Cutting-edge technology!

The phrase ‘stitch in time' has less to do with rips in the fabric and is more about a timely effort to prevent more problems at a later stage. For the Hong Kong-based Master Tailor Joe Hemrajani, though, we might need to make it ‘stitch on time' as he survives in one of the world's oldest professions by harnessing the power of the Internet to give his customers in the US and UK custom-made suits and shirts.
The Hong Kong tailors tradition began in custom shirt shops in the clothing capital of the world. It has been preserved through a handful of dedicated artisans including Hemrajani Brothers, one of Hong Kong's leading custom tailoring families.
While the order is taken online, material is sourced from countries such as India and China. Every custom suit, shirt, jacket, and pair of slacks that it sells is cut and sewn at MyTailor's factory in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and delivered to customers globally. While customers are primarily in the US and the UK, the online site can deliver anywhere in the world if the client is willing to pay for the shipping and handling charges.
Hemrajani started the family tailoring business in Hong Kong over three decades ago. He sold his custom-fitted shirts, suits, slacks and coats to visitors to Hong Kong. Thirty years and thousands of customers later, the Hemrajani tradition of quality tailor-made suits and shirts continues across the US and the UK.
Seamless e-commerce
MyTailor takes the order online and delivers ‘bespoke' — a pattern created specifically for each client – at his doorstep, says Hemrajani. Prior to the online version, Mytailor's sales people used to visit various cities and book orders for custom shirts, pants and suits. Customers now place orders directly through the Web site, which is a strategic tool to acquire new customers. Meanwhile, the existing customer does not need to wait to meet the salesperson from MyTailor, he says.
The business of customised tailoring has been around for a long time. The traditional channel of meeting customers and getting the order continues. E-commerce has now become an important channel, an additional revenue stream that most of the competition (tailors) does not have even today.
A customer can browse the selection of styles, fabrics and colours in the Mytailor.com Web site, make choices, and complete the order by following the directions on the Order Today page.
One can also add custom-tailored details just as one would in the fitting rooms of the finest clothiers, he says.
Client speak
A client of MyTailor based in Lakewood, Ohio, says, “Your systems and processes are superb. I am totally finished with my old tailor – you have 20 times his selection, are priced 1/3 less than him and you are 100 per cent e-enabled. I've been saying for 10 years, why does not some smart Hong Kong tailor get the whole custom shirt process online?”
Customer satisfaction
Typically it takes about two to three weeks to deliver a shirt. The time factor has been reduced by 10-15 per cent, which is marginal. But, the critical value is that the entire execution — from order placement to final delivery — is completely transparent to the customer. This is important because the customer pays up-front for the order and he is eager to know the status of his order at any given point in time, says Hemrajani. The IT systems have not contributed to the cost reduction directly but customer satisfaction has gone up. This translates into loyal customers and a lot of new customers come on board because of reference, he adds.
Your wardrobe
MyTailor has created a special ‘Your Wardrobe' page where one can sign up and get ready to shop. This page helps one to plan a wardrobe, keep track of past purchases and create a comprehensive record of the measurements and custom details to simplify future orders.
GSR's role
Helping MyTailor in the online business is the US-based Global Software Resources Inc (GSR), which uses its offshore development centre in Chennai to do all the Web dealings, says Venkat Krishnan, Director, GSR Business Services, a subsidiary of GSR.
GSR replaced the existing inventory and customer-management system with one based on the Microsoft Windows and MS-CRM platform. The system provides unified access to the information needs of sales, marketing and order fulfilment departments. This was not the case before. Daily orders were e-mailed to the team in Hong Kong so they could start working on fulfilling the orders. The information flow was disconnected between US and Hong Kong, he says.
The ready availability of customer demographic information enabled the marketing department to develop targeted campaigns geared to specific types of customers. GSR is now responsible for hosting and making enhancements to the current IT infrastructure based on futuristic technologies from Microsoft, such as Surface, MOSS 2010 for MyTailor, says Krishnan.
The entire order process goes like this — customer logs to MyTailor site; selects fabrics; specifies his size and styles for each shirt/pant or suit and confirms the order. The customer order is immediately visible to the fulfilment centre in Hong Kong. The team in Hong Kong can procure the fabric materials and initiate the manufacturing process. After completion, the finished goods are shipped to the customer.
The advantages of this operation are that cash is collected upfront from the customer, and there is no need to stock inventory — it is Just in time procurement. This is a “Build to Order” business model for a global market, he says.
The ready availability of customer demographic information enabled the marketing department to develop targeted campaigns geared to specific types of customers. For example, a visitor to MyTailor Web site can create a “WishList” of items he would want to buy. Based on this, MyTailor can run a marketing campaign, to say that confirmation of “WishList” items within the next one week or 10 days would mean a 10 per cent discount or free shipping.
Similarly, customers living in New York/Boston Area would typically be interested in woollen blended suits for winter use and linen blended suits for summer. MyTailor can run specials, discounts, fabric promotions to this segment of customers for either woollen or linen blended suits, he says.