A look at Ranvir Shah and P. S. Exports
P. S. Exports, under the leadership of Ranvir Shah, has grown into a large export house based out of Chennai, India.
South India’s Garment Industry — A look at Ranvir Shah and P. S. Exports
Ranvir Shah, son of Ranjit Shah, founder of P. S. Exports, is the managing partner of the company. P. S. Exports that was established in the 70s, commenced with the fashion of the times which was bleeding madras as well as regular madras checks to fulfill the demands of finely crafted shirts for men in the American market. For nearly three decades, P. S. Exports was a significant exporter and supplier of quality men’s garments to the United States after the quota system for the U. S. was removed, the company under Shah’s guidance gradually moved to making other products such as women’s garments and dresses as well as children’s wear and accessories resulting in expansion and growth to become a renowned textile and garment export company. Known for its quality and design, the company continued to have a name till today.
Over the years, the company has supplied almost all the shirt makers in the United States of America, starting with the Eagle Shirt Makers Company as well as selling to the licensee-holders of Pierre Cardin. The company continued to sell top brands such as Woolrich, Gant, Philip Van Huesen, Levis Shirt Company, Tommy Hilfiger as well as Polo Ralph Lauren. Over the years, the company also started supplying to Europe as well as Japan. In Europe, the company supplies to famous high street brands such as Next and Marks and Spencers in the U. K. Celio, Cahcherel and Chipie are some of the brands they supply to in France. In Spain, the company supplied to the Inditex group for their brands of Zara men, women and children as well as Massimo Dutti and a youth brand known as Bershka. Gocco, a well-known children’s brand has been a client of the company for the past 20 years and continues to be.
The company, which was started with ten pedal machines operated manually in the 1970s grew over the years to modernized high speed stitching machines with the best automation to give quality product machines that helped refine stitching were imported from Japan, Germany and the United States. Simultaneously, special guides and folders were used for doing specific kinds of finishing evenly. Fabric cutting was done using specialised laser cutting machinery and the planning of the garment consumption and yield of fabric was done by special computer aided design and software and machinery.
Ranvir Shah insisted on carrying forward the heritage of ensuring quality production that he inherited and learnt from his father, the founder of P S Exports.
To this end, strict quality control was kept in the company for all stages of production. When the fabric entered the fabric godown it was checked meter by meter thoroughly for any kind of weaving faults and defects. After this, it was also checked for shrinkage. This ensured that before the garments were cut, a large number of problems were taken care of. In the factory, there is a system of quality checking throughout the production and packaging process. Garments are checked as they are produced at every important stitching stage as well as after they are completed and come off the stitching lines. After this, they are finally checked before going into ironing and packing. Once the goods are packed, international Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) tests are conducted before making the shipment. Over the past four decades, the company has had quality complaints of under 2%. They are continuously working on improving this.
Design has been something that is very dear to Shah and over the years, he has ensured that he personally gets involved with designing and curating the lines which are shown to the clients. Inspired by trend colours for the season, two main collections are made for clients for Spring/Summer as well as Autumn/ Winter. Sometimes in-between collections are also requested for Holiday and Back To School seasons. Ranvir Shah has a keen eye for colour, design and an overall sense of aesthetics which allows him to inspire and nurture his design team to offer constantly new and exciting fashion lines to their clients.
As the business grew, the Shahs, father and son realized that there largest bottleneck was the supply of their main material fabric. Over time, they decided to set up their own fabric weaving unit near the Southern town of Komarapalyam. Here, they imported looms from Europe and Japan to start with, increasing capacity further with looms from Turkey and China. This modernization and backward integration helped the company to further grow as they no longer had to be dependent on fabric supply agents and other mills. Over time, this unit became independent and now continues not only to supply the garment factory of P. S. Exports but also garment manufacturers across India in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai as well as exports some of its fabric to neighbouring Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It makes fabrics in different weights, qualities and constructions in cotton, linen and polyester as well as various blends. It also specializes in organic and recycled fabrics.
As a sensitive entrepreneur and employer, Shah was very sure that all the people working with him should be treated like an extended family. P. S. Exports were one of the first to start crèches for working women to bring their children even before it become compulsory and mandatory. Over the years, the workers were given loans for education for their children through the company’s in-house charitable trust named after Shah’s grandmother known as the Rambhaba Charitable Trust. Medical assistance on a regular basis as well as health camps for women’s issues and eye checkups are conducted regularly till date. Social issues are tackled through lectures, workshops and performing arts to cover areas such as non-formal education, domestic violence and financial savings for women who are a large part of the population that work in the company. Weekly meetings are conducted updating the women on health issues as well as general hygiene and nutrition for their children. Games, outings and festivities are conducted regularly. Recently, Founders’ Day celebrations have begun in memory of Shah’s father and the founder of the company, Ranjit Shah.
Being environmentally sensitive and having a light carbon footprint is an extremely important part of the philosophy at P. S. Exports. To this end, there is a green garden around the factory as well as a small patch of organic vegetables grown and maintained by the workers for the workers. The in-house laundry meets all parameters of pollution control but also goes further by using the liquid waste to be re-converted through reverse osmosis into drinkable water. It is very rare to see a garment factory in a beautiful setting with greenery around it which also helps keep temperatures pleasant in the working environment. Regular workshops are conducted to train the staff and workers on the importance of wastage, recycling and reuse so that the entire factory has a lighter carbon footprint.
P. S. Exports, Chennai as a company under the leadership of Ranvir Shah has been able to grow into different markets, making a variety of products using the most up-to-date machinery, ensuring high standards of quality — all of this produced by workers who are highly motivated, constantly educated and upgraded in their skills, who also have a good quality of work-life balance and excellent working conditions where they spend most of their time. Shah believes that everybody in the entire supply chain of making these garment products should be a proud Indian, making a product with a ‘Made in India’ label, not just for themselves and their company, but also for their community and their country.
-By Preshita Agrawal
