Balancing Tradition and Innovation in Fashion – Arpit Aryan Gupta of NG Apparels

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Hey there, entrepreneurs. My name is Sushant and welcome to Treptalks This is the show where I interview successful e-commerce entrepreneurs, business executives, and thought leaders, and ask them questions about their business stories, and also dive deep into some of the strategies and tactics that they have used to start and grow their businesses.

And today, I’m really excited to welcome Arpit Aryan Gupta to the show. Arpit is the partner and new business development head of NG Apparels. NG Apparels is an India based, custom made and sustainable clothing manufacturer utilizing ethical and fair trade practices. And today I’m going to ask Arpit a few questions about his business journey and some of the strategy and tech that he has used to start and grow its business.

Now, before we dive into this interview, if you enjoy this content, please make sure to hit the like and subscribe button and for more interviews like this. Pleased visit us at treptalks.com And with that, Arpit welcome and thank you so much for joining me today at TrepTalks Really, really appreciate your time.

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Thank you very much for inviting Sushant Uh, pleasure to be here.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Thank you. So let’s get started with your business. I know that your business has been around, uh, for a while. Uh, I believe 80 plus years, and that, that’s probably around, you know. The end of the British Empire in India. Yeah. So maybe, maybe we can start, you know, how, how this business came about.

What were, you know, where, where did, uh, I’m assuming your father or grandfather started it, you know, what was the vision and where, where is it now?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: So, basically quite an interesting background that I have. I basically am. Fourth generation entrepreneur. Um, my great-grandfather, um, basically, uh, was a clerical.

Uh, he was, he was in a clerical job in the British era and, um, from certain point he started his own business and he got into, um, yarns and everything. Fast forward, we. We’re one of the biggest suppliers and manufacturers of yarn in India for quite a while. Uh, and that was a couple of decades ago. And then, um, my father took over and he started into, you know, textiles and, uh, knitted fabrics and due to some losses because of, uh, the recession.

In the us um, 2008, 2007 crisis, something like that. I guess we, um, incurred a huge loss. Um, and at that point of time we got a huge dip. Uh, we diversified into multiple businesses, but we had to, you know, burn our hands and pockets. Um. But then fast forward again, 2012, 11, I came back, um, from, uh, my graduate studies in Australia and UK and that’s when I started the garment division in NG Apparels And, uh, today I’m quite happy that we are supplying to, uh, majority of the countries, um, in terms of direct brand dealings. So yeah, that’s, that’s the journeying kind of brief.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: And your education was MBA, like did you study, uh, business? No,

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: I actually, uh, left, uh, India when I was, uh, I just came outta school, uh, high school.

I went to Australia, uh, for my graduation. And from there I got a chance to go on an international exchange program to UK and then came back to Sydney, finished my like graduation, and then I started my own business.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. And so when you started it, I’m assuming you did some market research, try to figure out, you know, what the opportunity is in the apparel.

Um, now of course, you know, in the age of e-commerce there’s, you know, quick fashion, what is it called? Fast fashion, where you have, um, you know. New designs, new varieties coming into the market rather quickly. So is that, like, what was that kind of part of the reason for starting an apparel business? What, what was your motivation for starting this, um, apparel?

To be honest, what was the opportunity?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Yeah. To be honest, I guess it was the ecosystem in the city that I belong to, Liana, which supplies to, you know, the entire world. Um, that was the motivation that the ecosystem is there and I can actually, you know, use that ecosystem and build upon it. So even though I come from an IT background, programming background, um, and marketing background, of course, that did help me leverage my skills into building NG apparels and, um, understanding, you know, having a good network of suppliers and everything kind of helped as well.

So, building. You know, I guess NG Apparels was based on the ecosystem that I already had in the city, you know, Luana. So that kind of helped. And plus, uh, through some contacts and everything, I started getting orders. And once this orders started giving, you know, your good amount of revenue and everything, that becomes a motivation to kind of move forward, you know, in that direction.

So. I guess right now the, you know, the, the, the era where, where we are living in, in terms of India, um, industrialization, the manufacturing hub that it’s trying to build itself, it’s gonna go like really, really, uh, on, on a bigger scale. So I guess we are just small part of that and, um, just trying to leverage what opportunities world is, you know, giving to India right now.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Can you talk a little bit about your products? What, what are you focusing on? What are you know, your customers asking of you in terms of product, uh, selection?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Hmm. So in terms of products, we are doing all kinds of products when it comes to clothing. Anyone who needs anything made out of textiles or knitted fabrics, we can manufacture it.

Um. However, of course people, there are a lot of companies that are actually doing regular products like t-shirts, shirts, hoodies, all of these things. I mean, those are exciting products, but those are, um, not. The game changers for us, the game changers are the products that we do that are patented, you know, the, the patented products that we are manufacturing for.

Even brands that are coming out of Shock Tank or Dragon’s Den, and those are products that we manufacture alone in the world for them or for the, you know, the buyers, the brands. And, uh, that kind of help us to, uh, you know. Even put out the word that, yes, NG apparels is the one that can actually do a product that a lot of people would say no to.

So that differentiates us to a certain extent. However, of course, we are doing all those products, like kids wear, women’s wear sports clothing, um, even, you know, hair accessories, sports accessories. So we are doing all of that, but plus we are doing a lot of patented products.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: And when you say patented, does that mean these are.

Newer fabrics. These are newer designs. What’s, what’s different about them?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Mainly it’s the fabric composition that is different, that is not available in the market. Uh. Usually, and the second most important thing is the design. So majority of the people that are actually having the patent is for the design patent and plus the kind of, so like, you know, the, the, uh, the benefit that it gives.

So, so that’s where I guess, uh, we kind of differentiate from the other manufacturers.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: And in terms of benefits to your customers or value proposition, and this could be your company specific or like just. Country specific, India as a whole. Um, do customers, uh, do buyers come to India or your company?

Because is it cheaper to manufacture there? Is it, uh, I mean, you said that you’re more flexible in terms of working with new materials and things like this, um, and comparing it to like. Other markets like China or Vietnam and, you know, other Southeast Asian countries that do, uh, garments. What, what is different about India that attracts people to, or brands to come and get their clothing manufactured there?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: I guess it’s a mix of a lot of things. The first thing is, um, um, I guess the most important thing is, uh. The flexibility that we offer. You know, we are very flexible people. We flex, we are flexible in understanding the requirements of the customer and accordingly making the processes and the product.

That actually completely satisfies them. That’s first. Second thing is, uh, communication. We are pretty good in communication when it comes to, you know, uh, just trying to understand what exactly the customer wants and making them understand as well what is possible and what is not. Uh, the third thing I believe is.

We do not say no. Like if there’s any problem that needs to be solved, we say yes. And of course it might take a little while, but definitely I’ve seen that there’s a hundred percent probability that we’ll, we’ll do it. And that’s probably the attitude Indians have. I. I, I guess that’s the reason why, uh, majority of the Indians make it in life, you know?

So I guess that’s the attitude, uh, that we portray to the world, um, communication. And third thing is to be flexible in com in terms of, you know, satisfying the customer in terms of their needs. Not trying to, just being, uh, really strict about this is what we are doing and this is what you have to accept or not, you know, that’s what we, we don’t do.

So I guess this is what kind of attracts a lot of people towards us.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Now you also did mention that India is moving towards more of a manufacturing economy and, and, um, do you see a push from the government or like incentives. Things like this, which is helping companies in India to become or, or to make it easy for manufacturers to build their business and attract customers in India.

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: So I guess the, uh. The kind of incentives that the government is giving are, have gone down, um, from the previous, you know, let’s say couple of decades, um, as it used to be amazing. Uh, that’s what I’ve heard from my father, but I completely understand, um, why probably the, the shift has been there. I’m sure government has its own reasons, however, still there is good amount of support in terms of, you know, uh, pushing the.

The product, um, the Indian product of the market, making the Indian manufacturing, you know, um, um, let’s say Indian manufactured products available to the world. Um, so at the same time, I believe what happens is that when it comes to providing a product. The, the government kind of supporting it, uh, it is happening for a reason why lot of countries around the world are losing or, or want to lose their dependency only on China.

And that’s definitely, uh, uh, uh. A good point to start with for India because India is kind of growing at the same time on two levels, service level as well, as well as manufacturing. So it’s growing at both sides and that’s why we are one of the fastest economies in the world. Um, however, of course we do have a lot of difference in terms of Chinese acceleration, in terms of growth and us, and I guess we are trying to catch up.

Um, and then we will catch up quite fast.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Okay. Now, when you started out, um, in terms of setting up this new business, did you, um, kind of, because your father, uh, grandfather already had the business, like what kind of investment went into this? Like, did you have to start create a factory? Did you have to buy equipment?

Um, what was kind of the starting point for you where for you to be able to, uh, start a manufacturing business?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: See, definitely. I guess when it comes to coming from a business background, it is kind of ingrained in your mind from, you know, when you’re a child, uh, that you are from a business family and, and this business.

You know, people working for you and all of those things that kind of gets ingrained inside you and you want to do even better and bigger than that what your ancestors or your father has been, you know, they’ve been doing. So that kind of definitely helps him. The second most important thing is, I guess it’s about your own attitude.

I personally feel I’m a person who’s probably quite in a, in a. Uh, I, I do, I do love to lead people into a direction, so I probably find it really, really difficult to kind of, uh, follow a pattern rather than I, I believe in building one and, and taking everyone together and moving forward by hearing everyone’s point of view, but then taking and deciding what is best, you know, for the company as a whole.

So I definitely had that attitude. And third most important thing is, I guess. You know, when you come from a business family, you definitely want to kind of prove it to everyone and to yourself majorly. You want to prove it to everyone, to your, you know, majorly that, uh, um, you can do it, you know, without any help.

Hmm. However, uh, of course I would not deny this fact that. Having the land access kind of gives you little, you know, very good motivation to kind of do something in life. Hmm. So I definitely had the space. Hmm. But other than that, I did invest the money that I had saved while working as a student, uh, in, uh, and while I was studying in Sydney.

So I did save up, you know, a couple of thousands of dollars. And those thousands of dollars I invested in buying the machinery and from there I started everything. So apart from the land, definitely I kind of did it everything

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: really. Okay. That’s, that’s, uh, that’s excellent. Um, can you share like what kind of machinery like goes into creating, so you are, you are creating, um, are you buying fabrics and then create like just.

Building the clothing out of those fabrics? Like what, what is, what is the output that you’re creating?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: So right now what we are doing is we, uh, we procure the yarn, um, once we procure the yarn, because yarn mill itself is a huge project in itself. So we procure the yarn and then we, uh, either have the machine ourself to kind of knit the fabric.

However, every knitting structure every. Fabric can have its own knit structure, you know, width requirement and everything. So that becomes really difficult to maintain all of that in one place. So we do have a network of, you know, job workers who kind of, uh, knit the fabric for us, depending on our composition and, and, and width and everything.

All the, all the. Parameters that we want. And based on that, of course, that we send that fabric out to a dying factory, which actually ties the fabric asper, the color, and the panto shape that we require. And once that is. Done. We then get the fabric we do in-house, checking the con, you know, uh, we, we follow the protocol of checking the entire fabric and then cutting, tailoring, stitching.

All of this happens in-house. So, so mainly I would say garments CMT process, which is cutting, making, and tailoring is done in-house. Everything else is kind of outsourced, uh, for specific factories to provide us the specific parameters that we want.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Very, very interesting. Um, what part of your business, because you know, these days now you hear more and more around automation and robotics and all these mm-hmm.

You know, things taking over. What part of your business is like people doing the work, like hand using, utilizing their hands versus like machines creating the, the clothing?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: So interestingly, we’ve reached, you know, kind of Mars, but in this industry, the automation is, hasn’t been that much. I don’t know. Is it because of the, the, the.

The special characteristic of the fabric you know, the, the fabric itself, like how much tension is there in the fabric and what sort of a, you know, uh, skill did you need to, to, you know, make a specific garment or do that specific stitch? Hmm. So this, I would like. Thing that it would require so much of AI training, like years and years of AI training, um, and a lot of data to kind of understand and make a machine understand like this is what exactly is required.

So it’s a mix of. Like highly skilled people with help of a machine. Definitely there has been some advancement in terms of, you know, stitching, quality, stitching machines and everything. Speed, all of that. But other than that, the skill has to be, you know, that the skill comes from the labor. Hmm. So highly skilled people are required to make garments.

So not too much of innovation has happened here. Uh, definitely there is some innovation that has happened in terms of fabric making, all of that. But garment, no. Not yet.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Now your role is more of a business development. Um, can you talk a little bit about, since you started, what has been the process of going out and getting the, the customers?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Wow. So, uh, you know, when you start a business, you’re so kind of, um, you’re finding ways to find a customer, right? And, and I guess the first. Five customers are the most difficult ones because that’s where you have to prove yourself without any background. So I guess those were the most difficult ones that I had to find out.

However, I guess it all depends upon the attitude you portray to the customer. Um, and, and, you know, can do attitude that yes, you know, it, it’ll be done or else definitely you don’t have to give anything initially in advance and we are ready to do whatever that you feel like. Um, and if you’re satisfied, of course we can do the transaction.

If you’re not, I’m happy to bear all the risk. So I guess that’s sort of an attitude when you portray to the people, uh, they definitely would want to give you a try. And that happened because of, you know, some, some, uh. Word of mouth, um, contacts plus exhibitions and, and some people, um, definitely came in by cold calling.

So, so all these ways were kind of used for me to get some customers. But I guess the first five 10 customers that I got then I never had to look back. People were just coming in almost, you know, every now and then. So it was kind of comfortable. Yes.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So now it’s almost like people know that you create these kind of, um, apparel and, and you manufacture and they’re basically contacting you.

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Okay. That, I mean, that’s very.

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: It’s word of mouth now. Like a lot of people actually find out customers who are making amazing quality, then they end up talking to the owners of the product. From whom did you get it manufactured? Some people are definitely keeping it, keeping us, um, you know, our, our name undisclosed, uh, which makes sense to them as well.

Um. Uh, to us as well. However, um, some people are definitely absolutely comfortable in disclosing our name. You know, some people have taken our factory photos and all of those things kind of shown all the processes to portray like, this is how the product is being manufactured. So definitely everyone finds out that it’s us who are manufacturing for them.

So this kind of helps us to build our. Uh, you know, you know, brand as a manufacturer for a lot of, uh, customers, and it helps to get in more customers as well for us.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Now, you did mention that you are now selling in a lot of different other, uh, countries. What is your biggest market like, is India your market?

Like, are, are people buying your products in India or is it mostly like. Europe or, uh, US and other countries. It’s

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: a mix. Uh, we have a lot of Indian customers, definitely and a lot of, uh, you know, European customers, American customers, Australia, you know, uh,

for the Indian market as well.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Okay. I think I lost you there for a second. Um, yeah. Um, so I,

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: I’ll probably repeat what I said. So I’m saying like, we do have customers from around the world. Um, India definitely is one of the biggest market as well for us, but us, Europe, Australia, UAE, all these countries, we are definitely supplying and, and in good amount.

Okay.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Um, do you have a sales team, um, or is it mostly you, uh, that are dealing directly with the customers?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: I guess the initial point of contact is me, um, or my younger brother, uh, Samir. Um, and there’s one more person as well that we kind of trust to who can actually portray our company in the right, you know, way.

But definitely after when we’ve. You know, build the first bridge of contact. Then we do have, like, people from our factory merchandisers, mainly. We create a group according, like, you know, uh, as for the customer with them, everyone’s in there. So that’s where the conversations happen. And then usually I take a step back and my, the first, you know, uh, the primary team, team kind of takes a step back and then the merchandising team kind of takes in where they.

Provide what the customer needs in terms of sampling and then the production, and they keep them apprised of what’s exactly happening. So initial point of contact, definitely it is some, like majority of the time it’s me or like two other people.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Okay. Um. Do you, do you have any, uh, marketing department? I mean, you, you said that most of your customers are coming through referrals or word of mouth.

Do you, are you doing any kind of marketing or right now you’re kind of, you, you’re enough capacity that you don’t We have,

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: uh, touch, I mean, with God’s grace, we, marketing is something that we don’t spend money at all on, uh, because a lot of customers, to be honest, we have to say no as well. And, uh, I mean, if you, if you check sometimes my Instagram or my WhatsApp message, a lot of people are complaining that it’s hard to get in touch with me and they’re following me a couple of times initially just to make a contact so that.

Some people just want to work with us and I’m really glad that they do have this feeling and I try my level best to kind of reach out to everyone. But you know, sometimes it’s so difficult because the moment you get up in the morning, you have like so many unread messages and by the time you are done with some of them, you have to do the next job.

Hmm. So I do get delayed in getting back to everyone. Um, but I guess, you know, I enjoy the fact that we are doing. Uh, we are not trying to cater everyone, uh, and, and not trying to be greedy in terms of, you know, getting every customer in our pocket. Uh, we are trying to do quality work and, and, uh, with selected few, um, and, and they themselves are like, you know, kind of like more than enough.

So, so that kind of helps us and yeah, definitely for that reason, we don’t have a marketing department as such.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Okay. No, that, that makes a lot of sense. Like, you can’t, you’re creating a. A niche for your business, right? Yeah. You’re, you’re working with a specific kind of customer, um, in terms of getting your, um, the manufacturer clothing to the customers.

Can you talk a little bit about your logistics and, uh, supply chain shipping kind of strategies? How, like how long does it take? What is the kind of, um. Upfront time, uh, that is required for, like, somebody wants to have a batch of, uh, manufactured items created, how much upfront notice you need.

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: So usually what I recommend is, um, the, I mean, this is a big issue that we face, especially with, you know, the first timers.

Uh, I mean, that. Category as well. We do have a lot of inquiries, you know, almost every day, so. What I have to make people understand is, first of all, you have to plan for a season ahead of you. You can’t be in the season it the same season because first you don’t know exactly the technical aspects. So you, it’ll take your time for us to understand what exactly you need and for you to kind of explain us as well what you need.

And third thing is that majority of the people are not aware of tech packs, which are technical documentation of the whole government that we definitely need for us to make. An exact perfect comment in the first round of prototype sampling. So a lot of people, you know, find it difficult initially to kind of understand that as well.

And that’s why we have on our website and an example of, you know, a sample tech pack, which kind of really helps them to start the process. Mm-hmm. So I would say, let’s say a sampling process would take somewhere about, you know, somewhere between two weeks to about four weeks. Uh, depending on what sort of an information they’re giving to us.

If we have to go back and forth, back and forth in terms of, you know, getting all the information, small, small calculations that are wrong, then definitely take more time. Um. And let’s say if it’s everything’s provided, you know, in the first place itself, and it’s a simple garment or it’s a complicated one and everything is fine and a pipe sampling pipeline is kind of free, which usually is never the case.

I mean, we are a hundred percent occupied in terms of sampling pipeline. 365 days. Hmm. So that’s why we take about two weeks to four weeks for the sampling process. Um, once that is done, once everything is finalized, we kind of take about 45 to 60 days to manufacture a bulk shipment. And a bulk shipment could call, like, you know, could be somewhere between 500 pieces.

Per design. And it can be less, can be more as well, depending on what sort of photo price they’re giving us. Uh, so yeah, you can take the process to be somewhere between 45 days, first about 60 days to about, you know, 90 days. So that’s usually the timeframe that I’m talking about.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So the impression that I’m getting is that, um, Lua is kind of like this.

Hub for garment manufacturing. Do you recommend that anybody who’s trying to create a business around clothing that they should, you know. Check out, like they should come to Lua. Talk to

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: hundred percent. I mean, Luana, you know, I mean, you know, like the, the, the history of India, right? In terms of, you know, colonialization and everything.

I guess a lot of biggest, uh, economies and, and cultures around the world have tried to come to India for a reason, you know, and we’ve been ruled by so many, uh, you know, different nationalities. So in the last nationality, the recent one, of course the British, they kind of used to call, they gave the name or, or the industrialization gave the name itself to Lua, the Manchester of India, which is why, um, because we were kind of the biggest textile manufacturers, you know, in the country, probably in Asia and, and probably a huge amount of GDP used to be from Litan itself.

Hmm. So in terms of sex science, um. Definitely because of some reason political instability, whatever it is. Um, Lana is losing its spot because new other cities are coming up, but still the, the experience, the, the, uh. The number of years, um, in terms of, you know, industry, uh, the, the generations, the generations that have been in this business is in Lian.

It’s huge. Like just by looking at the product and feeling the product, majority of the people can tell what’s a GSM, what’s the fabric quality? All of that in terms of knit structure, quality, fabric, composition, everything. So this experience comes here and still, um, if you create. Five cities like Luana, it is still less for India itself to kind of cater to.

Hmm. So that’s the amount of, you know, um, I guess demand Luana has. Um, so if you have the good manufacturer, if you’re looking for a good manufacturer, quality product, all of that, definitely Luana is a number one spot, uh, you know, for coming in and, and getting your products manufactured.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Can you talk a little bit about your team?

How, how big is your team and uh, um, I guess the key members and so forth?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: So we do have, let’s say on the front end, we have, um, let’s say me and my two other team members, for example, who kind of take care of the customers initially. Um. Then we have a team of merchandisers who kind of take care of the entire product, um, prototype sampling, and then the, uh, bulk manufacturing of the product.

And then we’ve got, um, in that whole process, we do have sub-teams, like in terms of printing, cutting, you know, tailoring. And then, um, uh. Finishing and packing all of that. And finally, when once the products and everything are, you know, finalized, the entire production is ready. Then we do have a logistics team who takes care of the entire, you know, um, getting the products from point A to point B from our door to the next door.

So. We do have, um, you know, contracts with logistic companies around the world. Uh, mainly DHL, FedEx, arax, depending on the region we have to cater to. We, uh. Deliver. Majority of the customers actually expect us to give the product, you know, door delivered to them. Hmm. And we provide that facility as well, depending on what timeframe they want.

We either, you know, recommend by air or by sea. So, so that all is well, you know, is kind of taken care by. So what we say is that you just give us your design idea in terms of tech pack and rest. Everything else will be taken care by us. Hmm. In terms of. Sourcing anything that you need and, and sourcing of all kinds of accessories, packaging, whatever that you want.

Um, your entire final product will be delivered to you on your doorstep.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, I think, I think that’s, uh, really good. Do they, do you, um, do you do any kind of quality assurance process? Like, or does the customer demand any sort of QA process before the product is shipped out?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: You know, interestingly. Everyone who’s coming, um, to any manufacturer is looking for two or three things.

First one is, can I get something that I’m looking for? B is, can I get at a price that I’m expecting it to be at? The third thing is whatever that I get, would it be of quality? Hmm. So quality is the biggest, you know, I guess, um, you know, requirement in terms of everything, you know, getting a product. So definitely customers do expect us to provide them a very good quality.

However, we do not have to face an issue in terms of people asking us about quality because I believe they’re coming us to work for a reason. They know the quality that we deliver. That’s the reason why I usually do not face any questions regarding quality. All I probably have to face is how much time, what is the price?

That’s it. ’cause they’re expecting the quality will be really nice. And the point is, I would say you cannot keep everyone happy. I. Nobody can keep any, everyone happy out of a hundred percent. My experiences, at least I’ve been able to keep about 97, 90 8% people happy. You know, and, and, and you know, one, two people are just too.

Difficult to please. Hmm. Um, even though the product, if the other person actually sees will say like, you know, it’s absolutely perfect, but, you know, some people do have that, you know, um, issue in terms of, in the end. But I believe that’s a very good number for a company to have if majority of the clients are like all really happy with the product that you’re supplying.

Um, I, we do put out. Just for review, we do put out the names of the customers that we, sometimes we are manufacturing, who are absolutely fine in disclosing their names, and we put it up on our Instagram channel where you can actually go on their page and see how people are talking about equality, random people.

So I guess that that gives a good, you know, boost, uh, to our confidence in terms of product that we supply to the world.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Do you have any preference of like, working with like a large brand which has, you know, large retail presence versus, I mean, these days also there’s a lot of new e-commerce, um, you know, customers are creating their own brands, um, like a smaller brand.

Um, do you have any preference that you work with? Like, do you have any criteria, like a minimum order quantity or something that that is a requirement for anybody to work with you?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: See, there’s only one requirement. I mean, we do not say. That we only want to work with large brands. We are absolutely working.

You know, we, we, we are more than happy to kind of work with small brands as well. The only thing is, the only challenge, I guess, small brands face is the quantity. So it’s like a catch 22 thing. Like is the order coming first or should I get the product manufactured lying in my inventory for a while? You know, so what should I do?

So why recommendation is, of course you wanna go for a small quantity, we can definitely manufacture and kind of support you in that because I believe, uh. I personally am an entrepreneur, so I, I, I kind of, I, I feel happy in terms of helping other entrepreneurs. So I do not, definitely do not say no to them.

Uh, but there’s a catch because if I manufacture a very low quantity depending on their requirement, then my. Uh, feasibility will not be there. Hmm. Which means I’ll have to charge them higher. If I charge them higher, they will not be able to sell. So that’s the reason why we do have an MOQI usually recommend about minimum, minimum 300 pieces per clip, per design, um, in which you can have multiple sizes.

However, we are more than happy to do a hundred pieces as well. But what happens is 300 pieces will have a better price. A hundred pieces will have a, you know. A a little less cost effective, uh, you know, let’s say pricing. So, so my recommendation is always, you know, to go for at least 300 pieces per killer, per design for a good price.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Um, in terms of your future vision for your business, I mean, it seems like you’re, you’ve just started, like, where do you see your business going in the next five, 10 years? Are you looking to. Get into new markets, get different kind of customers, work with different kind of fabrics, or really just, you know, where you are, you just want to continue building organically.

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: See, um, it’s been almost, what, 13 odd years? 13 to 14 odd years, uh, with this common division itself. With this government division itself, we’ve almost supplied to maybe 50 plus countries or 60 plus countries. Um, and we’ve done products that are extremely complicated. Um, to even small products, um, that are less complicated.

Um, I guess the most expensive product we’ve done it was costed the customer about a hundred, like, sorry, thousand pounds, you know, approximately. So in today’s value, like one CRO piece for example. So, so that’s the kind of, you know, product that we’ve built. I guess what we are doing right now is, is a mix of, you know, both.

Quantum and quality. So we do have large customers where we are supplying quantum products every month, uh, where the quality is based on a very specific parameter and, and the main factor is pricing. We are able to match that pricing and maintain that quality and consistency. We are getting those orders on a regular basis.

However, for me personally, I love doing something that is challenging as well. So we are doing different kind of products that are probably higher in value, but the numbers are not really high. You know, in terms of value is high, but the amount of percentage, let’s say that in terms of revenue that you generate based on that is kind of similar.

Mm-hmm. So in terms of. Growing in, in that space, I guess we are doing, we, we are diversifying in both directions organically and, uh, I guess that’s what we want to keep on continuing, you know, in the next couple of years as well. Trying to improve our machinery, trying to improve our processes, going towards more leaner manufacturing, you know, uh, um, space.

And, and, and that’s how we improve our efficiency and reduce our cost to improve our, you know, revenue, uh, and, and profits. So I guess that’s what we are focusing for the next couple of years.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. In every entrepreneur’s journey, there’s always mistakes made, lessons learned, failures. Um, the, for the, you know, 10 plus years that you’ve been running your business, what has been kind of a, a big mistake or failure that you encountered?

What was the lesson for you and what can other entrepreneurs learn from your mistakes?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Um. Definitely. I guess the big one would be it is sometimes kind of important to say no as well. You know, I. To certain things in life. Um, I guess yes, this yes attitude of doing everything that is even not, you don’t know what to do and how to do it, but you still say yes.

Hmm. Uh, but in the end, maybe it takes too much of your time and energy and, and you could have actually used the time and energy on something else, which would’ve generated in a lesser time, more revenue. So I guess definitely making that choice. Is important. But I guess that gives, that, that comes with more experience and clarity in life, which definitely, I guess I do have right now, which probably I didn’t have 13, 13, 14 years, you know, back then.

Um, the second thing is, um, trying to diversify too much as well, kind of makes it difficult to you, for you to, uh, um, sustain, um. For a longer period of time. So you do have to have, um, an engine that keeps on pulling you in the right direction, even if it’s slow, but it keeps to, you know, it, it needs to like, you know, just keep pulling you up.

So, so definitely to have that direction clear as well. Like, this is where I want to be and this is where I want to go. I guess that’s also the most important thing. And, and, and, and I believe the third most important thing is. Have the right people with you. The biggest thing is have the right people with you.

Um, identifying the right people, I guess is the biggest, you know, thing that you can do for your own business because people who do not have a common goal, definitely you as an entrepreneur have to see that they’re also growing. But if you are making sure that they’re growing, that they need to understand that the company has to grow.

Hmm. So identifying that right talent is really, really important. So I did, uh, definitely make a few mistakes, but you know, you learn from that and, and, uh, with every new mistake, I guess it’s a, it’s a beautiful learning of not repeating it again. So I guess these are the three biggest things I would say I definitely learned in the past, you know, decade.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, those are, those are great, great lessons I want to quickly touch on before I move on to the rapid fire segment. I know a big part of your value proposition is sustainability, ethical, fair trade practices. Can you talk a little bit about, you know, what that, uh, means for your business?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: So we, um. First of all, I’m a, I’m a big believer of employing women.

Um, in, in, in, um, finishing process, for example. Um, a lot of women, um, are independent, um, working here, let’s say, um. They definitely can take some money back home, um, help their man, um, in the whole process, and which gives me personally a very good satisfaction that I’m able to, you know, uh, help them in a way where they can progress in life, um, um, make their, you know, help their kids teach.

You know, well, um, so I make sure that I provide them with absolutely right wages, actually even a little above what they would get in some other place. Hmm. So third thing is, second thing is that I’m very, like, they’re very flexible in terms of timing. If someone is not, um, comfortable coming in at one point of time, uh, then they can join us back.

Um, or else they can change their timing. Um. If, if they feel like taking, you know, an off or whatever it is, uh, we are definitely okay with that. Um. So, so flexibility is the second point that I would say. The third thing is whenever I guess someone needs any help in terms of monetary, you know, value depending on the kind of, um, relationship they have with us, we definitely help them in terms of advances.

So I guess in terms of, you know, being ethical, in terms of kind of helping them grow, um, otherwise I can do, I can list a lot of things out that are as per, you know, the norms and everything. But I guess the more the, the, the major ethical reasons are that being really, really fair in employing them and, and giving them whatever that they deserve.

You know, the, what they’re working for so that they feel, uh, respected and they feel, uh, that they’re hurt if they have any problem. So, yeah.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: That, that sounds great. Um, I’m going to now move on to our rapid fire segment. In this segment, I’m going to ask you a few quick questions and if you, you have to answer them maybe in a, a word or two or a sentence.

The first one is one book recommendation for entrepreneurs and why.

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Hmm. Think, um, rich Dad, poor Dad, I guess.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Okay. That’s, that’s

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: good. Yeah. Rich Dad, poor Dad. I guess it’s all about the mindset. It’s all about the mindset. It’s, it’s that attitude that takes one person from this position to that position.

Resources don’t matter. Um, what do you have, what you don’t have? What sort of a perspective you come from? What privileges do you have or you don’t have? I mean, there have been experiences. There have been, there have been so many. Um, you know, uh, uh, how should I say? Results and, and, and these, uh, people who’ve actually utilized and changed their mindset from to that and changed how their life, you know, changed completely their life.

Mm-hmm. So, so I believe it’s the attitude mm-hmm. That makes you, uh, from man A to man b.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: That’s, that’s so true. That’s so true. Mindset is the beginning of everything, for sure. Um, an innovative product or idea in the current e-commerce retail or tech landscape that you feel excited about? I.

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: I guess it’s the, you know, how you have Dell for example, just in time manufacturing, I guess clothing, uh, just in time manufacturing is something that is going to be there.

I mean, it is already there, partially, but just in time manufacturing. Imagine that you see something. Uh, an idea or you create an idea online through different AI tools. The moment you do it, you press enter and within two hours it gets delivered to you in a physical t-shirt or a physical jacket. You know, even though it’s complicated, but it gets delivered to you.

So I guess that is something that I’m really, really excited about because fashion is something that is never going to end. It is just going to keep on evolving. Hmm. And, um, the faster you evolve. And, and especially along with that, I believe smart technology when it comes to integrating nano fibers into the garment itself.

That is something that is super exciting because it is going to be a disruptor. It is going to be a complete disruptor if for so many things, medical devices, you know, health, everything, clothing, whatever it is, it is going to disrupt a lot of things. A lot of, uh, industries.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Very interesting. Um, a business or productivity tool or software that you would recommend or a productivity tip?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Um, definitely we do use a lot of these tools. Uh, one of them would be, let’s say Trello or Slack. Um, where we do definitely manage all our pipelines and, uh, it helps us to maintain and see and be on the same page in across the organization. So definitely that’s, that’s one of the tools that we use and it’s lovely.

Um, so in, in terms of tip, you were asking.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, that’s good. I mean, you, you shared the tool. Yeah. Um, it was, it, it was, that’s tool I would

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: recommend right now. Yes. Yeah.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, that’s great. Those, those are great tools for sure. Uh, another startup or business, it could be in e-commerce, retail or tech that you think is currently doing great things.

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Hmm.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Any other business that you feel excited about the

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: same industry.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: It doesn’t, doesn’t matter. It could be anything, e-commerce, retail, technology, anything that maybe you use that you are you really like.

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Okay. So interestingly, I believe, uh, these rings that you’re getting these days, you know, uh, the devices that you wear, um, okay,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: yeah.

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Tap into your health. Um, they are. Doing amazingly, amazingly well. Something that is really, you know, compact, but at the same time, uh, giving you an amazing detail about your whole health and everything. I guess right along with that vr actually in the process of working in terms of, uh, smart technology in and fabrics, and that’s why I’m really, really excited about it, because that’s where the integration happens in terms of fabric.

The product that you’re wearing, so imagine like your entire thing that you’re wearing is electronic device. It is giving you details about your body, about your location, whatever it is to you or to your loved ones. You know, seamlessly. So, so that is something that really, really excites me, and a lot of companies are actually working on that, but only on the technology, but not on the clothing part as of now.

But yes, definitely I can see, uh, a lot of, uh, people falling in that place.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I think, I think I have seen or heard, uh, and it has been a while, some, some clothing companies that, that are using that, especially in the fitness area, I think, to, to capture your, oh. Yeah, that

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: is basically with the help of a device that they’re integrating, but it’s not completely nano yet.

Okay. Uh. The nano, I mean, a lot of, uh, I guess it’s been a while that I heard someone, some company trying it out. Um, or else it was NASA doing it. I can’t really recall exactly, but, uh, definitely that space is going to open up a new, uh, you know, uh, niche and, and I guess it’ll become really, really big in, in the next couple of years.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Peer entrepreneur or business person whom you look up to or someone who inspires you?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: I guess I’ve always been inspired by two people, uh, in my life. Um, Tata, who is, uh, no more, and, and, uh, Steve Jobs. So, so these, uh, two people I guess have, have given me, uh. I guess a lot of motivation in life. Um, I guess because of their journey, entrepreneurial journey, like they both come from a very different lives, but amazingly well,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: for sure.

Final question, and I think you’ve talked some of this before, um, best business advice that you have ever received or you would give to other entrepreneurs?

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Uh, the best advice I would give is, uh, speed is more important than doing things perfectly. Um, I definitely slow down myself because I want to perfect things.

Sometimes, you know, they say like, too much of analysis leads to paralysis. So I guess that’s the only thing I would say. Do not waste time. Just get into it. As you walk, you’ll start to see the path getting clearer. So that’s my advice.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: That’s a, that’s a great advice and thank you so much for sharing that.

Well, Arpit those were all the questions that I had. Thank you so much for sharing your time, for sharing your story, some business lessons, and uh, if anybody wants to work with you, get in touch with you. Uh, what’s the best way to do that? I.

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: Well, uh, you can go on our website. It’s uh, www.ngapparels.in I mean, you can fill in the contact form or else you can just connect with me on my Instagram or LinkedIn.

Uh, both of the handles arpitaryangupta Um, that’s it. That’s a single word. Um, so that’s where you can just connect and we can take things forward.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Well, thank you again, uh, for your time, for sharing your story, and I wish you and your business all the very best. So thank you again. Thank you

Arpit Aryan Gupta of  NG Apparels: very much Sushant uh, for giving this opportunity and I wish you really best as well in future.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Thank you.