How a school kid fabricated a Rs 50 crore clothes brand with Rs 5 lakh, 7 sewing machines and 3 designers

 

You can buy a t-shirt for the price of a cup of tea at any of our outlets, says CM Faisal Ahmed, founder of Suits, a Madurai-based menswear brand that has taken off. Storming the clothing retail market in the United States. Tamil Nadu. Long queues stretch for over a mile outside their stores as shoppers flock to opening branches in new cities. On August 15th, it was Chennai's turn to attend this show as a new store opened for Anna Nagar.

Ahmed posted these crowd videos on his social media pages, which in turn sparks more signups, leading to more business. “Our stores are packed every day, not just on opening day,” said the 32-year-old businessman. “We sell T-shirts, shirts, pants and jeans in a price range of Rs 30 to Rs 399.

Our sales per square foot per year are Rs 55,000. This is above the norm. Industry of Rs 7,000 per square foot and the sector maximum of Rs 13,000 (D Mart) Ahmed invested Rs 5 lakh during his university studies to start a shirt manufacturing unit with seven sewing machines and three tailors in the historic town of Madurai in southern Tamil Nadu. He transformed Suits into a brand with a turnover of Rs 50 crore, learning from its mistakes, making course corrections along the way, and finally finding the "low price" formula, which has become the key to its success. And could be the subject of case studies. Study School in the future.

Coming from a family that has worked in the textile trade for two generations, Ahmed was forced to go into business to help his father who owed a debt of Rs 65 lakh, which was repaid by selling a family property. “My grandfather started Indian Cloth Depot (ICD) in the 1940s with his two brothers in Vilakuthoon in Madurai. The business flourished in the 1970s and 1980s,” says Ahmed.

"ICD was the wholesaler for Benny, Mafatlal and Premier Mills. We supplied shirts, suits, sarees and blouses to all the top retailers in Tamil Nadu. However, the next generation couldn't run the business. Professionally and the business took a hit. ” When I was in tenth grade, we were in bad shape. We were like a middle class family and lived in a rented house.

My dad got into debt and I remember those tough years in school vividly, from grades 9 to 12, ” Ahamed recalls.“We sold the family assets and paid off the debt. I had to give up my dream of going abroad for graduate school and enrolled in the B.Com course at American College, Madurai. Ahmed would soon revive the family's fortunes by starting He was 17 and a freshman in college when his father took him to meet Pothiraj, a manager of Pothys (a textile chain in Tamil Nadu), who told the two to make shirts and supply them to their stitches. Following his advice, Ahmed started a shirt making unit with Rs 5 lakh. It was a business that would take advantage of the traditional knowledge of the family.

In fabrics and would grow from its contacts with state textile retailers. We sold our Indica car for Rs. 3 lakh and took out a loan of Rs 2 lakh to finance the business," explains Ahmed, who started from a rented place on South Masi Street in Madurai, royals. Initially 100 shirts per day with the Suxus brand. They exclusively supplied Pothys priced at Rs 250 per shirt and made a profit of Rs 15 or n each piece. From the start, Ahamed worked diligently on costs and used his accounting and business knowledge to good effect.

“We decided to produce around 2,000 shirts per month so that we could make a profit of between 20,000 and 30,000 rupees,” he says. “I calculated the cost of buttons, fabric and increased our margin by reducing waste during the cutting and tailoring process. Soon we started making a profit of Rs 1 lakh every month. Ahmed worked hard for regaining the lost prestige and economic status of the family. He also wanted to elevate the status of our family and worked day and night to make my dream come true. Driving a TVS XL and sometimes using public transport, Ahmed managed to juggle with college and work After that I would go straight to the unit and work after midnight.

We continued to increase production,” he recalls. The third year, I bought a Maruti Swift car. When I graduated, we had 110 employees, produced 800 shirts a day, and supplied about 30 stores, including Pothys. In 2010, at the age of 23, he married Nazia, a BBA graduate from Thanjavur, whose family is also involved in textile retailing. The following year, Ahamed opened an exclusive store (EBO) in Madurai and six months later another followed in Herod. In 2013, they had five stores. But the stores failed to achieve the expected sales and the business began to bleed.

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