december 21, 2016 forbes india | 59and Hyderabad. Labour was also
plentiful here,” says Genomal.
By early 1995, Genomal’s core
team, led by his first hire GP Albal,
who now serves as an independent
director on the company’s board,
had covered enough ground to
mark Jockey’s re-entry into India.
The suppliers had been identified,
the factory at Bommanahalli on the
outskirts of Bengaluru was fixed
with state-of-the-art equipment
from Japan and an army of women
workers—a rarity in India’s garment
factories of the 1990s—was hired.
(In the Philippines too, Genomal
hired only women at his factories.
“We hired only female operators
because their hands are more
nimble, and it is easier for them
to handle smaller garments,” he
explains.) Factory managers from
the Philippines were also flown
in to train the local workforce.
Meanwhile, Genomal organised
conferences for top retailers in seven
cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and
Bengaluru, to gauge their interest
in selling Jockey products. The
response was “overwhelming”,he says. The company was set to
roll with about 10 distributors and
120 retailers. The factory started
commercial production in August
1995, with Jockey products reaching
Bengaluru stores in November,
followed by Mumbai, Chennai and
Delhi. In December, the brand made
an ad splash in newspapers: “Burn
your briefs, Jockey has arrived.”B
ut that’s not quite what
happened. Jockey was
expensive. While an average
Jockey product was priced betweenemployees work at page industries’ facility in hassan, karnataka. the company says it only hires women at its factories
as their hands are more nimble