A majority of companies prefer its employees in blue or white workwear, says Juha Laurio, President and CEO of Lindstrom, a 163 year-old Finnish company that conducts unusual business in India.

It designs, procures, maintains and rents out workwear for corporate employees, even providing them their own lockers. At zero investment to the client company, the niche outsourcing service includes laundry, storage and replacement of work clothes used on the shop floor, in a lab, even in offices, hospitals and hotels.

Lindström Services India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Lindstrom Oy, started its operations from Chennai in 2007. With 200 companies renting workwear for their employees, it now has service centres in Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad.

Though Laurio is unable to disclose his existing client list, he is willing to spell out the sectors being serviced here – automotive, retail, pharmaceuticals, hospitals and restaurants. And surprisingly 60 per cent of them are domestic companies, keen on a strong corporate image and ready to outsource non-core chores. “That was our biggest surprise. We expected MNC clients, but found Indian companies so open and keen to adopt new ideas.”

Protective clothing

“We do it all – design the workwear, procure it, have it manufactured, meet industry regulations and measurements. We maintain the clothes and own them as well. Client companies just have to pay the rent,” says the CEO.

What gives the company an edge is its ability to provide protective clothing as well as personal protective equipment for specialised sectors, such as protective overalls for automotive employees, garments for the electronics industry, contamination-free clothing for pharma labs and hospitals.

Though the Finnish family-owned business has operations in 20 countries and a turnover of €260 million , it initially faced hiccups in the Indian market. Mr Laurio recalls the initial resentment among employees in companies that handed out a uniform allowance. “However, when some departments opted for the change, the others realised that it was a much easier option. They did not have to carry the workwear home for washing and ironing, replacement was easy and they had lockers to store them in too.”

Sourcing hub

Being a global operator, Lindstrom also finds India ideal as one of the sourcing and supply chain hubs for the company. From here orders are executed for several countries across the globe.

With Lindstrom clocking a 50 per cent growth in the domestic market every year and India and China expectedly bringing in the fastest growth, the company is in the process of expanding operations to the eastern region.

It is planning to use its service centres for satellite operations to other towns as well.

“For instance, we are servicing Bangalore from Chennai,” says the CEO who hopes to target more sectors as well, including construction and infrastructure with its one-of-a-kind renting concept.

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