Ever heard of matching dress for a young girl and her doll! Creating a niche, Kahnlucas, a leading global designer and wholesaler of branded girls’ dresses and fashion sets, has tied up with Floret Fashion Wears to manufacture woven and knitted dresses for girls and also mini duplicates of the same for dolls for their Brand ‘Dollie & Me’. Catering to the age group of 0-16, these doll dresses are a replica of girl clothes that include sleepwear, dresses, suits, shorts and pants. “It is a very new and inviting strategy adopted by Kahnlucas to attract young girls to be their loyal customers. The girls absolutely love their matching girl and doll clothes, and as a bonus the retailer is also providing a doll,” shares M Abid Hassan Khan, MD, Floret Fashion Wears. The doll dresses cost around 16-17% of the FOB rates of the garment and is a value add for the company.
Providing a broad colour palette well-coordinated with the outfit and design specifically for children (majorly girls), Floret Fashion Wears is also manufacturing interesting ‘accessories’ used to attract customers besides dolls like hair bands and small side purses. These products are easily being produced in-house by sourcing the necessary trims from around the globe. The fabric is being sourced majorly from China, Taiwan and Korea, and more recently from local manufacturers. “Recently, we have been sourcing solid dyed fabric of equivalent quality that we import from local dyeing units in Bangladesh, however yarn dyed fabric is being completely outsourced,” informs Khan. Being a kidswear manufacturer special attention is given to safety parameters that include the mandatory metal detectors to make sure that stray pins or needles do not get attached to the clothes as these are extremely critical issues for infant wear.
But it is not just good safety measures or even good quality garments that capture a market that is flooded with competitors. Buyers are now very conscious of factory compliances and Floret, dealing majorly with US importers has gone through C-TPAT and other audits to ensure healthy work environment, regular training to workers and safe merchandise. “With a pool of skilled workers, a unit geared for its specialized product, a practical industry policy and great infrastructural support from the Government we are today a very successful manufacturer for the US market,” says Khan. The company’s mission is to provide satisfactory service to the customer through quality workmanship with the help of technology, for error-free and timely delivery and these are the qualities that have given Floret higher reliability to grow long-term with the buyer for a current annual turnover of US $ 6 million.
Established in the year 1992 by Khan, an engineer by education in the Tizgaveria district of Dhaka, the company has grown along with its buyer from a 3-storey building to a factory in Gazipur encompassing an area of 52,000 sq. feet with a production capacity of 2,00,000 pieces per month from around 600 machines. Totally committed to his biggest buyer, Khan does not want to cater orders to Walmart, even on consistent urging by Kahnlucas, as it is satisfied with the working relation it shares with them and also because working with Walmart is another ball game, involving huge varieties and low prices. “Business is just a part of my life, not the entire life and I want time for my social work,” concludes Khan, who loves to attend society meetings and contribute to collective initiatives.
