business prospered for some years, but, Ashok grew frustrated by immutable geographic and economic constraints. Ultimately he took his knowledge and, in 1985, he opened up a buying house in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Ashok continued to grow his business by servicing some of the largest private label brands and stores ranging from Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Mark Spencer's and Macy’s through showrooms he lit up in New York, London and Paris. Ashok leveraged his back offices in Delhi, Dhaka, Hong Kong and Shanghai to make it all happen. In 2010 and 2011, Ashok received awards from both the Indian Consulate and New York's Fashion Institute of Technology for his impact on fashion and trade.

Fast forward a few years, inspired by my father’s example, I set out to forge my own path. Leveraging 40+ years of multinational business knowledge in the garment trade derived from everything my father, I created a fashion line called Astor Vance (AV) which is a custom clothier with one mission: Make people look & feel good.