The company’s history goes back to 1930, when Narayana Mupannar, the great grandfather of the current Managing Partner, G Vivekanand, wove high-quality, soft handloom saris on a shuttle-pit loom suspended by ropes, supported by wooden pillars and beams. For customers in the southern region of Tamil Nadu, in Karaikudi and the neighbouring districts, NMTN & Sons soon became a name to reckon with when it came to production. Over the years, Parvathy Textiles has become a brand of sorts in Aruppukottai. Vivekanand says he grew up listening to legends about how the family business grew by leaps and bounds. ‘Those anecdotes were quite inspiring yet very thoughtful bedtime stories,’ he says. However, he never intended to enter the family business, which was run by his father, NN Ganesan, and three of his father’s elder brothers. When he finally did, his attempts to introduce Yasko to well-known retailers in Tamil Nadu were initially thwarted and discouraged. He and the company’s marketing team had to deal with tough retailers who would refuse to allot space for their merchandise in their showrooms, saying that the brand was not popular. Many dealers would outright refuse to attend the dealer’s meets where they would introduce new products and designs ahead of festive seasons. But even while convincing dealers and retailers to team up with Yasko, he started concentrating on strong marketing, advertising and building a concrete customer base.

Today, their customer target is mostly middle-class and upper middle-class men, who would want to flaunt a formal or a chic, cool, casual look without shelling out big bucks. ‘Our price bracket is between `400 and `999, and we have a vast range of designs and colors, both in standard and plus sizes, in shirts and trousers. All our products are either polyester cotton blend or pure cotton. We work around 70 per cent of pure cotton products and the rest are either polyester or linen blends,’ says Vicky. Today, the three dealer’s meets organized by Yasko each year are among the most sought-after events in retail. Dealers are shown the latest designs, carefully crafted and hand-picked by Vicky, his father NN Ganesan and their team. Yasko now has 700-plus retailers across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, and Vicky is already on the job of expanding the company’s footprint to the other southern states. ‘Not only shirts but our launch of trousers was an instant hit,’ says Vicky. Once the designs and patterns are approved, the shirts and trousers go on to the machines. The raw material is sourced from the same vendors supplying the multinational brands, to ensure top-notch quality. ‘Quality is the key and there are no two ways about it. As a policy, we accept inventory of exceptional standards like Coats 3 ply threads, pearl and poly buttons and Wendler and Freudenberg for interlining canvas,’ says Vicky who is a stickler for finesse and comfort. The 14 to 16 stitches per inch are testimony to those deftly designed and executed final products