Fashion Pool was established in 1995 to offer the following specialized services to textile and fashion & home accessory importers/retailers in Europe: 1. Sourcing based on specific requirements of the importer. This involves, identifying suppliers/manufacturers, their strengths and weaknesses and ensuring that the product and quality requirements of the importer/retailer would be met. 2. Inspiration and design development – development of designs based on mood boards/suggestions from the buyer, and based on current trends in specific geographic markets. 3. Price negotiation. 4. Placement of sampling programs with suppliers and making certain that the samples delivered are sellable and meet requirements. 5. Production follow up – monitoring the entire production process, and ensuring a smooth, system-driven delivery of the finished goods in time. 6. Quality auditing at every stage of the production process, to deliver consistent quality levels. 7. Prompt and accurate communication, so both manufacturers and customers have all relevant information in real time. Our manufacturing base: We are based in Chennai, in the south of India. We work with manufacturers all over India, to provide both diversity in our product lines, and so that we work with factories specialising in each sub-group of products to ensure sharpest prices. The factories we work with have high production capacities to ensure that orders with large volumes are easily handled, yet they are nimble enough that small production runs are also possible. Our suppliers are BSCI approved, and factories are variously ISO 9000 and 14000 certified and Oeko-Tex compliant. Their products are sold by – in Europe – Otto, Ikea and Jysk and a whole host of other retailers at various price and value points. They also participate in international home and décor fairs – Heimtextil, Ambiente, Maison&Objet, Spoga Gafa and the Shanghai Furniture fair, to name a few – to keep up with current trends in their specialised fields of manufacture. Our process: We visit Europe three to four times a year, to discuss current production and sampling and future trends with our clients; we also visit the factories on a regular basis, to personally monitor the progress of sampling and production. We are in touch on the mail, over the phone or on Skype every day with our suppliers. We are proficient in all the local languages to ensure that communication with the factories is clear and nothing is lost in translation. Our updates to our buyers/customers are on a regular basis – daily/weekly - as mandated by the client. Our USPs are: a. Quick turnaround of samples, and short production lead times. b. Pre-checking of all approval samples, so solutions to potential problems are found and implemented. c. Recognising the possibility of delays, before they happen, and communicating these to both the supplier and the client. d. Price negotiation based on targets. e. In-line and final inspections of the products are done personally to ensure that quality is maintained.
