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What started as an attempt at getting youngsters to wear the traditional attire ( Dhoti ), has for Ramraj Cotton become a passion over the years. With a product range of 2,500 varieties, the company’s pursuit for newer innovative styles is rising by the year.
Ramraj is all set to introduce its Oottikko Kattikko Adjustable Vetti and border-matching shirt in the eve of Vetti Vaaram 2020 (Dhoti week) between January 1 and 7 at ₹1,000.
This is the fourth year of Vetti Vaaram celebration. KR Nagarajan, founder, Ramraj Cotton told BusinessLine that such celebrations are aimed at empowering weavers, besides luring youngsters wear the dhoti .
The last three editions have been a huge success. Customer acquisition has swelled from around 5 lakh to over 25 lakh over the years. While the older ones prefer the traditional dhoti , young customers have started to look at new varieties such as scented dhoti, and those with velcro, and pocket.”
“Our challenge is in keeping our weavers engaged, in providing them a job. We are supporting 50,000 weaver families,” he said, adding “unless we introduce new trends and styles, make it an exclusive wear, customers might refrain or look for an occasion to buy the dhoti.”
The company has established a network of 147 showrooms across South India (including 105 company-owned outlets), has tied-up with 15,000 retailers across the country.
“We have overseas presence in Malaysia and Sri Lanka. We have enquiries from Dubai, but are waiting for an opportune time to open a company-owned outlet. We are still studying the market,” he added.
Export turnover
That said, Nagarajan pointed out that the export turnover accounted for a mere one per cent of its total. “Last year, we did a total turnover of ₹1,200 crore. It could be difficult to reach that figure this year.”
“Cash flow situation has been very tight. We have not stepped back on production capacities. It has stagnated at 3-lakh metres/day. The going has been tough, but this is more to ensure that we provide our weavers a livelihood,” he said in reply to a question.
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