PRATEEK APEAREALS LTD.

INDUSTRY PROFILE

The apparel industry is one of India's largest foreign exchange earners, accounting for nearly 16% of the country's total exports. The 1996 Indian textile exports approximately amounted to Rs.35, 000 crores of which apparel occupied over Rs14, 000 crores.

It has been estimated that India has approximately 30,000 readymade garment manufacturing units and around three million people are working in the industry. Today not only is the garment export business growing, enthusiasm in the minds of the foreign buyers is also at a high. Today many leading fashion labels are being associated with Indian products. India is increasingly being looked upon as a major supplier of high quality fashion apparels and Indian apparels have come to be appreciated in major markets internationally. The credit for this goes to our exporter community.

Consistent efforts towards extensive market coverage, improving technical capabilities and putting together an attractive and wide merchandise line has paid rich dividends. But till today, our clothing industry is dominated by sub-contractors and consists mainly of small units of 50 to 60 machines. India's supply base is medium quality, relatively high fashion, but small volume business.

Recent recession in Europe and the South Asian currency crisis have also contributed their own bits to the decimating Indian exports. Though these are expected to fizzle out soon, there is no reason for complacency on the part of Indian exporters or of the garment industry. The industry will be soon faced with open competition shorn of quotas or tariffs.

Thus the need of the hour is to enlarge both manufacturing as well as the marketing base. Inculcation of a spirit of innovation by way of research and development and tapping new markets especially in South Africa, Central Africa, CIS, East European countries, Latin America and Australia is also mandatory for export growth.

HISTORY

The production of textiles is an important craft, whose speed and scale of production has been altered almost beyond recognition by industrialization and the introduction of modern manufacturing techniques. However, for the main types of textiles, plain weave, twill or satin weave, there is little difference between the ancient and modern methods.

Incan Indians have been crafting quipus (or khipus) made of fibers either from a protein, such as spun and plied thread like wool or hair from came lids such as alpacas, llamas and camels or from a cellulose like cotton for thousands of years. Khipus are a series of knots along pieces of string. They have been believed to only have acted as a form of accounting, although new evidence conducted by Harvard professor, Gary Urton, indicates there may be more to the khipu than just numbers. Preservation of khipus found in museum and archive collections follow general textile preservation principles and practice.

USES

Textiles have an assortment of uses, the most common of which are for clothing and containers such as bags and baskets. In the household, they are used in carpeting, upholstered furnishings, window shades, towels, covering for tables, beds, and other flat surfaces, and in art. In the workplace, they are used in industrial and scientific processes such as filtering. Miscellaneous uses include flags, backpacks, tents, nets, cleaning devices, such as handkerchiefs; transportation devices such as balloons, kites, sails, and parachutes; strengthening in composite materials such as fiber glass and industrial geotextiles, and smaller cloths are used in washing by "soaping up" the cloth and washing with it rather than using just soap.

Textiles used for industrial purposes, and chosen for characteristics other than their appearance, are commonly referred to as technical textiles. Technical textiles include textile structures for automotive applications, medical textiles (e.g. implants), geotextiles (reinforcement of embankments), agro textiles (textiles for crop protection), protective clothing (e.g. against heat and radiation for fire fighter clothing, against molten metals for welders, stab protection, and bullet proof vests. In all these applications stringent performance requirements must be met.

APPARELS

Apparel is used to describe the clothes worn by people. There are many different types of apparel, worn to suit different occasions and places. Many factors can therefore affect the type of clothes one wears.

The four factors are the climate of the country, its customs and traditions, the people's religion and the different status of a certain group of people in a country.

People wear clothes for three basic purposes - protection, communication and decoration. But people of different regions of the world often need different kinds of protection, especially in different climates.

People may also wear clothes that have a special meaning not understood by people of other countries. For example, many Muslim women wear veils in public because their religion requires them to hide their hair from strangers. In addition, people have different ideas about what makes clothing attractive.

People in different countries may have different materials available for making clothes. For example, the people of France can wear clothes made from a much greater variety of materials than can the people in Indonesia. French stores sell garments made not only of such natural materials like cotton, fur, silk, leather and wool, but also of artificially made fibers like nylon and polyester. Most people in Indonesia can only choose clothing made of cotton.

Ways of making clothes vary from country to country. Highly industrialized countries like Canada, Japan, Russia, Germany and the United States use many kinds of machines and many processes to make clothes. For example, textile manufacturers in those countries can rapidly produce cotton cloth woven many different ways. They can also dye the cloth and rapidly sew it into different kinds of clothes.

People living in India may have only hand-powered equipment for weaving cloth. They need much more time than a machine to make cloth and they will also have to sew clothes by hand.

Clothing customs affect styles. Their customs develop in a country generation after generation of children teaching them what clothes to wear. For example, a Mexican farmer and Chinese farmer may wear the same clothes made from similar materials and by the same basic methods.

They may also need clothes for the same purposes. But the custom in Mexico is to wear straw hats with brims that tilt up. In China, custom calls for straw hats with brims that slant down.

COMPANY PROFILE

BACKGROUND AND INCEPTION OF THE COMPANY

Phulchand Exports Limited (PEL)

Phulchand Exports Limited (PEL), an international export house recognized and conferred the privilege as a Golden Trading House by the Government of India commenced years back in the year 1975.

Founded by our Chairman Shri Phulchand Aggarwal as a trading organization, PEL is today amongst India's leading Export and Import house. The day to day affairs of the company are managed by Mr. Pradeep Aggarwal who is the Managing Director of the company.

We are the integrated global traders with bulk handling capabilities. The strategic location of the company plays the advantage role and its overall cumulative decades of expertise plays the master’s role. PEL is a multi product, multi location Golden Trading House, having associates at Hong Kong, Shanghai, Moscow, London, Oman, CIS countries etc. with its HQ located in Mumbai, India.

Our philosophy to meet and exceed the quality standards of emerging global market has helped us establish world class organizations. Amongst many others, few of our key companies include:

Phulchand Exports Limited, Mumbai.

The Ahmedabad Advance Mills Ltd., Ahmedabad.

Prateek Apparels Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore.

Prateek Apparels Pvt Ltd - Ingenuity in style

Prateek Apparels, the brainchild of Mr. Pradeep Aggarwal - Managing Director was intercepted in August 1995 as an independent garment-manufacturing unit, and is one of the successful enterprises under the umbrella of the Phulchand group of companies. A visionary and a sheer businessman Mr. Pradeep Aggarwal has created the current day Prateek and established it as an apparel powerhouse catering to esteemed clients of more than 15 leading brands like:

TATA (West Side)

ITC WILLS

BENETTON

PROVOGUE

PANTALOON

SPYKAR

LEVIS

DOCKERS

MADURA (ALLEN SOLLY, PETER ENGLAND, VAN HEUSEN)

ARVIND (LEE, WRANGLER, ARROW)

WEEKENDER

GINI & JONY

SHOPPERS, etc.

From a pupa to a butterfly, it takes all of nature's intricate designs, attention and environment to cause that delicate metamorphosis to flower. At Prateek, we cause the very same when converting a piece of textile into a successful garment. And this takes an understanding of design, flawless execution on the floor, complete infrastructure support and an ability to walk the talk in terms of delivery and timelines. We do this everyday for every one of our customers.

“A thorough understanding of design. Flawless execution on the floor. Infrastructure support that is complete to say the least. And not to forget, an ability to live up to deadlines. No matter how stiff. Little wonder why we at Prateek, can convert a mere piece of textile into a much sought after garment.

We do this for every one of our customers. Day in Day out. With so much to our credit, as many of our customers in India and outside would tell you, its but natural why Prateek is a world-class one stop solution for high quality garments”.

NATURE OF THE BUSINESS CARRIED

India’s largest solution provider to domestic branded apparel retail industry.

Provides Design, Sourcing, Manufacturing, Supply chain, Logistic, & Retail solution.

Dedicated designs & product development facilities equipped with latest software.

ERP driven supply chain & manufacturing systems.

Technology & Automation driven manufacturing systems.

VISION, MISSION AND QUALITY POLICY

Vision

Prateek’s Vision is to emerge as the key player in the Indian retail market and be the market leader in its chosen areas of business to create value to the customer, stake-holder, promoters and employees of the organization.

Mission

Prateek’s mission is to reach value to the consumer by integrating its key strengths in design and manufacture through the vehicle of retail.

The objective of the organization will be to emerge as the market leader in its chosen area of business.

Quality Policy

A Quest for the Best

PRODUCT PROFILE

Product development being the core strength of Prateek, emphasis is laid on minimizing the clients’ efforts in the nitty-gritty of product styles, fabric sourcing, design and packaging, thereby enabling them to focus on their branding, retailing and marketing aspects.

Prateek product development team comprises of qualified expertise contributing to the entire product development lifecycle. The product development processes at Prateek are designed to maximize efficiency and produce high quality products with reduced time-to-markets, empowering Prateek with a competitive edge in the fast paced economy.

Market research and analysis on color forecast, styling, fabric directions.

Compilation of research corpus into a comprehensive report.

Conceptualization.

Creation of themes and designs.

Design development.

Product requirement specification from client.

Soft sample development using CAD.

Quality assessment.

Prototype development.

Fabric sourcing.

Quality assessment.

Final product development.

DESIGN SERVICES

Fabric sourcing

Prateek has transcended from being a mere garment manufacturing unit to a turnkey solution provider, spear heading the revolution in the apparel industry.

Prateek relationship with partner’s worldwide viz.,fabric manufacturers, power looms, auto looms and mills provides for excellent backward integration, which in turn benefits the clients in terms of reduce delivery time frames, superior quality fabrics and hassle free business transactions. We engage the services of technical experts from the industry for fabric sourcing, selection and quality assessment. Prateek has also integrated with various fabric finishes. Several looms work exclusively for Prateek providing flexibility, strength and quality.

Design services at Prateek

At Prateek, we are uniquely placed to offer our clients a one-stop solution to create masterpiece from concept to delivery. A dedicated team of qualified expertise in design services contributes to fashion design, apparel design, pattern making, garment construction and packaging design through extensive research work which translates to designs and products and creations of valuable intellectual property. The focus is on producing superior quality products that enriches the consumers experience every time.

PRODUCTS

At Prateek, we understand that beyond the fit, feel and fall of a garment. Its success depends on how well it matches the need of the customers. And their needs are governed by lifestyle, seasons, social context, fashion, age and gender, and of course, fabric, pricing and quality.

We specialize in manufacturing a wide range of products in ladies wear, men’s formal, semi-formal, casual shirts and kids wear for our clients.

While high accuracy in fine detailing and exclusive styling are the mark of our elegant formal wear, Prateek’s casual wear are a class apart owing to the special fabric finishes, unique washing techniques and trendy designs used.

The very best of haute couture from the world over comes alive in the superior fabrics and unique styling of our up market fashion wear. Minimal furs, absolute comfort and understated elegance are in our nightwear.

Constantly following trends and evolving needs of the up-market buyer, Prateek introduces new products linens, from time to time. As a trendsetter shrinkage, tear/slippage etc. in accordance with the international standards to assure the clients to defect free products.

In an environment where market demands are in a constant flux, clients need support in decision making till the very last stage of production. A team with an extensive knowledge base, with an understanding of fashion forecasting and trend reporting and possessing an ability to harness information and to successfully interpret innovative designs into workable garments as per the buyers specifications is highly desirable.

Customers need a support structure in all their partners who can engage in extensive research and collate a coupling this mature engineering practice with constant innovations, the production capacity is scaled to 1, 50,000 pieces a month. This is a continuous process and the production engineering team at Prateek is geared to meet the market demands and increase the production capacity to suit the client’s requirements.

This extensive integration and knowledge base positions Prateek as a global player in garment manufacturing, a one-stop solution provider capable of producing high quality products in desirable volumes at optional costs in a timely fashion.

AREAS OF OPERATION

Prateek has 15% Global operation and 85% National operation.

OWNERSHIP PATTERN

COMPETITOR INFORMATION

A competitive matrix is an analysis tool that helps you establish your company's competitive advantage. It provides an easy-to-read portrait of your competitive landscape and your position in the marketplace.

FACTOR	Our Firm Prateek Apparels	Competitor A Gokuldas Images	Competitor B Shahi Exports	Competitor C K Mohan Exports	Competitor D Madura Exports
Low Price	5	3	3	3	2
Superior Quality	5	4	4	4	3
Customizable Product	5	3	3	2	3
Unique Features	5	5	4	4	1
Rapid Product Delivery	4	3	3	2	3
Total	24	18	17	15	12

INFRASTRUCTURAL FACILITIES

Factories 5

1 in Hubli

4 in Bangalore

Designing department called Munch

Central Warehouse

Crèche facility

ACHIEVEMENTS/AWARDS

Best export performer Award – Mr. Mohan Dharia (1975).

Apeda Award for Best Exports of Wheat, Wheat Flour and Rice (1995).

Indian citizen Award-Prime Minister Mr. Deve Gowda (1998).

Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award – President Mr. Shankar Dayal Sharma (1997).

TEXCOM Award Trophy for Best Exports of Cotton and Pec goods (1975-76).

Apeda Award for Best Exports of Wheat, Wheat Flour and Rice (1995).

Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award Trophy (1997).

Apeda Award for Best Exports of Wheat, Wheat Flour and Rice (1995).

Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award (1997).

Recognition of Golden Trading House given by the government of India (June 10, 2000).

WORK FLOW MODEL

FABRICATION:

This is the first phase of production where the client companies like Levi’s,Pepe, Flying machine, Highlander, Dockers etc send their designs to buyers who place order to Prateek Apparels who order Fabrics from the fabric producing mills such as vardaman , Nahar, MBL, Emperor .

After testing the fabrics for shrinking, fading, wrinkling and various quality parameters the fabric is ordered in bulk is of the desired quality.

On an average 5000 meters of fabric is ordered per day.

SAMPLING:

During this phase the Base Pattern is prepared. First a cutting is made on a card board sheet according to the design and one piece (sample) is stitched and the piece is sent for washing for checking of shrinking .The washed piece is measured again and then the design is sent to the CAD dept. for alteration in dimensions of the design giving space for the shrinkage. After this the design is sent to client and if the client is happy bulk order is placed by the client.

Number of Employees : 25

In charge : 1

Supervisors : 2

Quality control : 4

Patterners : 10

CAD In charge : 1

CAD Operators : 3

CAD software : REACH

CUTTING:

The fabrics which are bought in bulk are cut according to designs using machines like Band knife, hand cutting, Spreading machine.

Number of Employees : 70

In charge : 1

Supervisor : 1

Quality : 3

Checkers : 2

Average Output per day : 5000

SEWING:

In this the cut pieces are stitched.

Number of Employees : 600

In charge : 3

Production Manager : 1

Supervisors : 18

FINISHING:

The stitched are sent to the finishing dept where processes like Riveting, Loop fitting, Pocket Washing, Trimming, Alteration, Dusting, Ironing, Folding, Tagging, Bar coding, Packing.

Number of Employees : 171

In charge : 1

Supervisors : 6

Quality Control : 7

DISPATCH:

The finished materials are dispatched to the respective clients.

Number of Employees : 15

In charge : 1

Supervisor : 1

FUTURE GROWTH AND PLANS

Prateek Apparels has ambitious growth plans in the coming years. Some key highlights:

Targeted turnover by 210-USD 154mm (INR 7bn).

Capacity to be upgraded to 26 million pieces by 2010.

Employee strength to rise to 15000.

Market share to be increased from 16% to 50%.

Total buying of fabrics to go up to 33mn meters per month.

Indian organized retail market is estimated at USD 3b.

Growing at an annual rate of 40%.

Men’s, women’s and children’s apparel driving growth.

Total value of shirts produced for organized retail stands at INR 28bn.

Total value of trousers stands at INR 7bn.