At a time when the Indian fabric market was restricted to the narrow bylanes of Old Delhi, with dim prospects, one man had a vision to resurrect the now flourishing fabric business not just for himself but for many in the trade. A fabric agent for a French company, with a long history in fabrics laid the foundation of HP Singh Group that is today known for being pioneers of sampling and is synonymous to trust and exceptional quality. HP Singh has had on numerous occasions redefined the fabric industry and inspired many to follow their steps, yet HP Singh still enjoys an elite status with the exporting fraternity.
From a small shop in Daryaganj to 6,500 sq. ft. showroom space in South Delhi’s business hub Nehru Place, HP Singh has come a long way. Bashi MP Singh, Director, HP Singh and son of the founder in a tête-à-tête with Apparel Online speaks about an extraordinary journey undertaken not only to gain success but to build relationships as well.
Vision Extraordinaire
In the early 70s, when Bashi’s father was working as a fabric agent for a French company, responsible for sourcing fabric for them from around the country, mainly the south, he was chosen to go to Premier Vision, a high-end textile fair in Paris to see and understand what the international market had to offer in textiles. “My father was the first Indian to have visited the fair and after frequent visits to the Premier Vision, he was advised by many there to develop fabrics of his own using Indian capabilities with international appeal. This proved to be the turning point in the history of HP Singh’s journey,” says Bashi.
Acting as a mediator between exporters sitting in Chandni Chowk and his customers abroad, Bashi’s father had a deep insight into the export industry. “When Nehru Place was getting constructed in 1975, my father got rented a 100 sq. ft. shop to operate as an office for small sampling as an indenting agent. With growing business, we had to shift to a bigger space, so we bought a proper shop and I remember people used to wait in long lines for our shop to open to buy samples from us, a concept which was alien to most everyone, as not many had the ability to create samples back in those days,” recalls Bashi.
Even though HP Singh was way ahead in product development, Bashi’s father never used this knowledge to create monopoly for his company. Instead he wanted to create a fabric hub for each and everyone who wanted to deal in this business. “As my father started dealing with fabric from the young age of three, when the family had to leave their home in Pakistan and start afresh, he was extremely passionate about the trade and while everyone else could not fathom moving out of the sticky shops of Old Delhi, my dad already had a vision for Nehru Place to be created as a fabric hub that it is known to be today. It was on his requests that many vendors chose to move to Nehru Place and start a fabric hub here and today this place is known as the sampling hub,” reminisces a proud Bashi.
An unorganized sector then, the exporting industry was going through many teething concerns in the 70s. With the prevalent quota system, creativity was not at its best because exporters were simply reproducing what they were told as the designing was still in the hands of the international buyers. However, with the end of subsidies and the quota system in 2005, the real players in the industry started to emerge. Creativity was now free flowing with no constraints of any kind and fabrics of various kinds were surfacing. This was the time when competition came into picture and Bashi MP Singh who had joined his father’s company in 1992, like his father had a vision of his own for the HP Singh Group.
Changing the Game
[bleft]Many first for HP Singh…
- First to visit Premier Vision
- First to shift to Nehru Place
- First fabric supplier to open design studio
- First to service designers
- First to start customized sampling [/bleft]
“Back in the days when I had joined the company, I got a chance to see the industry very closely,” says Singh. One of the first changes that he brought in was to expand the product range from basic yarn dyed cotton in checks and stripes to more variety in fibre base and prints. “In 2002-03, we saw sudden movement in the domestic market with boutiques mushrooming all over, bringing in demand for new fabric developments from the domestic front. With fashion institutions mushrooming the entire fashion and fabric industry was looked upon in a different light. And today we have a 50-50 ratio in terms of business from domestic and international market,” informs Bashi.
The insightful inheritor of the trendsetting company is what one can call a game changer, and while many of the fabric suppliers started to own manufacturing units, Bashi preferred to remain a developer as he felt that having his own mill would actually hamper his work and vision. “We are still working with partners because it is difficult to create variety under one roof. I can setup my own unit, put in latest digital printing machines, add whatever infrastructure I want, but how do I get 20 minds with new ideas. At HP Singh, our aim is to bring new products to our customers without hampering the creativity. So working with different partners means capturing different ideas from different people with different thought processes and cultures, and then presenting a newer and better product to the customer,” he reasons.
Bespoke Offerings
When it comes to quality of the fabric, HP Singh’s name tops the list of many exporters as a reliable fabric manufacturer; such is the status that the company enjoys. But this is not all that HP Singh is renowned for. Giving customised solutions is an art that has been perfected over the years by this veteran fabric developer. “Creating bespoke fabric has always been our strength considering that people have always been looking for something different every season,” elaborates Bashi. The company is able to deliver samples within 25 to 40 days’ time, depending on the intricacy of the design. He informs that extra care is taken to ensure all quality requirements are met by all their partners, including the women who work from home, dealing in various types of embroideries. “We are getting high-quality products from the mills today; machine embroidery has upgraded with the use of best technologies available in the market and even the hand-work quality has transformed immensely too,” avers Bashi.
HP Singh is looked upon as a design hub in fabrics and for people who walk into the store, the exclusive range of variety can be a bit overwhelming at times because there is just so much to choose from. Bashi’s philosophy is simple; he wants each and every customer whether from the international or domestic market to enjoy the creations developed, keeping in mind different sensibilities of various customers that frequent the store. “We have people who are consistently working towards producing niche products. My team, including me, does a lot of research, travel a lot to get a sense of the prevailing trends in different markets; we work with mills and have a lot of ideas coming from them to develop eye-catching designs. So it is a collective effort to make sure we have products that are unmatched,” adds Bashi.
[bleft]With the launch of the newly revamped store, HP Singh aims to invoke a thought process in the minds of the consumers/designers as they get inspired from the creative visual merchandising, installations and art. The layout and floor planning will be bespoke and a departmental approach will be observed. That’s not it, Bashi and his team put together their minds to come up with a creative campaign for the store… [/bleft]
Even though the systems are in place and the customers asking for more, there are road blocks that keep the challenge alive. “The major problems that we are now facing is that sampling is becoming more and more difficult and expensive to source,” says Bashi. But road blocks are something HP Singh has learned to get past. “We are now doing customised sampling in defined minimum quantities and also for regular customers. Of course the price for customised samples is higher, but we inform the commercial rate so that during costing, the manufacturer does not lose out because of price,” he adds. The final production could be anything between 500 metres to 1200 metres, and sampling production 50 metres to 500 metres. The edge with the company no doubt is sampling and small quantity orders.
“We are currently in the process of revamping HP Singh with a new brand identity and creating three distinct segregations in terms of the product categories – routine fabric, fabrics suited to domestic market and of course the last one being high-end novelty fabrics. The aim is to create a fabric haven in 11,000 sq. ft. area which can satisfy the needs of all customer bases. HP Singh has always been successful in creating unmatchable products and we will continue to do so. With the new showroom, each section will have a wide array of choices and we are dedicated to making this showroom a place where each and every customer will be able to find something that they desire,” he concludes.
