Enterprise: Garvit Knitwear (Brand name - TAB91)
Founder: Mr Vishal Jain
Industry: Fashion & Fashion Accessories
Year it was founded: 2013
Location: Ludhiana, Punjab (India)

To achieve your business dream, you have to get started! That’s the motto of Mr Vishal Jain— Ludhiana-based founder of apparel brand TAB91. Mr Vishal started his career in the fashion retail sector with the likes of Monte Carlo and Octave. In 2013, he took the bold decision to leave his job and start his own clothing brand for men and women. With a modest investment, he built the TAB91 brand from scratch on both online and offline platforms.

In less than seven years, his turnover has grown to a whopping Rs 22 crores with a presence in more than 650 retail stores and on leading online marketplaces.

GlobalLinker (GL), spoke to Vishal to know more about his exciting business journey.

GL: Vishal, tell us a about your business. What motivated and excited you to start it?

Vishal: TAB91 is one-of-its-kind of startup, we started in 2013 with a capital of Rs 5,000 and now have a turnover of over Rs 22 crore within a span of 6 years. The motivation behind the establishment of this venture was my love for fashion apparel. I am proud of my journey from a salesman to the founder of a company and from an employee to a job creator. The brand has a presence in 22 states of India with 650+ point of sales. Soon the brand will be expanding its wings to other states as well to make the brand available on a pan India level.

TAB91 has been the forefront runner in adapting the latest technologies in its business. We started doing online sales through ecommerce marketplaces in 2013 and have been awarded time and again for excellence in services from Flipkart and Amazon.

Also read: Manjir Chatterjee, Founder-CEO, Folk

GL: How does your business differentiate itself in the industry?

Vishal: Convenience, discoverability, affordability and creativity is the model on which we are working. The company runs on an Asset Light Model and uses the latest technology and innovation for its entire operations. We do not work on product push strategy, rather we follow customer pull strategy. We listen to our end-user and all the links in the supply chain and put efforts to make the product as per their expectations.

The motivation behind the establishment of this venture was my love for fashion apparel. I am proud of my journey from a salesman to the founder of a company and from an employee to a job creator. 

GL: Share three things that are instrumental to your success.

Vishal: Conception of the right idea at the right time There was no such arrangement of after-sales service in the garment industry. We are among the few who started developing and listing to our feedback channels and I think customer feedback has played a pivotal role in our growth.

We believe in developing our human resources as assets, not merely like group a of people working together. I think such an approach has indeed helped us grow at a faster pace than our competitors. We are proud of our team and people feel proud in getting associated with us.

We at TAB91 are a firm believer that honesty is still the best policy whether it's product quality, product delivery, product design and product performance.

GL: What are challenges for your business to grow bigger, better and faster from here?

Vishal: There are two types of challenges which every organisation faces— internal and external challenges. There are internal challenges which are specific to the organisation like recruiting and handling skilled manpower, designing products, managing the production to ensure timely delivery and funds allocation for handling these challenges. We manage merchandisers, production team, outsourcing team and finance. We make it a point to sit together and find out the best way to cope with these challenges as well as external challenges like taxation and other government policies, which are often beyond our control and we put our best efforts to overcome these challenges.

Also read: Sona Makhni, Director, India House

GL: How has GlobalLinker helped your business?

Vishal: GlobalLinker’s simple philosophy of ‘Learn Network and Grow’ helps us to explore from the collective pool of resources. I make sure that I read one inspirational story a day to keep myself motivated. Success tips for SMEs are really useful, events and workshops are a unique way to keep you updated with the industry. It's a very good platform for upcoming entrepreneurs.

GL: What is the next big thing on your business agenda?

Vishal: Going forward, the vision is to take the brand to the next level by penetrating into Large Format Stores (LFS), Shop-in-Shop (SIS) with all leading retail chains, category expansion and opening exclusive brand stores.

GL: What advice would you give to a new entrepreneur?

Vishal: I always remember Zig Ziglar's quote: Expect for the best, prepare for the worst and grab what comes.

GlobalLinker’s simple philosophy of ‘Learn Network and Grow’ helps us to explore from the collective pool of resources. Success tips for SMEs are really useful, events and workshops are a unique way to keep you updated with the industry.

GL: We would love to know the person behind the entrepreneur.

• Every day you wake up at - 05:30 a.m.
• The first thing you do when you wake up - I always thank god for blessing me with the wonderful life, family and friends. I also practice yoga, which rejuvenates me for the entire day.
• Three things you do to unwind - I love to go on long road trips with my family. Sometime reunion with old colleagues, love to spend time with my family and friends. I also love to spend time at old age homes and help this ignored section of society.
• When you face a big challenge – I get ready to conquer the same.
• The best piece of advice you've ever been given – By my father Mr Ravinder Jain, to never compromise on our family values and ethics.
• The one book everyone should read - Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson
  
  

Also read: Seema Lal, Founder, The RedSaffron

Network with Vishal Jain by clicking on the 'Connect' button on his profile.

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