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WB Rur: Victoria’s Secret: perfect fit for poor Tamil women (Financial Chronicle (India)
By C Shivkumar May 10 2012 , Gudavancheri, Tamil Nadu
Victoria’s Secret is changing the lives of women other than those who wear the world’s most famous lingerie brand.
In a more definitive way, it is changing the quality of life of some 2,000 women in Tamil Nadu. None of them wears the brand but many have returned from the brink of destitution to relative comfort, thanks entirely to Victoria’s Secret.
More than anything else, it has given them self-respect and economic independence in a completely male-dominated corner of Tamil Nadu.
They mostly come from segments that are among the most impoverished, debt ridden and illiterate in the country. They make lines of the famous innerwear at a $12 million factory, 70 km from Chennai, holding life-changing jobs.
Gomathi, 32, a section supervisor, earns Rs 16,500 a month — “enough to be able to give a good education to my two children†— at Intimate Fashions, a three-way joint venture of Mast of the US which owns Victoria’s Secret, German innerwear maker Triumph and Sri Lanka’s textile company MAS Holdings.
Another employee ,Revathi, 18, who has just finished her secondary education, has got her elder sister married and sends her young brother to school.
She comes to the factory everyday from 65 km away. A long commute, but she does not mind. “We all have something to look forward to. No one of my family goes hungry.†The lifeline to these women does not come from charity. Intimate Fashions general manager, Prasad Narayan Rege, emphasises that theirs is a ‘for- profit company that would remain that way.â€
Lingerie making is labour-intensive and requires a skill that only women have. “Only women know the curves and angles for the stitches and seams.â€
Even with their innate knowledge of the woman’s body, they have to be trained. Each seamstress gets intense in-house training for 28 days. “We look for fresh talent not just experienced hands. That is our stakeholders’ philosophy,†says Rege. There are reasons for hiring fresh talent. In stitching seams, the stitches must be accurate to ensure low rejection rates. Only young and nimble hands are capable of such accuracy, he explains. With such fussiness in manufacturing, prices are high. The starting price of Victoria’s Secret innerwear is $30 a piece (Rs 1,620) and goes all the way up to $70. In hiring young talent, wages are not beaten down. Entry-level employees earn Rs 8,000 a month, including a daily incentive of Rs 150. Besides, there is a 20 per cent annual bonus.
Farm wages for women in the area is barely Rs 75 a day. Those women who choose to work as domestic help in cities earn about Rs 2,000 a month.
In such a low-wage area Intimate Fashions shines like high-wage beacon and helps raise the career aspirations of its employees. Tulsi, 27, who has repaid all the debt that her father had taken, aspires to become a manager after completing her education. Along with her job, she is doing a programme in management studies. Production has been going up steadily. This year’s turnover is expected to rise to $45 million from $40 million last year. Orders are pouring in, says Rege. MAS is building another brand called Amante for markets in South Asia and Africa. Triumph that makes Nike and Bodyline innerwear/sportswear is also expected to place orders. “If demand goes up, we will need more hands,†says Rege. The company has 2,500 staff and operates two shifts. They do not plan to add another shift.
Instead, it has opened dormitories to cut attrition, for there is always a danger of others poaching skilled human resources.
The Tamil Nadu government is doing its bit to help women, having started Poodhu Vazhu (new life), a gender empowerment programme. It is supported by the World Bank which has lent it $274 million. The programme builds skill among the rural poor.
The architect of the programme who has helped companies looking at India for setting up production bases is P Amudha, director of the state’s empowerment and poverty reduction project. “Our objectives are very clear. We need to skilled people for meeting the demand for human resources and at the same time provide a livelihood for the rural poor. Skilling women is a natural extension since it helps wipe out poverty, destitution and completely eradicate illiteracy,†Amudha says.
(The reporter’s visit to Chennai was hosted by World Bank)
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Document Title: Victoria’s Secret: perfect fit for poor Tamil women
Document Source: Financial Chronicle (India)
