CEO Insights India

As the second largest exporter of textiles and clothing in the world, India is emerging as a novel trendsetter of the cosmopolitan fashion industry, owing to the increased diffusion of organized retail, favorable demographics, and surging revenue standards. Fascinated by the vintage textile brands such as Double Bull, Chirag Din, Raymond and intrigued to explore the limits of this dynamic fashion sector, Devadas Chernicherri quit his legal profession to lay the foundation of Expoknits International in 1990 at Tirupur, the knit capital of the world. Owing to his previous exposure to the knowledge and formalities of the textile export industry through his father's predominant business across the manufacturing and exports of textile made-ups and furnishings, Devadas started his entrepreneurial journey along with his wife Asha Devadas. Overcoming profuse hardships to arise as one of the noteworthy textile businessmen of the country, Devadas' passion towards T-shirts and knitted products forged the ground work of his commercial triumph. Under his guidance, Expoknits International has currently emerged as one of the top export companies catering to the quality and sustainability oriented brands and stores of Scandinavia.

What Were The Major Challenges That You Encountered During The Establishment Of Your Company? How Has Your Journey Been So Far?
Starting Expoknits with zero investment, but with great aspiration, we used to communicate with mail letters and Public Telex. During those days there was an expensive license/Quota system to export garments to most of the developed countries. Once you invest and purchase the Quota, the following year the promotion council provides the same based on your past performance. Norway and Switzerland were the only two developed markets with non-Quota systems, and we were fortunate to receive some orders from Norway during our initial days. We had our own office set only in 1994. Until then we were operating from our small residence. Until 1994, we were outsourcing our products from other factories. It was a great challenge when customers visited us and insisted on seeing our production. A few times we had to show our supplier's factories to our buyers. This was an added encouragement to set up our own production unit.

In 2011 we had to face a major obstacle when Madras High Court ordered to close down all textile dyeing factories in Tirupur, following an agitation from the farmers objecting to the unrestricted and untreated effluents being let out to the river and other water bodies. This was a hard hit to the Tirupur exporting community. Almost 90 percent of the dyeing works were being done in and around Tirupur. We had to run to different locations like Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Noida, etc. to get our dyeing works done. It was a fact that only a few job workers in the north were following the quality standards like the Tirupur factories. So, we had to

Airfreight more than half of our production and incur huge loss and in addition, we had to face some quality problems too. Soon the dyeing factories opened one after the other and each one installed a proper reverse Osmosis water recycling system along with the proof that they were operating with Zero Discharge.

Of course, the biggest challenge we had to face thereafter was in 2019 and 2020 with the two long lockdowns due to COVID Pandemic. We had to Airlift 70 percent of our production at three times the Air cost last year. But things are better at present, as the buyers as well as the sellers are better prepared for a lock down.

Today, after three decades, we are sitting quite comfortable with 100,000 sq. feet of our own building and machinery in a single location. We are certified for GOTS and OCS (Organic cotton), OEKO-TEX Class 1 (free of harmful substances), BCI (Better Cotton Initiative), SEDEX, SA 8000 and BSCI for Social Compliance, and ISO 9001 for Quality standards. We have retained our best of customers for more than 25 years which I consider as our greatest achievement so far.

The textile industry is facing a very tough challenge from the retail segment currently. How do you make strategies to help your company effectively compete in this scenario?
Having started our business in 1990, we always had the great privilege of exporting to the most quality conscious and sustainable markets of the world, namely Scandinavia. Sweden, Finland and Norway are our major markets. Using our long standing experience in these markets helped us to come up with a premium classic, sustainable T-shirt e-commerce brand `GOOD STITCH', which is one among the few genuine sustainable Clothing brands in India. GOOD STITCH is probably the only sustainable brand directly from an experienced manufacturer and exporter. We have put all our strength in quality, style, cut, technology and the sustain ability efforts gathered over the years into this brand, and I believe that products of 'GOOD STITCH `are comparable to any good T-shirt brand in the world.

We are also coming out with another new clothing brand namely 'THREADS OF ALLEGORY'. This brand especially focuses on the Soulful and free spirited traveling community of the world. The Elder daughter Kadhambari Devadas is involved in the brand GOOD STITCH and the younger daughter Malavika Devadas is involved in the brand THREADS OF ALLEGORY

What are the milestone achievements in your professional journey that bestow utmost satisfaction upon you?
Five years after starting our company, in August 1995 we were selected for a participation in a sponsored seminar in Rotterdam on Marketing Ready made Garments in Western Europe by a Netherlands Government agency CBI(Centre for Promotion of Exports from Developing Countries). In February 1996, we were selected for a sponsored participation in Cologne Fair, Germany, which proved to be a huge break through for us as we met buyers from the largest department store in Finland, namely KESKO Oy. Today we are one of the leading exporters of Knitted Garments to the Scandinavian region. From the year 1996,we have

received orders continuously from this Finnish company, and even today they are our biggest customer. From 2001 onwards we started producing for the largest fashion retailer in Finland, namely Seppala Oy.

From the year 2005, we started supplying for a top level, quality oriented premium Swedish fashion brand namely Dr. Denim Jeansmakers. From the year 2008 we have started producing for the largest retail group in Norway namely The Varner Group which owns various brands including Dress man, Carlings, Cubus, Bik Bok and so on. In 2012, our company was selected by the Varner group as the best Supplier from India. Further, in 2016 we opened our account with the largest department store in Sweden namely ICA. This was another big opportunity for us.

In May 2015, we had the great opportunity to co-sponsor the first International GOTS (organic) conference in the world which took place at The Lalit, Sahar, Mumbai, after which we made it a point to produce as many Organic cotton products as possible.

Where is expoknits international positioned in the current textiles and apparel industry of india and what are your plans for the future?
Being an ISO 9001 company and following stringent quality measures and due to our policy of delighting the customers with prompt shipments and good service, we are still in high demand with our customers though the circumstances of the buying markets have changed quite a lot due to the slow economic growth in Europe. Our domestic market is the fastestgrowing one in the world at present and positioning our brand GOOD STITCH strongly in the market segment is our priority.

In the light of your strong experience in the fashion and textile industry, what advice would you give to the budding ceos?
My advice would be to create the infra structure and system to assimilate the orders they procure before bringing in more and more orders. Otherwise, it will end up in a disaster. Looking inwardly and creating a strong unbreakable system, by developing people and resources to look after the system will automatically bring in enough orders. For the future do not disregard the growing domestic market. Ours is the fastest growing market in the world and there will be more opportunities in India in the coming years.

Devadas Chernicherri, Co-Founder & CEO
Devadas completed his BA, Economics in the year 1985 from Mar Ivanious College, Thiruvanantha puram and thereafter Bachelor of Law (LLB) in the year 1989 from Government Law College, Mumbai. Being an Economics Graduate, he was inspired to start an enterprise and his Law graduation helped him in dealing with all labor and government formalities. Along with his wife Asha Devadas, who also happens to be the Co-Founder, Expoknits International, Devadas steered Expoknits International to become a household name to leading Scandinavian Fashion retailers being one of the largest Indian exporters of knitted garments.

Hobby:
Jogging, playing online chess, music, reading books, watching cricket, movies, and reading and researching on Indian astrology
Favorite Cuisine:
Appam and Stew (Kerala)
Favorite Book:
WHO MOVED MY CHEESE by Dr.Spencer Johnson
Travel Destination:
Kumarakom Backwaters of Kerala