Believing in the ideology of “Growing Together”, Raymond, India’s leading textile and apparel brand and leader in worsted fabric and garments, has launched India’s first training centre in Bihar with the support of Bihar Government to impart tailoring skills to underprivileged youth and tailors. Inaugurated in Patna by the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Gautam Singhania, CMD, Raymond, the centre is geared to train 250 candidates in suit, shirt and trouser making in the first academic year.
It has been Raymond’s endeavour to rejuvenate the fading art of tailoring and in this direction has initiated several steps. The Raymond Tailoring Centre holds the vision of imparting training skills to unemployed, underprivileged youth and the existing tailoring community, by upgrading their current skill sets and encouraging employment and entrepreneurship.
Raymond through this initiative aims to create a network of skilled stylist tailors across India for sharing of knowledge and ideas, while providing customers with quality tailored garments. The Raymond Tailoring Centre shall train over 10,000 students in various aspects of tailoring including suit, shirt and trouser making over the next five years.
The minimum qualification for admission to the Raymond Tailoring Centre is 8th standard pass. At the time of enrolment, the student will need to pay the fees of Rs. 2000 each for shirt and trouser making course and Rs. 5000 for suit making. These fees are refundable once the course is successfully completed by the student. The initial course fee is to ensure that the Centre attracts serious candidates, in keeping with the high standards of its training modules.
Speaking at the launch in Patna, Gautam Singhania, Chairman and MD, Raymond Ltd. said, “The tailoring community is one of the key spokes of the textile and apparel industry. It is important for tailors to be abreast of styling trends and be able to implement them in the garments to suit evolving customer tastes, given constant upgradation in fashion. Considering technological advancements in the sector, our module includes training candidates on the latest modern technology machinery and use of the world’s best tailoring practices at no financial expense to the students. Special focus shall be given to encourage women to pursue our programmes, through special reservation for them. We are proud to have the support of the Government of Bihar in our first step in this direction.”
Ram Bhatnagar, President – Emerging Business, Raymond Ltd., shared with StitchWorld that Raymond will assist the trained students in placements in the 680 ‘The Raymond Shops’ and other multi-brand outlets. Raymond will also provide them career opportunities in around 100 Raymond workshops which will be setup during this period. The trained tailors will be encouraged to setup tailor shops and Raymond shall support them in their endeavour in becoming trained stylist tailors. “We plan to launch 20 centres across India to employ trained tailors over the next five years,” states Ram.
[bleft]Raymond will assist the trained students in placements in the 680 ‘The Raymond Shops’ and other multi-brand outlets – Ram Bhatnagar President – Emerging Business, Raymond Ltd.[/bleft]
Speaking after the inauguration, Nitish Kumar urged Singhania to setup a garment unit in Bihar to give further boost to the State in terms of employment and revenue. He is ready to give all possible help to the private investors who want to setup their manufacturing units in the State.
With a capacity of 31 million metres in wool and wool blended fabrics, Raymond commands over 60 per cent market share in worsted suiting in India and ranks amongst the first three fully integrated manufacturers of worsted suiting in the world. The company has around five garmenting units out of which Silver Spark Apparel, Everblue Apparel and Celebrations Apparel based out of Bangalore are catering to the export market.
