A big TV screen adorns the office of Rishi K Rajani, MD, Biharilal Fashions, (BLF India), Mumbai and it is not for reviewing footage of CCTV cameras fitted in the factory (as done by most other Indian apparel exporters). Rishi uses this set-up for video conferencing with his various offices and business associates, but what is really intriguing is that this is not a new arrangement. He started using video conferencing as a tool of interactive communication almost 12 years ago when it was not even heard of by many peers. Even more interesting is the fact that BLF is among the very few apparel exporters of Mumbai having in-house stitching as well as digital printing set-up in Mumbai itself. In an exclusive interaction with Apparel Online, Rishi shares the various strengths of BLF India, highlighting that innovation, new prints with big team of print experts and own brand for overseas markets are the key growth drivers for the company.
Completing 31 years in business, the BSCI certified BLF India, working with buyers from Europe (65 per cent) and America, is remarkably aggressive in terms of serving its clients. It believes in making the buyers’ life easy, and that really works for them. “We have our own team of nearly 12 print/fashion design experts across Denmark, Paris, New York and India who design new concepts every day. We never wait for buyers to send us tech packs, we reach them well in advance and present our own collections (ready products) on their table. We focus a lot on our own collections and we present 6 to 7 times in a year. By going directly to our customers with products, we save their time, effort, energy and their entire process of design, including cost and also make their life easier. That’s why they want to work with us,” says Rishi who is having almost 25 years of apparel industry experience. The team of BLF India develops thousands of prints per month and out of these, normally 10 per cent are finally executed. The company claims to have the competence to turnaround buyers’ print demand in one day with the right combination of man and machines. It has this advantage in its own offices in Denmark and Paris.
Womenswear is the core product strength of the company and its FOB ranges from Euro 15 to100. It strategically does only high value-added products due to the strong belief that niche should reflect in the products and collection content, which in turn should encourage buyers to pay for the value. A confident Rishi reasons, “We don’t play with price sensitive products because we don’t want to be the low-cost supplier. We play in the fashion segment. Value addition is the key for us because there is always someone cheaper than you. We can’t win that low-cost game. Different brands buy different kinds of products like low, medium, and high-end and it is all about how you position yourself, what the brand buys from you. Some exporters say that they can do everything, every product, but we don’t believe in that at all. One should have a strength and be known for that. Your niche, your strength should reflect in your products. Only then they pay value for it.”
To get better margins, the company offers its own brand (Rdalamal) in the overseas markets. The ‘Own Brand’ initiative which was started four years back now constitutes 20 per cent of total production and Rishi is geared up to increase it to 80 per cent or even more in the next four years. “95 per cent of the brands in the world are selling to multi-brand stores who are selling 10 different brands. We make three times more money by selling our own brand compared to manufacturing for others. Even the retailers prefer our brand as they get higher margins on it, while customer prefer it because of its uniqueness,” avers Rishi.
Initially, it was quite challenging for the company to enter into the overseas market with its own brand; its marketing, different approach to delivery (delivering goods in couple of rounds to the stores), keeping track of how they sell, etc. was all very different, but with consistent effort and good team, Rishi managed it. “We have the right people who can sell. It is comparatively simpler to hire designers and people who can develop and sell your brand, compared to finding the right team to run a factory. Each member of my team is a master of his/her work,” he adds. The company puts equal efforts for developing its own brands and for creating collections for its clients/buyers that are already established brands/stores.
Having 120 stitching machines and with a digital printing capacity of up to 4,000 metres per day, the company is growing at close to 20 to 30 per cent year-on-year basis. With the growing focus on own brand, Rishi is sure of more growth in future. He strongly insists that Indian exporters need to change their mindset and approach towards work, so as to consistently evolve as per the dynamics of the continuously changing market.
