Having established its reputation as a major exporter of sustainable home textiles, the company is now setting sights on expanding its business into countries that it has hitherto not ventured into, writes Arun Rao after an exclusive interaction with Managing Director Viresh Agarwal
It was an amicable separation that led to setting up of RaghuKaushal Textile (P) Ltd., which specialises in the export of only home textiles. The Ahmedabad-based company’s main motto is to supply sustainably produced home textiles. The company has GRS, GOTS, BCS and Oeko Tex certifications and now exports to around 13 countries, with majority of its business in the developed countries of the European Union. RaghuKaushal Textile was established by Viresh Agarwal and his father, Kamlesh Agarwal. They have a family history of being in the textile industry since the last 50 years under the name of Raghuvir Group, founded by Viresh’s grandfather.
According to Viresh Agarwal, the main reason for starting RaghuKaushal Textile was that they found that there was a need for a company from Ahmedabad to export home textile products, while also being considered reliable for supplying quality products. The company has its own yarn dyeing, warping, sizing, weaving, and cutting and stitching facilities. They also buy gray fabric from the market and get it printed at other fabric printing units. The yarn dyeing plant has a capacity of 4 tons per day for which the machinery has been supplied by Fongs. The sectional warping and sizing units have been bought from Rabatex Industries, while the 36 wide-width automatic weaving machines are of Optimax brand from Picanol.
These weaving machines have the capability of six colour insertions and also dobby’s. Due to these arrangements, the company is able to supply home textile fabrics in a wide range of designs. RaghuKaushal Textile also has two units for cutting and stitching, each of which has 50 high-speed computerised stitching machines from Juki. These two units together can stitch up to 4,000 sets per day. The company supplies various home textile products like bed linen, duvet covers, curtains, pillow covers, etc. These products are available in 100% cotton fabrics beginning from 200 to 1,200 thread counts, poly-blended fabrics, seer-sucker fabrics, micro-fibre fabrics, etc.
“Our main motto is to offer sustainably produced textiles; so we have GRS, GOTS and Oeko Tex certifications. We also have an Appendix 6 certificate from Oeko Tex, whereby even the sludge which is released into the environment after water treatment has to be within permissible limits. The textile dyes and stitching threads that we buy are also Oeko Tex-certified,” Agarwal says. The company is also BCI and GOT-certified and is therefore able to supply products made from organic and sustainable raw cotton. The retailer or end consumer can trace the origin of the fibre right from farm to store. Additionally, RaghuKaushal Textile also supplies home textiles made from bamboo fibre.
“Right now about 7-8% of our production is directed towards producing sustainable textiles and it will keep growing with each passing year. We expect that in the next 10 years, 25-30% of our production will be geared towards producing sustainable textiles,” Agarwal informs. The company has fine-tuned the manufacturing facilities and systems to produce products which adhere to the certifications. So, irrespective of whether the buyer insists on these certified products or not, the end-consumer always receives the same sustainably produced products. It has maintains strict quality control standards, where the in-house laboratory checks for colour fastness, shrinkage, GSM, and many other parameters. These results are available to the buyers as and when needed. Even before packing, each metre of fabric is checked and so that only good quality fabric gets packed.
“Quality is one of the most important factors for us and it differentiates us from the competition. We also have two quality inspectors who physically check the fabrics. We believe in supplying whatever GSM is mentioned in the order and it will not be less under any circumstances,” Agarwal states. One of their European buyers supplies these home textile products to the hospitality industry, where the sheets are washed at 90® temperature using chlorine so that all raw materials like yarns, dyes, stitching threads, etc., have to be good enough to withstand the high temperature and at the same time there should also not be any shrinkage.
RaghuKaushal Textile currently exports and services about 26 customers in 13 countries. In Europe, it supplies to retailers in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, France, etc. Although shipments to the US and Australia are now in small quantities, they are in the process of increasing exports to these two destinations. “We are trusted by our foreign customers because 99% of the orders are serviced in time,” Agarwal says. The company wants to grow at a stable pace without compromising on quality and delivery times and so it may let go off an order if it does not match its price since otherwise there would be a need to compromise on the quality of the fabric.
“We are competing with countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh from where exports to Europe are duty-free while we pay 9.6% duty. But we are still able to compete with these two countries in the European markets as we have continuously tried to reduce production costs without compromising on quality,” Agarwal adds. In the new home textile products, the company has recently forayed into yarn dyed quilts, yarn dyed comforters, shams, etc., in which China is very strong. But with US’ putting up trade barriers, these Chinese made products have now become non-competitive. RaghuKaushal Textile took advantage of these developments and now their products are available at big US retailers like Macy’s and JC Penney.
The company is in the process of setting up a new cut and stitch unit at an SEZ in Ahmedabad, which will have a built-up area of 150,000 sq. feet. To begin with, it is installing 50 stitching machines and will have space for 50 more. Since the facility is located in a SEZ, the company can import duty-free fabrics and even when buying from the domestic market, GST will not be levied. This will give the company a huge cost benefit and allow it to compete with home textile exporters from other countries. Agarwal is very optimistic of the future in home textiles and expects substantial growth in export markets while being of the opinion that if the right efforts are invested, growth is endless as India.
“That is because India has capabilities to service even small orders,” he adds. Replying to whether he feels enough support has been given by the government to the industry, Agarwal says that a lot has been done in the last 10-12 years through the provision of several incentives. However, he would like the government to do away with the outdated labour laws, which is stifling growth and employment opportunities. He wants the government to at least exempt small stitching units from the draconian labour laws and also sign a free trade agreement with Europe, which could prove to be a game-changer for the whole textile industry.