The Fashion Crisis Rippling Across A Global Industry

How a family-run clothing manufacturing business is surviving during Covid-19

COVID-19 has dramatically affected manufacturing in just about every industry across the entire world. 

As the pandemic rages on, social media campaigns like #PayUp and #whomademyclothes have unlocked billions of dollars of lost wages due to cancelled orders in the garment industry. We wanted to hear directly from someone who has witnessed the first hand effects the pandemic has had on clothing manufacturing, and find out a little more about what life is currently like in the factories. 

Mithun Govind was born and raised in Tiruppur, the manufacturing hub of knitted garments in India. Mithun’s father started SKL Exports in 1991 - which now owns 3 factories and makes a variety of knit products. His Uncle also owns 4 of their sister factories just outside of Tiruppur. Some of their customers include Primark, Debenhams, Next, TJMAXX, American Eagle, Roberto Cavalli and OVS.

Mithun completed his bachelors degree in business management and a one year diploma in Fashion management. He entered the family business right after college.  Mithun’s role at the company involves overseeing the production department, while focussing on a couple of key customer brands himself.

Mithun, what is the current situation in Tiruppur? Are there many Coronavirus cases in your city?

Since we came out of lockdown we have seen the cases rising up again. However, everyone has been wearing masks and business has resumed. My city has been around 60% active except for the shopping malls. 

Out here if one person tests positive on the street you live in, the whole street gets put on lockdown. Our movements between districts have also been restricted due to the pandemic. We have to have an E-pass to enter another district. 

In Tiruppur there are garment factories of all sizes everywhere. If we were to have a complete lockdown it would be devastating for so many families. Everyone is afraid a second lockdown will happen in Tiruppur, which means the factories would have to stop working. This would result in buyers overseas shifting to other countries which could damage our business. 

Our factory employs a lot of migrant labourers from other states in India. During the pandemic our northern labourers were scared of the virus and wanted to go home to be with their families. A lot of people left, around 30% of our employees. We have faced labour shortages because of this but have managed to source employees to replace them.

All factories open right now have regular health inspections to make sure we are taking the right precautions for the employee’s health. Everyone has a temperature check, we have hand sanitizers everywhere and masks are compulsory. If anyone is tests positive it risks the whole factory being shut down. 

The Covid-19 Pandemic has had a catastrophic effect on the Fashion Industry with many brands folding and professionals now finding themselves without a job. How has the pandemic affected your business?

When stores around the world closed, that’s when the big players like Primark started telling us they wanted to cancel orders. Because of this, smaller brands also followed this trend. The larger brands set a bad example to the rest of the industry. They needed to come up with a good solution in the first place instead of cancelling everything.  

Primark, for example, are now using the goods they had already put into work with us to use in December instead. But they unfortunately extended the payment terms to double our usual payment time.

They cancelled next season's orders that were at the development stage but they haven’t cancelled the ones that have been produced. Our working capital will be reduced because of this which unfortunately the bank can’t give us any support for.

Buyers from big brands know the factories are in this situation so some are trying to take advantage by asking us to cut costs. We are already at a low margin and they are even squeezing that. They know the factories have no other option. 

The cancellation from Debenhams was at the bulk stage where the fabric had already been purchased. We work for Debenhams through a buying house in Delhi, who are working hard to figure everything out. Fortunately we have recently been asked to produce the cancelled orders at the same price.

Other factories in the area have been worse affected. I know of a factory in Tiruppur that had to discount a lot of goods for Debenhams.    

How has that affected your employees? 

During the lockdown we were producing masks and PPE kits. Because of this we were able to meet our overheads and make sure our labourers were able to work and got paid for it. It really has been our saviour during this pandemic. Originally we were distributing these in India but more recently we had approval to send them overseas.  

How do you as a manufacturer move forward from this? 

In my Uncle’s factory they are working at a limited capacity so they can meet their overheads. They may not make a profit this year, but their priority is to avoid losses, meet their overheads and survive. That’s the mindset for many people right now.A lot of other factories will not survive this and are already stopping production, They haven’t been able to pay their employees as a result of cancelled and reduced orders.

It’s important now for us to assess who we want to be working with right now, who is going to pay us on time. We would prefer to focus and dedicate our hard work to those that are being fair and reliable. 

Mithun, tell us about your role at the factory and your daily routine:

 I usually wake up at 6am, go to the gym and then get ready to go to the office. I visit our closest factory where I live to check if everything is ok. Then I head to the head office for around 9am. My role is to oversee everything going on at the factories. I also look after our Israelian buyer - FOX and American Eagle, since I introduced them to us. 

I check on everyone’s status and progress around 11am, followed by lunch at the factory itself - we have a cook there. Afterwards, I head to our other factory which is around 20km away. I meet with the factory managers and see what direction we’ve been given from the buyers, the qualities, rejection reports, absentees and make changes if necessary. 

 The merchandisers communicate with the brands and distribute everything to each department. Our departments include the fabric team, trims and accessories and print teams who also handle embroidery. Everything has to come together and align at the same time. That’s the most important part. When everything is ready we send the development samples. 

How many brands are you working with?

We work with a lot of well known brands across my Father’s and Uncle’s factories including Primark, Debenhams, Next and OVS. We also work with Fox (in Israel), who has licensing for American Eagle so we work with them as well. And more recently Haynes (USA). We always have smaller brands coming in too. Tiruppur is known for its manufacturing of knits and knitted blends - mainly cotton based. Our factory manufactures kidswear, menswear, womenswear including apparel and sleepwear. 

Some of the brands we manufacture for have done very well as they sell in stores such as Walmart - who were allowed to stay open during the pandemic. This has helped our factory to keep going and most of our buyers have helped us with the payments and not cancelled orders. However, some of our orders have been significantly reduced and there are some retailers who still haven’t paid us and are delaying payments.

How many workers are employed at your father's factory?

We have around 2000 workers, which comprises 3 factories. Around 200 of them are merchandisers, factory managers, department heads and juniors etc. 

There are many factories in Tiruppur. We compete against each other by offering good wages and working conditions to the workers, otherwise it’s very easy for the workers to move from factory to factory. The workers are in high demand in this city. My family also owns a local school which many of our worker’s children attend.

What kind of hours do you keep?

Working in Tiruppur, most of us don't get much of a break at all. Especially in times of crisis as we are going through currently. A lot of the time I work through the night and on Saturday’s. Our factory hours are 8:30 am to 5:30 pm for one shift and 8:30am-7:30pm is considered one and a half shifts. Sunday’s are normally everyone’s day off.

How do you spend your evenings and weekends, do you have any hobbies etc?

 In the mornings I play tennis and in the evenings I like to do Asana yoga. I also like to play cricket- I promise not every Indian plays cricket! I play for a league here so that’s how I spend my Sunday’s. In 2017 I did a 2 month continuous solo backpacking trip on a bicycle. I travelled from the North to the South of India - from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. 

Do you have any future goals for your career and your father's business?

My goals are to create better systems for our head office and the factories. Changing the mindset of the people in Tiruppur is hard. Most of our employees have been working under my dad and they might not want to work under me. So I need to gain their respect which is tough. .

I’m able to implement and experiment at one of our other factories though which is good. I want to get more into the production side and find great buyers. Everyone in my generation wants to start a brand at the moment but I don’t think it’s a good choice, the market is already full.

Thank you Mithun!

If you want to read more about Mithun check out this article about his solo backpacking cycling trip.

By Emma Golley