A young entrepreneur who started his career as a merchandiser in 1999 after completing his MBA, Rafiqul Islam Parosh moved on to become the Country Director of a US buying house. However, the challenge to do something of his own resulted in a stocklot business and eventually a very designdriven kidswear manufacturing unit (the product mix consists of 70 per cent kidswear and 30 per cent adultwear) working for niche boutique and chain store buyers in Europe to achieve an annual turnover of around US $ 12 million. The company runs two factories – Versatile Apparel and Versatile Fashion. While Versatile Apparel manufactures both knit and woven products, Versatile Fashion is geared up to do sweaters. In a candid discussion with Apparel Resources, Rafiqul Islam Parosh, Managing Director, Versatile Apparels Ltd., shares the challenges of doing low quantities, high-end kidswear products from a country known for its volumes…
AOB: Why choose a difficult category like kidswear?
Parosh: When I started, I had some connections in the category through my earlier associations and since we already had in-house embroidery, washing and printing facilities, the idea to do design-oriented products for the kids’ market clicked, because kidswear today is no longer basic and needs lots of embroidery and print applications.
The units runs almost 800 machines and around1500 people working together to create very complicated designs in kidswear for the age range of 0-16 (0-3 and 4-16). The products that we manufacture include tops, bottoms, skirts, short-all, over-all, almost everything. And even though we’re small in size, we have the expertise and flexibility to deliver the right products in the right quality and quantity.
AOB: Can you brief us about your lead time?
Parosh: I’ve a flexible lead time. Having a good relationship with buyers, they understand the problem fully. They come to me with a bunch of styles for delivery at a particular time. For example, one buyer comes with 17 styles and asks to deliver within 2 months. Even if I miss the deadline for the first time but can show him 17 styles, he will be satisfied and allot me another 15 days to deliver. So, I have fewer issues with the delivery lead time. Also, they give us priority. Our customers support us fully, that’s why it’s been easy for us.
AOB: Who are your buyers and what are their demands?
Parosh: I’ve a good number of buyers from Europe including El Corte Inglés, Ocean, Dance in Ireland, the Palm, to name a few. These are very specialized stores and do lot of product innovations. Our maximum order size varies from 3,000 to 5,000 pieces. If they want two colours, then it would be 5,000, but when they want one colour, then it would be maximum extend up to 3000 pieces.
AOB: Is a lot of fashion coming into kidswear?
Parosh: Exactly… so many fashion trends are now coming into the kids’ category. Some customers focus on fabrics, some focus on colour variations, some want more prints and embroideries and some want diversifications on shapes/silhouettes. Even some want knit and woven combinations. So,we have to fulfil different demands. But we only work on samples suggested by buyers… There is no real product development happening.
AOB: Do you think talent exists in Bangladesh to produce fashion items?
Parosh: I had the experience, as I had earlier worked for an US buyer who was doing only kidswear. So, I know how the entire category works. In addition to that, I’ve got some experienced people for my production unit who’ve been working for me for a long time. I have even offered a percentage of share to them. That’s how we’ve been operating so far.
We operate on the basis of line system. Everybody has their own role to play and together they put all the efforts and end up with the desired products.We have even introduced our workers to new technology. So, in terms of embroidery, printing and all other things, we’re able to cope up. Another thing is that I’m not a market leader but the follower. So, it’s not been so challenging to follow others. Moreover, I’ve been replacing some of the old machines with new machines which could enhance the production capacity.
Since kidswear requires a lot of testing for safety issues, we have a basic lab to check the washing, the cocking, and also the button strength (the pull test).
AOB: What is the core direction of fashion for children?
Parosh: Fabrics have become the toughest challenge for us now because 4-5 years back, the buyers preferred the local knit fabrics with some embellishment put over the fabrics. But now they want fancy fabrics which are not produced in Bangladesh as of today. So, we have to depend heavily on China for the fabrics. If value-addition is only about add-ons, I can add embroidery and printing to give extra value to the garments and also make some extra money, but when they ask about certain type of fabrics, then I fall in a perplexing situation. I’ve nothing left in terms of hiding profit. I’m still facing that challenge.
