Fabindia

Fabindia: An introduction
Fabindia was set up in 1960 by John Bissell, an American, who came to India to explore the possibility of sourcing Indian Handloom textiles for export. It started as an export house in New Delhi. Over the years the focus of Fabindia's marketing has shifted to the local Indian retail market. While Fabindia started as an export house, it has today become a successful retail business presenting Indian textiles in diverse natural fibers. Fabindia combines handloom processes with varied techniques of weaving, printing, dyeing and embellishing. Its mission has been to work with village-based artisans across India employing their regional textile skills and competencies. It is committed to preserving the traditional crafts of India and creating employment opportunities in rural areas in the process.

The beneficiary group
Artisans in Indian villages represent a huge set of skills. But as they lack access to market information, often, their understanding of preferred color themes, designs, modern outlook, national and international is limited. Neither are they aware of the commercial value of their own products. As a result these artisans and craftsmen are poorly paid and end up getting exploited by middle men. Fabindia overcomes this value chain deficiency as it offers marketing and design support to these artisans.

Products and Services
The Fabindia product range includes ready-to-wear garments and accessories for men, women and children; bed, bath, table and kitchen linen; floor covering, upholstery fabric and curtains. The basic fibers used are cotton, silk, wool, grass, linen and jute. A recent addition to its product range has been non-textile (hard goods) merchandise.

Fabindia tries to maximize the handmade proportion in its products, using hand-woven, hand block-printed fabrics and vegetable dyes as far as possible. The handloom process and techniques of production gives the textile a unique character. In addition, handloom fabrics breathe well, are cool in summer and retain body warmth in the winter. However, if a fabric which has been made using a power loom is used, it is decorated using hand processes such as block printing, embroidery, or embellishing.

Business Linkages – Strategy
Fabindia has defined a Company Policy regarding distribution and institutional business. Fabindia believes in full control and management of its operations at all locations, by its own people. The Company maintains a policy of neither franchising its brand name nor appointing any franchisees for running its operations. However it has a few select customers who stock its products under the Fabindia name at their own stores. Fabindia also participates in a number of international shows.

In the context of backward linkages, Fabindia has made a profitable business by finding remote craftsmen and designing commercially appealing products that harness their skills. This has also enabled it to generate meaningful employment for these artisans.

Fabindia: Outreach and Potential
Fabindia now has 12-thousand crafts-people across the country, mostly in rural areas, supplying both its domestic chain of stores and its growing export business. It has been posting huge sales, with $13 million dollars (Rs58.5 crores) in revenues in FY02-30, up from $10 million (Rs45 crores) in the year before that and provides another example of India’s growing small business sector.

Investment and Costs
Fabindia maintains its own product outlets. Within India, it merchandises and distributes its products through company owned stores. A new store requires leased or purchased property with a carpet area of 800-1500 sq ft. For a sustainable level of business, Fabindia chooses locations with over ten lacs population for its stores. Fabindia also has a few selected stockists who are allowed to use its brand-name.

Private – Public partnership opportunities
Presently, Fabindia employs over 9,000 master craftspeople and has a global network of retail distributors who sell the distinctive hand woven home textiles under the general management of William Bissell, John Bissel's son. Having always emphasized upon the importance of handicraft, and having an appreciation of the handmade, everything that Fabindia sells is hand woven and handcrafted, with a clear imprint of the human hand. The company continues to succeed by balancing the desire to develop new products that cater to international customers while supporting age-old textile traditions of India's craftspeople. As quantitative restrictions on textiles come down in the near future in American and European markets, there is a scope of further improving export sales.

However, the important area of caution for Fabindia is the lack of consistent quality parameters for its products, which has a negative effect on its international marketability.

Contact Addresses
Fabindia
ILFord House, No.3,
Woods Road,
Chennai-600002
Phone: +91 -44 -8570365
E Mail: mailus@fabindia.com