Fifth Avenue sees scope to expand in Tiruppur

CHAIRMAN PROMODH SHARMA (PS), a first division cricketer in the 1990s, had founded the company even before turning 30. This year, the firm is turning 25 and has made remarkable progress in sourcing apparels for the best of the global brands from Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, in addition to other global manufacturing locations.

In an exclusive interview to Industrial Economist, PS looks back at his association with Tiruppur and what this small town near Coimbatore has to do to compete with growing competition from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambo­dia and the like.

TIRUPPUR MEETS QUARTER OF THE DEMAND

Currently orders are coming back to the pre-Covid level, across categories in the apparel segment, with increased demand. The firm sources around 10 million units per an­num. “Global brands had over-stocked during Covid and demand had come down. But it is now back to old levels. I see this as exciting times for us to cater to the growing demand of the large global brands,” says Promodh Sharma.

While a quarter of his global sourcing is met by the manu­facturing units in Tiruppur, PS believes that there is a lot more that this small town can do. “The Bangladesh fall-out is bringing increased business to Tiruppur and they should cash in on this demand. It of­fers the advantage of flexible minimum quantities but the manufacturers have to up the tempo in terms of quality standards and sticking to de­liverables”

NEED FOR MINDSET CHANGE…

Fifth Avenue, which has over 200 employees and revenues of around USD100 million, has been partnering with 20 different manufacturing factories in Tiruppur and continues to expand its engage­ment with them. According to PS, Tiruppur is a veritable gold mine and can do so much more. Nevertheless, he is wary of some of the challenges. “Three decades after glo­balisation, we still see workers not returning back on time after festive holidays and the manufacturers’ requesting for extended time for shipment. This is just not acceptable as they should realise that they are producing for global brands and the biggest names in the market. There has to be a big mindset change. Tiruppur has potential to be a global hub for hosiery but it will be able to reach that level only if it focuses on quality standards and sticks to deliv­ery timelines,” he emphasised.

To address this, high quality tailoring training schools will have to come up in the villages around Tiruppur. “Tailoring is still looked down upon, though it can be financially rewarding. Also, a feeder system has to be cre­ated for labour as this will help the manufacturers stick to delivery time­lines,” he said.

On the growth plans, PS said, “we have presence in India, Bangladesh, Cam­bodia, Hongkong, China and Italy. Very soon, we plan to set up an exclu­sive showroom in the US to expand our global pres­ence.” The company plans an aggressive expansion in the Indian market and are looking for manufacturing partners to grow. “We also want to see a ‘raising of the bar’ in Tiruppur espe­cially given the high level of competition coming in from other manufacturing locations in Asia,” high­lighted PS.