Karmatex Apparels expands its 250-crore business with launch of men’s weekend wear brand Harbour 9

In a major business expansion move, one of India’s largest garment makers, Karmatex Apparels, has added a premium weekend wear brand for urban and semi-urban Indian men, called Harbour 9. Created to find the perfect balance between dressed up and dressed down, Harbour 9’s collection includes polo t-shirts, shirts, shorts and joggers for when one wants to be at ease, even while looking his best.

With this addition, the leading exporting house plans to increase its annual turnover from its current Rs 250 crores and target 400 by FY 23. It currently exports knitted and woven garments for men, women and kids under its various sub-brands, including Scram Kidswear for children’s clothing.

Karmatex’s management, consisting of Subodh Wadhwani, Arti Havaldar and Manoj Jain are business management graduates with several years of experience in the fabric and garment trade.

Operational since 1990, the firm’s focus on quality and affordability has led it to Indian and international markets like those in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Australia. In the past, they have supplied to Norway, Sweden, Finland and small orders to the UK and France as well.

Across sub-brands, its range includes t-shirts, shirts, blouses, flannel, nightwear, sets and ensembles in 100% cotton, spandex and blended fabrics with value additions like computer embroidery, prints, processes, tie dyes, and more.

At present, Karmatex works with about 50 factories which exclusively manufacture for them. With the expansion, the garment major aims to increase its manufacturing hubs to Mumbai, Tirupur, Jaipur, Surat and Ludhiana.

It has also started its own high-output factories in Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Tirupur (Tamil Nadu) with state-of-the-art machinery and technology. They make fine knits and wovens to fit within product ranges for men, women, boys, girls, babies and infants.

“Karmatex’s own factories have 2,000+ stitching machines in operation, which can produce up to 1,000,000 pieces of t-shirts in a month and 6,50,000 wovens. Compliant with all labour laws and quality-controlled, these factories are instrumental in realising expansion and production plans for Karmatex. We now plan to tap cities like Surat, Jaipur, Tirupur and Ludhiana for more garment factories”, says Manoj Jain, Director, Karmatex.