Finnish firm Lindstrom has taught domestic corporates a new kind of outsourcing. And in this process, it has expanded its own business fabric in India, one of the 21 countries it operates in.
Today, every year, 200-250 new companies are outsourcing their entire work-wear services, including stitching, laundering and maintaining, to the 164-year-old Lindstrom.
Launching its unique operations in India in Chennai in 2007, it is now scaling up business here, making it a garment outsourcing hub for its global clients.
Its business model is simple– it designs, procures, maintains and rents out work-wear for corporate employees, even providing them their own lockers. It charges a weekly rental of between Rs 10 and Rs 50 an employee, depending on the type of office wear and volumes.
“When we started in India, local business houses were skeptical, as there were no such service in the market then. Today we are servicing 500 companies here, growing at 50 per cent every year. This year, we will be signing 200 new clients,” Juha Laurio, President and CEO, said.
More than 77 per cent of its customers are today Indian firms and the rest MNCs operating here, unlike in the first few years it started. Its clients range from small firms employing about 100 employees to corporates in the retail, manufacturing, pharma and food sectors, having pan-India operations with hundreds of employees.
“Twenty per cent of our customers give us 80 per cent of our business and vice-versa,” he said, indicating that large and mid-corporates dominate its customers’ list.
Globally, the €262-million company has over one lakh customers, with about 1.2 million office goers dressed in Lindstrom clothes everyday.
In India, it adds about one lakh new pieces to its inventory every year. And to maintain this inventory, it has just about 135 employees, thanks to its highly mechanised laundering services and logistics expertise.
It currently operates in six cities, including Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi, with plans to add two cities every year. “We will soon add to our portfolio new services like maintaining carpets for shopping malls, pan-India retailers, hotels, hospitals and corporates,” Laurio said.