Associated with 40 stores all over South America and having its own retail presence, Tyagi Indian Style, Colombia may increase its sourcing from India in near future if Indian exporters improve their overall systems for more competitive products. Rajnish Tyagi, Co-owner of the company was in India recently and met some new vendors in this connection. In discussion with Apparel Resources, he informed, “We are currently sourcing almost 50,000 pieces of ladies garments per year from India and though business is quite challenging, there are chances to increase our sourcing, but for that vendors need to improve and support us. Earlier, we were sourcing from China but now due to cost and other issues, we prefer Indian apparel exporters but here also we do have issues.”
Also Read – Axstores to increase Apparel Sourcing
He further added that he entered into the apparel trade two years ago just to support his wife as it was her business but she was facing many difficulties. “Now, I feel that improvements are needed at many levels. Few months ago I had a very negative experience as even after claiming to complete orders on time, one of the Indian exporters did not bother to pick up the phone when I kept calling for status. When I came here and met him he gave excuses of long festival season and refused to give products as promised. He was having reasonable infrastructure so I believed him, but eventually faced losses,” averred Tyagi.
“I must say that some of the Indian exporters don’t realize the value of trust with their buyers. Trust is main thing for mutual business no matter how much transparent and professional one is. I personally feel that image of Indian exporters is not too good in Colombia. They have to understand that image is not only industry-specific, it’s about the image of a hub or a country like one of my friends who is importing auto parts from Ludhiana and has had a negative experience. He shared all this with us which pushed buyers like us to refrain from working in a particular hub. I too faced a lot of issues be it shipping or wrong vendor selection.”
Rajnish is not only vocal about Indian apparel exporters but about support structure also. “Sometime we ourselves use courier services to send small shipments or samples but in India, courier companies charge too much,” he said. Yet, the company is keen to work with India and is hopeful of meeting good vendors who will support his desire to increase sourcing.
