Making 'The Complete Man' And More

Raymond, a perfect guide to a well-dressed man, will soon be one to women too, with more brands up its sleeve 

- C.H.Unnikrishnan

As we sit marvelling the view outside the Glass House — the sprawling corporate office of Raymond amidst its vast campus in Thane — we are snapped out of it as a very dapper looking Gautam Singhania walks in a racing T-shirt and denims. He is just out of another interview with a French TV network.

“I am in my sportswear; another side of my life,” begins the man behind India’s most successful textile brand “The Complete Man”, referring to his passions — racing, fast cars and flying.

Singhania is the chairman and managing director of the country’s largest branded fabrics manufacturer and fashion retailer Raymond. But it wasn’t always this way. The company has seen many ups and downs in the last few decades.

His analytical skills turned around the once-beleaguered Raymond group. He led a major restructuring of the inherited business, which had lost focus with unrelated diversifications and amassed losses.

He, however, credits “the amazing Indian consumption story that now keeps us busy, with capacity building, technology adoption and network expansion”.

With the group back on a growth trajectory after divestingits non-core businesses and reducing losses, Singhania is set to roll out the next phase of pruning and growth. Under this, he wants to give Raymond a broader lifestyle tag by creating more product verticals and brands and expanding retail network and formats. There would also be a second round of pruning of the unrelated segments as the company wants to focus more on its core textile legacy.

The Changing Paradigm