Raymond Ltd., India’s leading textile brand and world leader in worsted fabric and garments, has announced the launch of the country’s first training centre to impart tailoring skills to under-privileged youth and tailors.
Launched in Patna by the Bihar Chief Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, the Centre is geared to train 250 candidates in suit, shirt and trouser making in the first academic year.
Through this initiative, Raymond aims to create a network of skilled stylist tailors across India for sharing of knowledge and ideas, while providing customers with quality tailored garments.
The Raymond Tailoring Centre would train over 10,000 students in various aspects of tailoring, including suit, shirt and trouser making over the next five years. The minimum qualification for admission to the centre is 8th standard pass. At the time of enrolment, the student has to pay Rs. 2,000 each as fees for shirt and trouser making course and Rs. 5,000 for suit making. These fees are refundable once the course is successfully completed by the student.
The initial course fee is to ensure that the centre attracts serious candidates, in keeping with the high standards of its training modules.
A market leader in the fabric and apparel sector, Raymond is taking pioneering steps in developing the ecosystem of the sector. It believes in the ideology of ‘Growing Together’. It has been the company’s endeavour to rejuvenate the fading art of tailoring, and in this direction has initiated several steps.
Raymond launched its first such centre in Patna with the support of the Bihar Government and plans to extend this initiative to other States with 20 more such tailoring centres over the next five years.
Mr. Gautam Singhania, Chairman and MD, Raymond Ltd., said: “The tailoring community is one of the key spokes of the textile and apparel industry. It is common knowledge that great fabrics can be made into great garments only by great tailors. However, it is important for tailors to be abreast of styling trends and be able to implement them in the garments to suit evolving customer tastes, given constant upgradation in fashion. Considering the technological advancements in the sector, our module includes training candidates on the latest modern technology machinery and use of the world’s best tailoring practices at no financial expense to the students. The Raymond Tailoring Centre has been established to help its candidates acquire these special tailoring skills and bring in a sense of empowerment. Special focus shall be given to encourage women to pursue our programmes, through special reservation for them”.
The company will assist the trained students in placements in the 680 The Raymond Shops and other multi-brand outlets. It will also provide them career opportunities in around 100 Raymond workshops to be set up during this period.
The trained tailors will be encouraged to set up tailor shops with Raymond support in their endeavour to become trained stylist tailors.