Hela Clothing recognised as ‘Best In Class’ at Levi’s Tops Vendor Summit

Tuesday, 5 November 2013 01:08 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

On 18 October Levi’s held its first ‘Levi’s Tops Vendor Summit’ in San Francisco, which was attended by Levi Strauss & Company suppliers from around the world. The summit recognised the vendors for their performance-delivery, price, product innovation and service rendered to the supply-chain process and awards were presented to the recognised vendors. Hela Clothing Ltd. was awarded the ‘Best In Class’ – Vendor of the Year award. Hela Clothing Ltd. Group Managing Director Rehan Lakhany shared his thoughts on the award in a brief interview with the Daily FT. “This was the first vendor summit for Levi’s Tops suppliers and most of the vendors have been with Levi’s for a longer period than us. The summit was attended by suppliers from over 80 countries and we were recognised for our performance,” he said. According to Lakhany the designed are done in UK and the designers collaborate with the product development team and the plants here, to get the end product.

Speaking of the obstacles had faced a tough time when the GSP+ was taken off and they had to compete in the European market. To overcome this challenge a factory was established in Bangladesh once it received the duty-free status. “When we lost the tax reductions the gaps widened and we focused on the US market during this time. Since then our factories have reached and $55 million turnover and we are targeting to achieve a turnover of $100 million within the next three years,” Lakhany stated. Hela Clothing is also looking to expand their supply chain to China as they have duty-free status. But it is hard to achieve as China has very high testing standards when it comes to apparel industry.