Shalgar Hosiery: Sturdy Pyjama
Lead:
‘Shalgar’ brand is well known to Puneites. It is a favourite brand of many people. Many have seen the shop board. Lakhs of Puneites have also seen their advertisement on the rickshaw. The age of the Shalgar brand and the age of independent India is the same!
Matter:
It is not known when exactly Late Shankar Shalgar, the founder of Shalgar hosiery, shifted to Pune, but after coming to Pune, he worked for some time in Khadki Ammunition Factory. It was the time after the partition of India. During this time, many Sindhi people had opened their business in Pune. Shankar Shalgar also started his business around this time. Clothes are the basic necessity of every human being. Shankar Shalgar understood the need for daily use clothes in the market, and he started his own business in 1948 called Shalgar Hosiery. He started his business on a hand cart with the name Shalgar Hosiery. Needs of human beings were less at that time, so the variety available in clothing was less too, e.g. jacket, pyjama and dhoti. So, he decided to sell these clothes. As the business grew, the need for more space was felt.
Shalgar brand created trust in people’s mind about quality. He started a new shop in 1953 along with his brother called ‘Gajanan Hosiery’ to expand the business. Every business person continuously strives for the expansion of his business. The same thing happened in the case of Shankar Shalgar. Due to his hard work and efforts, his business became successful after five years. Shankar decided to buy a shop for running his business. His brother was going to look after the shop called ‘Gajanan Hosiery’. The first shop of Shalgar hosiery was opened in Appa Balwant Chowk in 1958. Shankar Shalgar was ambitious and wanted to expand his business. He opened another shop near Desai Bandhu Ambewale at Shanipar in 1965 with a lot of effort.
With a lot of effort and perseverance, he opened a new shop at Shanipar opposite the old shop. After starting the business on a hand cart, today he owns three shops!! His three children Shrikant, Prashant and Milind, have seen the business progressing since their childhood. His children completed their school education from Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya boy’s school. Every day, before and after school, the children used to go to the shop. They got exposure to business very early in life.
Shankar Shalgar taught his children the importance of hard work since childhood through life experiences. For example, if children wanted to go for a picnic, he used to tell them to raise the money for a picnic by selling handkerchiefs outside the shop, return the capital given by him and then use the profit for their picnic expenses. During the festival season, his children used to sell Lord Ganesha idols inside the shop and handkerchiefs and sacred threads outside the shop; during Diwali festival, they used to sell clothes inside the shop and firecrackers outside the shop. These visits created a business approach in their mind since childhood.
Shankar Shalgar suddenly passed away in 1982. At that time Shrikant was 21, Prashant was 17 and Milind was 14. Their family faced a void in personal life, but on the business front, they were very focused, and they took the responsibility of the business after their father’s sad demise. The children who used to sell things outside the shop now came inside the shop and started running the business successfully. Since 1979 wife of Shankar Shalgar, Smt. Shanta Shalgar got actively involved in the business transactions. She used to accompany her children in shops, and she was a tremendous support for the Shalgar brothers.
The business of Shankar Shalgar had grown immensely. His children started making plans to expand the business. New ideas were getting implemented. The USP of Shalgar Hosiery was the jacket and the pyjama. Marketing strategies were utilised to increase the sale of products with the tagline ‘Dankat pyjama (sturdy pyjama)’ and ‘Mulayam bandi (soft jacket)’. The next generation took efforts to expand the business. Even today the clothes are known with the same tagline. Products in the shop now increased with particular focus on traditional garments.
School uniforms were also made available for sale. The traditional clothes for adults like a dhoti, pyjama, kurta, sari for kids etc. were also sold. Customers liked the new product ‘sari’ and in 1985-86 another new product ‘baby sari’ was launched. In the year 2000 the products, e.g. stitched nine-yard sari for small girls, in 2012 Punjabi dress for little girls and in 2016 ‘frocks stitched from saris’ were launched. Shalgar became a famous brand for traditional clothes suitable for all family members.
At the beginning of the 21st century the market in Pune was growing. Pune was getting introduced to new technology. The growing demand compelled people to use new technology. Machine-printed bills replaced handwritten bills. Now, they started using the computer. Milind Shalgar did a course in computers in the year 2000, thinking that technology will help the business. It was an advanced course, which offered knowledge of billing software. He understood the billing system and logic. After that, he used technology in all the shops.
From the year 2006 bills were generated by a machine. Barcode system came into utilisation from 2007. They could get daily and monthly reports due to the use of computers. Product-wise monthly sale report started getting generated. This helped in the production as well. Work management became effective due to these monthly reports. The workers were not ready to use the machines initially, but they were trained and then the technology was introduced in the shops.
The business was expanding, new products were introduced in the market, the scope of work increased, and modern space and shops were required. Due to the increasing range of work, it was becoming difficult for them to pay attention to each shop, so cashiers were appointed. More workers got appointed in the shops. In 2011 the shop in Appa Balwant Chowk was expanded. It was now a three-storey shop. The Shalgar brand was now well established. There was a need for HR (human resources). Thus, at every step people were appointed and expansion of shops was done. From 2015 effort began for the development of the chain. From 2015 to 2019 per year one new shop was opened, and thus five new shops were opened in 5 years. Now there are eight shops. Shalgar hosiery sells uniforms of 80 schools. Even today, Shalgar is the leading name in school uniforms.
Every year during Ganeshotsav festival, Shalgar exports clothes for the ‘dhol-tasha pathak’ in certain countries. Altogether 70 employees work for Shalgar hosiery in all shops. Shalgar hosiery sold 5000 clothes for the ‘Sankranti’ festival. When talking about the customers of Shalgar hosiery, Milind Shalgar says, “The fourth generation of many customers is our customer now. They have had a relationship of trust with Shalgar for so many years.” Shalgar is a leading name when it comes to traditional Maharashtrian clothes. Preparing clothes for festivals starts 3 to 4 months in advance. Things like planning of work, dialogue with the employees, monthly work report, dividing responsibilities have helped them grow their business.
Clothes are a basic necessity of every human being. In India, festivals have a special place in our tradition for which people chose to wear traditional clothes and so the sale of traditional clothes is never affected even during the period of recession. The graph of Shalgar hosiery has always shown consistent growth towards progress. Of all the products sold in their shops, 60 to 70 per cent are produced in their own factory, which was started in 1990. During the entire journey, Shalgar paid a lot of importance to advertisements. Advertisements are required to reach out to people and create a brand image. Shalgar tries to reach people through radio, television and newspapers. They have also created an option of online purchase through their website.
Milind Shalgar narrates an incident about advertisements. In 2007 two unknown people met Milind Shalgar for ads to be displayed behind the rickshaw. They took some amount from Milind Shalgar and did not return after that. This incident made Milind Shalgar very sad. Then he decided to find rickshaws and give them advertisements. He started with rickshaw drivers in his acquaintance. Later many rickshaw drivers approached him for ads. He decided to do it himself instead of contacting any advertising agency. Today, 200 rickshaw drivers have a trusted relationship with Shalgar hosiery through the medium of advertisements.
Milind Shalgar tells the newcomers, who want to start this business, “There will always be scope for this business. One can become successful in any business with hard work and consistency. The business must be studied properly before entering into it. The clothes market must be studied first. If it is your product, a lot of things must be studied, e.g. where does the raw material come from, how is the final price decided, who is your customer, the area in the city where you are going to sell your products, etc. One must set the goals before starting the business. The business can become successful if it endures for 1000 days. After that effort is required to expand the business and problems and hurdles must be battled. The business should be started initially in the space of around 200 to 300 sq. ft. The business will stabilise quickly if initially, the basic clothing needs of people are sold in the shop. One must know about all the products that are for sale. One can start such a business with an initial capital of 5 Lakh rupees. He can expect profit in this business after three years. He must have a strong self-belief in himself during this period. In today’s world, worldly knowledge is more important than bookish knowledge. Management education helps in the business for sure.”
In addition to the business, Milind Shalgar has also paid attention to his fitness and hobbies. He is a cyclist and has two world records to his credit. The three brothers have distributed their responsibilities among each other. The elder brother of Milind Shalgar looks after the financial management and sale transactions. He also has taken the responsibility of running two branches. Prashant Shalgar has opted for the responsibility of production and also looks after two branches. Milind Shalgar looks after business development, public relations, marketing, advertising and development and even four shops in the chain. Mrs. Madhura Milind Shalgar is a fashion designer. She has been creating new designs since 2011 for frocks of small girls. Shalgar feels grateful that Manish Gupta, Mahendra Gokhale and Ulhas Joshi have been a constant support during their journey.
Shalgar’s business is an excellent example of how the inheritance of business is to be transferred from 1 generation to another. Shankar Shalgar taught his children ethical values in life and also the business acumen. These children did justice to the business started by their father, expanded it and turned it into a famous brand. This is an excellent example of a family business that has flourished.
Originally Published in Yashashwi Udyojak. Subscribe Today.
