Nalli Silks : Timeless grace with Modern twist

Think of India and silk sarees invariably come to our mind. Many women still prefer to wear the traditional silk saree on the occasion of weddings and other important functions. With about 30 shops in India and 10 branches ?abroad, Nalli Silks needs no introduction to those yearning public in search of novelties in silk sarees. ?An iconic heritage brand founded in Chennai,? in 1928 - Nalli, has a long history of embracing the forefront of technology to deliver better experiences to their dedicated customers, among them celebrities and political figures alike, including the late Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, Renowned Singer (Late)? M S Subbulakshmi to name a few.?

Amidst the sea of stunning silk varieties, they continue innovating in designs, colours, fabric of silks to suit the requirement of GeNxt, current and previous generations.? Nalli established themselves as industry innovators early on, experimenting with new methods of fabric dyeing to create unique designs. With their Centenary year fast approaching, in a few years, the brand maintains a hard-earned reputation for an impressive selection of sarees both in-store and online.?

We had an exclusive interview with Dr. Nalli Kuppuswami Chettiar, a doyen of India's silk sari indusry, at his headquartered office at T.Nagar on the eve of Madras Day celebrations. Dr. Nalli Kuppuswami Chettiar is the walking Goodwill of the 96 year old company because of his sterling qualities. With quality goods and ?customer care, he has made Nalli synonymous with silk. Dr. Nalli Kuppuswami Chettiar, an alumni of Sri Ramakrishna Mission Higher Secondary School, Chennai, is a philanthropist donating liberally for Arts, Culture and Education.?

The President of India has conferred on him the National Honour ?Padma Shri. ?He has authored more than 60 books mainly on business management and ethics. ?He was overwhelmed with joy in sharing the reminiscences on their business journey from Kanchi2Chennai :?

?PRO ACTIVENESS AND TIMELY ADOPTION ?TO NEW EXPERIMENTS: ?NEED OF THE HOUR?

Qn: Like a banyan tree, the brand NALLI has spread across the globe with the fifth generation coming on Nalli board. Under the stiff competitive environment, how you were able to manage, maintain and make people talk and walk Nalli image ??

Ans: The moment people think of silk saris, the name Nalli flashes across their minds, for, we maintain quality and quality only. Besides our own production, we place orders for special varieties too sensing the taste of customers. Our elders helped me to cultivate right attitude to business. It sustains?us?till date. Most of these ?cannot be gathered from text books. Experience is a great teacher who cannot be substituted. ?

There were times when my grandfather used to manufacture two sarees in six days in our house in Chinna Kanchipuram and carry them himself by travelling in train to reach the residences sf customers in Alwarpet, Mylapore areas of Chennai. During those times, the traditional meroon coloured? nine yards silk sarees ruled the roost at Wedding Muhurthams. My father used to take orders from the vicinity of Alwarpet and there started the quality of trust. Our traditionally woven ?meroon coloured? silk sarees? measuring nine yards continue to be a much-sought-after variety in marriages.? With change of times, six yards silk sarees sell in large numbers.? The reason is the variety we have introduced in designs and colours. Dotted and check type sarees were in vogue three generations ago. Rentroduced in mixed shades they are grabbed as novelties. ?

ENHANCED BUSINESS AT THE ENDURING EDIFICE : ?

Qn: I learnt that T Nagar ?and its neighbourhood ?had escaped the onslaught of Second World War. What ?really happend at wartime and how you were able to inherit clientele base from there ??

Ans: With the possible shelling of many localities of Chennai due to announcement of Second 8World War, ?many ?people started vacating the neighbourhood of T Nagar.? Many shops were closed. The city wore a deserted look. Even the Madras High Court got shifted to the Holy Angels School in the Pondy Bazaar,T.Nagar. ?Seeing the apprehension my father had, his friend was kind enough to embolden him by giving Swamy Raghavendra’s portrait and assured “Nothing untoward will happen. Carry on your business without fear”. ?As predicted, no harm did take place. That portrait is still blessing all at our shop. ?

?In the war torn days, ours was perhaps one of the very few textile outlets that kept open. Ironically, even for buying a handkerchief people had to come to our Nalli. Meanwhile Madras escaped war hit-list cities. ?The business during the panic days earned us goodwill and profit. In fact ?our showroom started drawing more footfalls of customers from most parts of the city from then on. W?e inherited from my father the value of committed customer base.;?

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CORONATION BORDER : AN INNOVATION FACTOR ?

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Qn: You have introduced innovation at various segments of silk route. Kindly enumerate some of such innovations that you have delved into.? ?

Ans: Silk sari is the dress of choice in marriages and other social occasions globally. To add charm to such choice, innovations in colours, designs, fabric, etc is the key factor in increasing the popularity of the sarees thereby ?attracting NexGen. Such innovations are ways to add freshness and novelty to the traditional saree.Our gradual growth in silk industry is the result of many seeds of innovations that have been planted? over the last nine decades. Our committed customer service oriented entrepreneurship and innovations that are taking place are interwoven with well-knit teamwork providing almost everyone? at TeamNalli with opportunities to connect and collaboratively implement their ideas. ?

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Coronation border, National border, Paaluum Pazhamum, Thaen Nilavu are some of the iconic varieties of Brand Nalli. As regards Coronation border saree, I desire to explain an interesting story. Our country’s capital was shifted to Delhi from Kolkatta during 1911. The coronation ?of King ?George V was organised for the first ?time outside England in Delhi. To mark this historic event, a statue was erected in Chennai. The King was invited to Chennai and he stayed in the Government Estate. A reception committee had been formed to invite the King and honor him. ?They had decided to allot the task of producing Kanchi Pattu to be presented to the King ?to ?our grandfather Shri Nalli Chinnasamy which was truly a gifted opportunity for us. He created a unique design and named it Coronation border.? As the English word was new to the Tamil clientele, we called it as Durbarpet Border.? This variety is still in demand.?

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National Border was introduced as a new design post-Independence. Later, during 1961 Diwali Season, we named a check pattern silk sari after the hit Tamil film Paalum Pazhamum. Subsequently the name of the famous Tamil movie Thaen Nilavu (honey Mooon) was given to a dotted variety. ?In course of time, customers started identifying all check pattern saris as “Paalum Pazhamum”, even if other produced them later.?

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During the proceedings of the interview, Dr. Nalli ?Kuppusami Chettiar recalled the visit of Shri Mahatma Gandhiji’s visit to Chennai during 1946, his stay at Hindi Prachar Sabha, his inauguration of Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya, his morning walk programe from Hindi Prachar Sabha at Thanikachalam Road?to Bazullah Road ?via Venkatnarayana Road, Nageswaran Rao Road where our Nalli showroom(opp. ?to Panagal Park) is situated, et al. His fond remembrance truly carries the ?message ?that the entire path over which Gandhiji carried on his saintlike walk is witnessing ?phenomenal business growth. ?