Our journey began with a prominent fashion house in 2004, which expanded from 10 stores to 100 stores in 3-4 years. It then added many international brands to its retail portfolio and was eventually acquired by one of the largest business houses in India. We encountered a mix of creativity, energy, and challenges brought about by rapid growth and inherent complexity in that fashion house. In the fashion sector, there is randomness and variance in the production process.

We assisted this organization in redefining and streamlining its business processes. We reduced the Order to Cash cycle from 18 months to 3-6 months, depending on the category. During the growth years when the company expanded from 10 to 100 stores, the production and procurement capacity caught up while the retail stores were consistently growing. This resulted in an inter-departmental process gap, eventually leading to raw materials arriving late, production needing to be delivered, and sales missing categories at a seasonal level. From this state of creative chaos, the organization swiftly transitioned to a more efficient way of operating, where the Order to Cash Cycle concept was reduced to 3-6 months. The experiences gained in this transformation gave us deep insight into the nuances and peculiarities of the fashion, garment, retail, and lifestyle industries.

Another peculiarity of this industry is that the manufacturing side is either skill-based or contractual, and the manufacturing process is more labor- and skill-dependent rather than machine-dependent. Therefore, there is a planning challenge, a per-piece layout model, and a skill-based incentive model for production payout. In this industry, we see a combination of in-house manufacturing and job work for dyeing, weaving, and knitting processes.