furnishings handloom apparel jewellery successor william bissell managing director 1999 founded 1960 founder john bissell headquarters new delhi india revenue 65 million 2008 1 website www.fabindia.com fabindia or fabindia overseas pvt. ltd. is an indian chain store retailing garments furnishings fabrics and ethnic products handmade by craftspeople across rural india . established in 1960 by john bissell an american working for the ford foundation new delhi fabindia started out exporting home furnishings before stepping into domestic retail in 1976 when it opened its first retail store in greater kailash new delhi . today it has over 170 stores across india and abroad and is managed by his son william bissell . in 2008 fabindia had a revenue of 65 million a 30 % increase from the previous year . fabindia sources its product from across india through 17 community owned companies ; a certain percentage of the shares of which are held by artisans and craftpersons . 1 the products of fabindia are mainly sourced from villages helping to provide and sustain rural employment in india . they are currently produced by over 40 000 artisans and craftspeople across india . the hand crafted products also encourage good craftsmanship . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 1960 foundation and early decades 1.2 2000 onwards 2 controversy 3 philanthropy 4 awards and recognition 5 launch of fables 6 notes 7 bibliography 8 external links history edit 1960 foundation and early decades edit fabindia was first started as a one man export company of home furnishings by john bissell in 1960 in the two small rooms adjoining his bedroom in his golf links flat as fabindia inc. as it was incorporated in canton connecticut . he used his recently deceased grandmother s 20 000 legacy as start up capital . 2 originally from hartford where his grandfather was the president of the hartford fire & life insurance company 3 bissell was previously working as a buyer for macy s new york left his position and came to india in 1958 as a consultant for the ford foundation to advise the government of india run central cottage industries corporation . he was given a two year grant to instruct indian villagers in making goods for export . he firmly believed in the emerging indian textile industry and was determined to showcase indian handloom textiles with a way to provide employment to traditional artisans . in 1964 bissel met british designer terence conran whose newly established home furnishing retail company habitat soon became one of their biggest customers . meanwhile it also established a distribution network in the united states supplying their products to mom and pop stores . through early years bissell travelled across craft based villages and town meeting weavers and entrepreneurs swatches who would produce flat weaves pale colors and precise weights in handloom yardage in the end he homed in on one supplier a. s. khera a dhurrie and home furnishing manufacturer in panipat thus by 1965 it had a turnover of rs . 20 lakhs though for the first time it moved into a proper office . 2 4 fabindia outlet khan market new delhi . the year 1976 saw major equity restructuring within the company as adhering to reserve bank of india s rules instructing foreign companies to limit their foreign equity to 40 percent fabindia offered its shares to close family members associates and suppliers like madhukar khera an early supplier to the company . this was also the height of the indian emergency period 1975 1976 and the rule which barred commercial establishments to run from residential properties was implemented the company were forced out of its second premises a house on the mathura road . this prompted it to open the first fabindia retail store in greater kailash n block market in new delhi in 1976 which remains its register office . 2 3 5 now catering to the urban india as well in the coming decade fabindia differentiated itself from other government owned and often subsidized players in handloom fabrics and apparel sector like kvic and various state emporiums by adapting its fabrics and designs to urban taste . for this designers were accessed to modernize its line of home linens and most importantly introduced a range of ready to wear garments including churidar kurta suits for women men s shirts etc. even today its team of designers provide most of the designs and colors executed by village based artisans . at the other end these artisans learnt the basics of quality consistency and finish for instance avoiding frayed edges on handwoven shawls . the result was that traditional apparel and products became mainstream and fashionable fast adapted by a growing middle class and became identified as the brand for the elite and intellectual as well as affordable ethnic chic . 2 6 7 fabindia lost its biggest customer uk based habitat in 1992 when the latter was bought by ikano group founder of ikea which then decided to appoint its own buying agent in india ; the following year john bissell suffered a stroke and his son william gradually stepped into the helm of affairs taking over completely after the death of father in 1998 at age 66 . 3 till then william an undergrad from wesleyan university who had majored in philosophy political science and government 8 had spent several years in jodhpur since completing his education in 1988 . william working with rural artisans and crafts co operatives across rajasthan was instrumental in the setting up of various weavers cooperatives . one of the first tasks taken up by william was shifting fabindia s focus to the domestic market en route to becoming a retail chain for till then it only had two stores in delhi . in time fabindia s retail business overtook its exports . 6 9 interior fabindia store delhi . 2000 onwards edit over the next two decades fabindia emerged as a successful retail business in india with 111 retail outlets within the country and 6 abroad . 9 10 fabindia added its non textile range in 2000 organic foods in 2004 followed by personal care products in 2006 finally it launched its range of handcrafted jewellery in 2008 . 11 fabindia sells a variety of products ranging from textiles garments stationery furniture home accessories ceramics organic foods and bodycare products besides exporting home furnishings . 2 12 fabindia s retail expansion plans started taking shape 2004 onwards it opened multiple and larger stores in metros like mumbai chennai and delhi while at the same time spreading out beyond metros . it opened stores in cities like vadodara dehradun coimbatore and bhubaneswar durgapur soon as revenues also grew from rs 89 crore in 2004 05 to rs 129 crore in 2005 06 reaching rs 200 crore in 2007 in the year when it sourced its products from 22 000 artisans in 21 states . 6 usually the village based artisan gets barely 5 % of the tag price of their products as the rest is taken away by the middlemen . to counter this fabindia introduced an artisan shareholder system through supply region companies incorporated as subsidiaries . here the craftspeople collectively own 26 % of the equity in each company based in nationwide centres with artisans micro finance a fabindia arm holding 49 % and employees and other private investors holding the balance . 1 also as part its expansion plans 6 % in fabindia was sold in 2007 at an estimated 11 million to wolfensohn capital partners a private equity firm founded by former world bank president james wolfensohn . 9 in 2009 it acquired a 25 % stake in uk based 30 million ethnic womenswear retailer east . 13 today the company has retail outlets in all major cities of india 137 at last count in addition to international stores in dubai uae ; 3 stores in bahrain ; doha state of qatar ; rome italy and one in guangzhou china . 13 14 in 2005 fabindia became a founder member of all india artisans and craft workers welfare association aiaca along with pritam singh anokhi ritu kumar madhukar khera and laila tyabji dastkar . 15 on the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 2010 the company made all its 842 employees shareholders . 16 by 2012 the company had around 1 000 employees and 16 community owned companies or supplier region companies srcs which were formed in 2007 and employ 86 000 artisans . 16 in 2013 fabindia purchased a 40 % stake in the lucknow based organic food and supplements company india organic co founded by hindu convert and daughter of billionaire edgar bronfman sr. holly bronfman lev in 1997 . 17 controversy edit on april 3 2015 union minister of human resource development smriti irani allegedly spotted a camera positioned to record near a changing room at an outlet of fabindia in candolim goa . she immediately raised an alarm alerting her husband and then called a local legislator micheal lobo who lodged an fir or first information report . a local court later came down heavily on the calangute police saying that they exercised their power of arrest arbitrarily against four staff members of fabindia s candolim outlet who were held late on april 3 . judge dvijple patkar observed it appears that the police have lightly interfered tampered with the personal liberty of the applicants for reasons best known to them . it appears that the applicants were automatically and unnecessarily arrested by the police . in my opinion the circumstances of the case do not warrant any arrest . the police officer exercising the power of arrest as well as the investigating officer has not stated any valid justification for the arrest . 18 on april 8 2015 company s managing director william bissel its former chief executive officer subrata dutta regional manager ruchira puri marketing chief ramu chandra stores in charge kundan gupta e commerce head arun naikar and category head ashima agarwal have sought anticipatory bail to avoid arrest in district court in mapusa town . 19 philanthropy edit william and john bissell established the fabindia school in 1992 in bali in pali district of rajasthan today it is co educational senior secondary school with 600 students including 40 % girls . the school subsidized tuition fees of the girl students and offers them scholarships in partnership with the john bissell scholars fund established in 2000 . 20 awards and recognition edit fabindia was awarded best retail brand in 2004 by the economic times . in 2004 fabindia was featured as part of a cnbc special tv report on india . fabindia brand does not advertise and largely works through word of mouth publicity 21 then in 2007 the craft conscious enterprise concept of fabindia became a harvard business school case study . 22 2010 marked 50 years of the foundation of fabindia and release of the book the fabric of our lives the story of fabindia by radhika singh . 23 launch of fables edit in summer of 2014 with an idea to cater the modern indian youth and also the international buyers who are fond of indian textiles and clothing fabindia launched a western wear brand fables . the brand was first launched at fabindia s connaught place store in delhi but later on it was made available all over the country . currently fabindia sells through its own stores across the country through multi brand stores and also through the online marketplaces such as myntra jabong etc. 24 fabindia signage and logo at its store at delhi airport . notes edit a b c manjeet kripalani march 12 2009 . fabindia weaves in artisan shareholders . bloomberg business week . retrieved february 5 2014 . a b c d e f the fabindia story . span magazine . july august 2010 . a b c sethi sunil july august 2010 . a connecticut yankee