Escape Plan Recruits Expertise from Myntra, Samsonite, Wipro, and More to Drive Brand Growth

Team enhancements include CFO, CBO, sourcing and commercial heads to sharpen travel gear execution

In a decisive step toward scaling its travel gear ecosystem, Escape Plan has announced a series of high-calibre leadership appointments across finance, business, sourcing, and operations. The newly inducted team includes professionals from some of India’s most trusted and design-driven brands, including  Samsonite, Myntra, Wipro, Porter, Aditya Birla Group, and Blissclub. This move signals the company’s ambitions to not only compete but lead in India’s growing lifestyle-travel segment.
Sitting at the heart of this revamp is Pankaj Shroff, who takes over as Chief Financial Officer. With past tenures at KPMG, Ernst & Young, and most recently Porter, where he was CFO, Shroff brings over two decades of finance and compliance expertise. He will be responsible for charting Escape Plan’s financial roadmap, strengthening investor relations, and embedding fiscal discipline as the brand moves into its next phase of growth.

Also joining the core team is Soumen Samanta, who has been named Chief Business Officer and Founding Member. A graduate of XLRI Jamshedpur, Samanta has previously held pivotal roles at Swiggy, Myntra, Meesho, Aditya Birla Group, and was most recently part of the CXO team at Blissclub. At Escape Plan, he will lead business expansion, growth strategy, and execution across retail channels, both online and offline.
On the sourcing and vendor management front, Anuj Singh brings a wealth of experience from his tenure at Samsonite South Asia, where he served as Director of Sourcing. He now leads the end-to-end supply chain for Escape Plan, ensuring that the brand’s design language is matched by material quality and scalable manufacturing partnerships.

Rounding out the leadership slate is Rohit Rungta, who has joined as Chief Commercial Officer and a Founding Member. With a background that includes roles at Wipro and Cuemath, Rungta is tasked with overseeing cross-functional strategy, commercial planning, and operational delivery.
This collective shift in leadership comes at a time when Escape Plan is quickly gaining traction for its stylish, durable, and thoughtfully designed travel gear. Launched with a mission to make travel products that are as aesthetic as they are functional, the brand currently offers a range of luggage, backpacks, and accessories distributed across marketplaces and retail kiosks with an omnichannel app in the pipeline.

Co-founded by Abhinav Pathak, previously co-founder at Perpule (acquired by Amazon), and Abhinav Zutshi, a former retail head at Splash and Forever 21 India, Escape Plan has set its sights on becoming a consumer-first lifestyle brand. In just one quarter of operations, the company has already crossed an ARR of ₹100 crore, backed by strategic investments from Fireside Ventures and Jungle Ventures.
Speaking on the appointments, Pathak said:
“What we’re building isn’t just a luggage brand, it’s a platform where travel meets identity. Each member of this team brings a unique lens on scale, sustainability, and user experience.”

Zutshi added:
“Retail is a high-stakes category, especially in travel. Execution matters as much as design. This team understands the mechanics behind high-growth consumer brands and they’re here to help Escape Plan become one of them.”
The addition of experienced leaders across verticals enables the company to manage rapid scale without compromising on user experience or operational maturity. It also reflects a broader trend in India’s D2C ecosystem, where challenger brands are drawing top talent from legacy and unicorn organisations.

As the company doubles down on product innovation, tech-backed retail, and brand identity, Escape Plan’s newest hires are expected to play a pivotal role in making the brand synonymous with modern travel essentials in India and eventually, global markets.