A Smart Stitch
Kranthi Kiran Vistakula’s climate control jackets and other gear have propelled him to the No. 1 spot
By
Smita Sengupta
The cold winds of the US East Coast that he faced while studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) forced Hyderabad-born Kranthi Kiran Vistakula to invent his first climagear — a jacket that would keep him warm in the biting cold and cool in the sweltering heat. Today, the 29-year-old is trying to turn that project into a business. His two-year-old start-up, Dhama Apparel Innovations, makes functional apparel, mainly jackets, helmets and scarves, using a proprietary technology called ClimaCon (short for climate control).
The company’s tiny office at the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad is bustling. “It functions like a workshop. Sometimes we work till 2 am,” says Prasenjit Kundu, an apparel design student at NID, who joined Dhama after attending one of Vistakula’s workshops.
Vistakula’s jackets, called Climagears, are sleeveless vests that have 20 plastic tiles called peltiers (named after French physicist Jean Charles Peltier) sewn on the inside. Each peltier, which converts electrical energy into heat, is linked to a bigger, plastic tile that is sewn on the garment. It draws power from lithium polymer batteries fitted on to a belt and can maintain the inside temperature at 20-40 degree celsius. A separate panel allows the user to control the temperature. The apparel is lightweight (the jacket weighs about 650 gm) and a single charge of batteries lasts eight hours at a stretch.
R&D accounts for most of Dhama’s cost of operations. “The product is still undergoing a refinement process,” says Vistakula. Venture capital firms invested in the company, however, are positive. “It is surprising that with a population of 1.2 billion, there is not a single Indian player in sports apparel. The product has a market,” says Harshal Shah, CEO of Reliance Venture Asset Management, part of the Reliance ADAG group. The Mumbai-based firm made an undisclosed investment in Dhama last June along with investor group Mumbai Angels.
| RANK NO 1 DHAMA APPAREL INNOVATIONS | ||||||
| BUSINESS: SPECIALISED APPAREL FOUNDER: Kranthi Kiran Vistakula YEAR OF INCEPTION: 2008 HQ: Hyderabad CAPITAL RAISED: About Rs 5 crore INVESTORS: Self, family, friends, awards, competitions, Department for Scientific and Industrial Research, Reliance Venture Asset Management and Mumbai Angels EMPLOYEES: 5 KEY CUSTOMERS: Military personnel, outdoor workers, sports enthusiasts KEY COMPETITORS: Aspen Systems, Med Eng, Foster Miller |
So far, Dhama has invested about Rs 5 crore in the business. Vistakula’s jacket won him the MIT 1K Business Plan Competition in 2005. Armed with $1,000 in prize money and a prototype, he came back in 2007. He got Rs 12 lakh from Department for Scientific and Industrial Research, part of the Ministry of Science and Technology. After refining his prototype for six months, NID offered him incubation support.
Marketing is going to be Dhama’s big challenge. It is negotiating a tie-up with a multinational sports apparel company and already has one with Tata Advanced Materials to sell under the Tata-Dhama brandname to the Indian military. “The jackets that the military uses currently are heavier than what Dhama has to offer,” says Dakshina Murthy, general manager, operations at Tata Advanced Materials. The military is using five jacket variants from Dhama on a trial basis. Next fiscal, Vistakula hopes to sell 1,000-odd jackets to the military and 5,000 helmets, scarves and shoes to retail consumers.
Mass production is another issue for Dhama. At present, it manufactures its products at NID. Vistakula is negotiating a deal with Idea Corporation, an Ahmedabad-based product design consulting firm, ahead of setting up manufacturing facilities in Hyderabad. He hopes to raise about $2 million from venture capitalists, half of which will be used to scale up manufacturing.
Dhama’s revenues are projected at $1 million in 2010-11 and $100 million in five years. “It’s a new product and a lot of educating has to be done. This is hitting our marketing plans,” he says. Dhama is creating animation and video material to reach out to potential users of such jackets.
Vistakula has got the first part of his business model in place — a product high on innovation. He has to put the other pieces together.
[Courtesy: Businessworld]
