Our app is a holy grail for anybody working in the textile business
Vastra App was launched with a vision to make lives of apparel manufacturers, traders, artisans, and production, sales, dispatch managers far easier by becoming their trusted digital assistant. With a WhatsApp-like simplicity, Vastra App gives intelligent insights to apparel manufacturers to grow their business, and works as an assistant reminding important things. Speaking to Fibre2Fashion, Vastra App Founder & CEO Vikash Rajpurohit explains the benefits of the app.
How did you come up with the idea of Vastra App?
I had always been intrigued by the textile industry. Ever since I completed my graduation, I knew within me that I wanted to be a part of this industry or at least help it. I started feeding my passion little by little, by engaging with people working in textile factories, talking about their experiences, focusing more on how they managed their businesses, their process and procedures, current working conditions and much more.
Eventually, to understand my field of passion from a better perspective, I started visiting several markets, holding meetings with various textile manufacturers and business owners. In a few weeks’ time, I ended up interviewing roughly about 150 textile business owners as well as their staff members across Ahmedabad, Surat, and Jaipur.
Upon listening to their problems in all aspects of their work, I concluded that most of them had almost similar issues with their field conditions which then further motivated me to create this application to manage their tasks better, faster and a ton easier. (I have been working in the IT industry for about 10+ years now. I had also worked as a developer, product manager in B2B and B2C start-ups. My motivation to keep pushing on to be better in this industry is purely fuelled by my passion for technology and tech savvy knowledge.)
From then onwards, we have very positively been flourishing. We prepared the POC (proof of concept), got it reviewed from customers, and eventually started building the MVP (minimum viable product) and later got selected in IIMA- Innocity Pitch, proudly amongst the top three best start-ups in all of Gujarat.
Later in 2018, we won in Vibrant Gujarat Start-up Summit and were handed the award as well as an astounding ₹12 lakh grant by Nitin Patel, the then deputy chief minister of Gujarat.
Throughout this journey, Digicorp, a start-up studio based out of Ahmedabad, helped and guided me.
What are the various features that your app offers?
A textile business stands on five pillars of strength—Design, Production, Order, Dispatch, and Accounting. We offer all features which help textile business to manage design, team accountability and inventory of raw material or finished goods. Overall, our main focus is on design, team and inventory.
In textile business, maximum time of owners and their staff members is consumed in design workflow, i.e., the sampling of the design, fabric procurement, getting the orders, production, follow up with artisans, managing all raw materials, dispatching, and design inventories.
To minimise the extra workload that is taking ample time of these owners of textile businesses, we have built our application which helps them devote more time to order and quality.
We assist all our users and clients to fully manage all their design-based workflows with accounting integrations, so textile owners can gain extra golden time to invest more in the growth of their businesses.
Anyone in a growing business knows the consequences if the payment cycle unfortunately breaks and fails. Since data plays a significant role, it is crucial to consider its management so one can take better decisions based on it.
Who is the app designed for?
Our app is a holy grail for anybody working in the textile business. It could be a wholesaler, a trader, a manufacturer who produces and engages in menswear products, ladies and kids’ apparel, or a fabric retailer. Our sole purpose to create this application is for businesses to ‘work smarter, not harder’. Everyone in the industry knows that time is money, and to save as much time for businesses we possibly can, we have taken a step to reduce the extra unwanted labour hours, so a company can focus on its growth and profitability. We believe, that in order for businesses to succeed, they should be allowed to be digitally controlled as well.
What sort of training and technical support is required to use the app?
Anyone with basic technical skills and knowledge can easily access the Vastra application. Any individual with knowledge of operating social media like WhatsApp, Facebook, etc whether on android or iOS can handle this application. All one needs to do is go to their phone’s application store, download the app, and watch their business skyrocket with tech smart tactics. You do not need to be tech savvy to utilise the features of the application.
Which are your major markets in Gujarat?
We are highly known and most noticed in Ahmedabad and Surat. We are aspiring further to be known and noticed in many major textile hubs.
How many people use your app at the moment?
We successfully have 2,500+ paid businesses who are currently engaging and using our application for their businesses. Apart from that, we have 1 lakh+ registered users and 15k+ of staff members who are currently utilising this application.
We continuously take feedback from our customers, and accordingly keep improving our application, which helps them in their business growth.
What are the benefits of using an app over the conventional systems?
As mentioned before, time is the major aspect in the industry, and nobody can afford to waste it. Using an online application that helps you minimise extra labour, makes field work easier and more expeditious is a great way to push the business forward without losing money or time.
We also take pride in stating that everyone who has operated our application until now has given very positive reviews. They have mentioned the hefty amount of time they are saving on trivial labour, which they are now investing in making smarter investment decisions. They have also seen a huge growth of their businesses and companies; dead stock has been reduced and their businesses are running on auto pilot without any hassle of strict constant supervision.
Several clients have given their positive feedback in person to me. For example, a textile owner in Surat explained: “Previously, we had to stay put in the premises as there were lot of materials and goods. But now, because of your app, I am connected with my business all the time irrespective of where I am.”
Another client of mine said to me, “Earlier, I was always shouting. Sitting in the centre, I was replying to queries from accounts, packing, etc and was coordinating everything. Now with the app, I prepare delivery challan (DC) and looking at the photo of the DC, the concerned people pack, and the accountant makes bill, and I focus on my customers, design and growth.”
Such words of appreciation keep us motivated and inspire us to work for the betterment of the industry.
What new features and services do you plan to add going forward?
We aspire to be the best and the most opted-for operating system for all textile businesses. Our application’s entire purpose is to let businesses flourish efficiently and effectively without any barriers or disruptions in the production process. We are and will continue to remain the one-stop solution for the textile business management. In short, our application renders a simple solution for any of your textile business barrier concerns.
Published on: 25/11/2022
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
