With a beaming smile on my face, I entered my friend’s hostel room, he was perplexed and instantly asked me what I was so happy about when we had 3 assignments due on that very day. My reply was simple, ABG had announced its ABG Woo me contest, he looked more confused now. The smile was because I knew that I can draw on the countless experiences that me and my family have had. It also fills with me great pride that I am merely a drop in the ocean of people whose lives ABG has impacted. But it is such drops that make ABG the vast ocean it is today.
Over to 2018 now, nostalgia was the feeling I had when I read that Ralph Lauren was entering into an agreement with Aditya Birla Group in 2018 because it was the same me 10 years earlier watching the classic TV show FRIENDS where Rachel worked at Ralph Lauren. I was one of those who skeptically remarked how such brands are too “American” and can never cater to an Indian market. How wrong could I be? This was just one instance where I was taken aback by ABG.
Going back 16 years,it was 2002 and my family was going through a transitional phase where my father had just gone into business with his brother and started a company called Industrial Sewing Systems. 2 years down the line my family relocated to Bangalore from Chennai and I asked my Dad why and his reply was simple “Madura Fashion has factories in Bangalore”. That was the end of conversation, I was a naive 8-year-old, who was really angry with this Madura fashions for making me move from my beloved Chennai to Bangalore, a land of unknowns for me. This was Bangalore before it became cool so I wasn’t really looking forward to it.
The following 2 years were struggling times for our family, where we moved one rental house to another. This was the most challenging period of my life, new city,new language, shy boy and no money. This was a recipe for disaster, my English wasn’t great either this meant a period of isolation for me and since family weren’t doing great either, there was no hiding for me. Despite it being close to 15 years since that period, I remember it like it was yesterday because that was a lot to handle and it was not until my science teacher who was a tamilian took a conscious effort to get me to gel with my classmates that things started to get better. To this day, I feel as though that was the darkest phase of my life and it had a lasting impact. My biggest fight has always been the one within.
Fast forward 2 years down the line and here I was telling my dad that I have heard enough about Madura Fashions and ABG. He would start off about how Madura is named so because ABG started their sewing/yarn business in Madurai with the UK company Coats, this would always make him so proud coming from Madurai that a global powerhouse names like ABG names its fashion brand after the beautiful city. Seeing my dad, a stoic, emotionless man jump up in joy every time he spoke of ABG, made me realise that this was something special. Madura was my dad’s biggest client in purchasing sewing machines for their factory and were also among the first client to order a planning software called fastreact through my dad’s company. I would always hear about how ABG were always willing to give young companies a chance and would never hestitate for a product/service because of how small or big a company is. This is still an invaluable life lesson that I carry with me and the famous quote comes to mind “Don’t judge a book by its cover”.
“your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room”
-Jeff Bezos
Bringing you to present, ABG is still my dad’s biggest client and the bond that my family has with ABG has grown many folds. Going by Jeff Bezos’ famous quote, the experiences that my family has had will make us remember ABG fondly for life and this goes beyond this article I am writing. The trust they placed in a young company leaves us indebted and in many ways really touched our lives in more ways than one. We learn in management about how the mission of a company is one of the most important factors and how a successful company will always stay true to its ethos. ABG has been true to its core be it in treating my dad who was a nobody or when I walk in to Peter England outlet, the end result is always the same, you’d come out of ABG with a smile and what more would anyone want.
"To deliver superior value to our customers, shareholders, employees and society at large." -Mission of Aditya Birla Group
