Bhairavnath Exim (P) Ltd., a manufacturer and exporter of readymade eyelet curtains, will be participating at the forthcoming Heimtextil 2020 in Germany for the third time. As Kalpesh Jain, Director, at Bhairavnath Exim, puts it, this trade fair has been their stepping stone to export markets of the US, the UK, Australia, France, etc.
Kalpesh Jain and his younger brother, Vikas Jain, hail from a family that was engaged in the manufacturing of textile auxiliaries earlier. But before starting Bhairavnath Exim, Kalpesh Jain also worked for seven years with an importer and retailer of luggage bags. In 2012, he left his job and started trading in home textile products like bed-sheets, curtains, towels, door mats, etc., while supplying to local retailers. During that period, he noticed that the trend was moving towards readymade curtains, which seemed like a good business to get into.
“We began by installing two stitching machines in 2013 in a small shed in our father’s factory and started a readymade eyelet curtains’ brand named Cortina. We were clear in our vision that we will manufacture only readymade eyelet curtains and also cater only to the organised retailers’ market and not the wholesale channel. So, we approached organised retailers like D Mart, V Mart, Vishal Mega Mart, Max Hyper Market, Metro Cash & Carry, Big Bazaar, Reliance Retail, etc.,” Jain informs.
Spreading its wings
By 2014, the company had increased its stitching machine numbers to around 20 and in that same year, online retail began to kick off in India. Vikas Jain then took the initiative to explore this emerging online market and now their curtains are stocked in online stores like Amazon, Myntra, Flipkart, PepperFry, Lime Road, etc, apart from which they also have their own e-commerce website. They have also recently forayed into shower curtains. Within their bouquet of the Cortina brand, they have 3,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) in curtain sizes of 5 feet, 7 feet and 9 feet and offer them in many colours and variants, with market share for readymade eyelet curtains reaching around 90%.
In 2016, Bhairavnath Exim bought land to set up their first full-scale factory and began with 40 stitching machines, which has now reached 150 stitching machines that operate on around 75,000 sq. feet space as a combination of two units. Till 2016, they consolidated their domestic business and thereafter set sights on the export market by taking part at Heimtextil. “Currently we are exporting three containers or around 75,000 curtains per month, primarily to the US, the UK, France and Australia. We are selling to major importers of home textiles from these countries, who in turn are supplying to various home textile retailers,” Jain states.
As of now, exports account for just 15% of their revenues and the company has set a goal to reach 50% by expanding exports to around 300,000 curtains per month. “I am sure that future Heimtextil editions will help us reach our export business goals,” Jain states. He further concurs that it will easier for them to increase export revenues rather than domestic revenues, as in India they have decided to deal with only organised retail, while in exports the whole world can be their playground.
No compromise on quality
Bhairavnath Exim buys yarn and gets it woven on a job work basis and the fabrics in turn are again printed on a job work basis. But to ensure quality, they have stationed their own quality control team at the weaving unit as well as process houses. The fabric is tested by their team at each stage to ensure that there is no variation in GSM or print quality of the fabric and according to Jain, till now they have not received a single complaint regarding the quality of the curtains. The company supplies curtains in fabrics which range from 40 GSM up to 300 GSM, but maximum sales are generated between 140-210 GSM. The curtains are mainly 100% polyester, and to a lesser extent also cotton-polyester blended fabrics. However, the biggest chunk of their business is derived from blackout curtains which block sunrays.
“Till date, our buyers have been demanding competitive prices and so do not seek various certifications like Oeko-Tex, GOTS, etc. We are now planning to get these certifications as then and only then can we expect to get orders from retailers like Walmart, K Mart, Tesco, and other retailers,” he states. To reiterate, Jain claims that they are the biggest manufacturers of eyelet curtains in India and can supply up to 20,000 pieces per day and that they are currently more price-competitive than even Chinese suppliers of similar curtains, thanks to the trade war between the US and China, pollution norms, and also rising labour wages in China in the last few years.
The Chinese factor
According to Jain, China is the main supplier of readymade curtains and accounts for around 90% of the world supply, with the rest accounted for by India and other countries. The biggest obstacle for Bhairavnath Exim is that while their Chinese competitors can source various varieties of fabrics in high volumes in a short time, they are unable to do so and so they cannot be a high volumes’ player till the time they set up their own weaving and printing unit. Currently, revenue of the company is around Rs. 75 crores per annum and they have targeted revenues of Rs. 200 crores within the next three years. In time to come, they plan to set up their own weaving and processing unit and will probably also have around 500 stitching machines by then.