b. on brand Client Showcase | How an Upstart Fashion Brand is Challenging India’s Norms of Garment Manufacturing

When Shivam Punjya finished his Master’s Degree in Global Health at Duke University, it was the final chapter in what seemed like an eternity in higher education.   Over the course of seven years, Shivam immersed himself in the politics and endemic challenges of global poverty and public health, questioning the ethics and seemingly insurmountable bureaucracies and social systems which make so-called third world nations the ones who bear the burden of first world interests.

It was in 2011, during a stint as a research assistant with the India Institute of Public Health in Hyderabad, that he began to notice the remarkable craftsmanship of Indian textiles, from the traditional khadi, to the sheerest of silks. He also began to talk to the women, and learn of their hardships under the factory system. For decades, women have been consensual slaves to the garment industry, earning what they can to supplement family incomes.

On April 24, 2013, the world saw the shocking dangers of these factories when over 1,000 workers were killed in the collapse of Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza garment factory.

Last year’s Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh killed 1,00 workers and injured 2,500. U.S. brands involved in the tragedy agreed to a major overhaul of business practices in the garment trade, resulting in the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety.

For Shivam it was a call to action, the chance to put his education – and compassion – to work for a great good: fashion with a very big cause. His bold idea: to create India’s first model of social entrepreneurship in modern garmenting. He named his company behno, or “the sisterhood.”

Shivam, who is the company’s founder and CEO, engaged b. on brand to further develop the business concept, manifesto, and customer offer. Each facet of the business had to be rigorously analyzed and challenges, from production to design, and from logistics to marketing strategy.   “Social entrepreneurship is a relatively new school of thought,” says Shivam. “While financial motives are inherently a part of any business, what differentiates a social enterprise is that you also have social goals that essentially form the backbone of your business.”

 Shivam Punjya, founder and CEO of behno, a new social entrepreneurship project in India that will include a U.S. based fashion brand.

behno’s business goals are ambitious: to partner with an existing factory and an India non-profit and operate a profitable and high quality garment factory that provides the women who work there fair labor and fair wages, including a modern and safe working environment with clean drinking water, natural light, and access to free or subsidized health care. A tall order considering how many factories are inconsistent in their quality of life standards.

b. on brand began by engaging Shivam in a series of exploratory exercises designed to distill the essence of the project’s goals, and ensure that the business is both sustainable and marketable.

We encouraged Shivam to be bold in vision, but strategic in approach.   “b. on brand encouraged us to look at a broader scope and really identify even more precisely the complex issues that are inherent to such an ambitious project,” says Shivam. “Bertrand knew it was possible with a social entrepreneurship model, but he also knew we needed to sharply define the brand before doing anything else.”

b. on brand developed the business concept and helped to define the brand’s unique corporate social responsibility model into one that could be replicated as a “behno standard” for garment manufacturing facilities.

b. on brand established a set of benchmarks to balance the social entrepreneurship side with a clearly defined set of standards for manufacturing, design, and begin developing the blueprint for how this would happen in contemporary factory model.   Together with behno, we crafted the “behno standard,” the company manifesto that would become a key tool for measuring the effectiveness of the business model – one that Shivam hopes to see mirrored in other factories throughout India, and the world.

behno’s core team isn’t like any other fashion brand out there, and that’s quite intentional.   “Cross-industry, interdisciplinary collaboration is a huge part of so many upcoming businesses,” says Shivam, who grew up in the Bay Area, couldn’t help but be influenced by Silicon Valley’s startup culture. “On our team, for example, we have consultants, fashion designers, global health academics, and physicians working together. Together, our complex backgrounds help simplify the enterprise.”

At top, Shivam shops for samples at a fabric market. Below, women are trained in garmenting and production. behno has partnered with a local non-profit to develop a new model for garment factories, opening later this fall.  

And while Shivam has no prior experience with fashion, he is determined to make behno globally recognized, not just for fair labor but for a wearable and contemporary brand of women’s wear, featuring Indian craftsmanship.   “Brands and labels just haven’t given India a chance to show that, while we can make sublimely intricate gowns and embroidered saris, we also know how to construct an impeccably tailored blazer.”

For the most part, this is true. Gucci, Givenchy, and others have turned to India for some specialty pieces involving embroidery or silk work, but India is still perceived as a third-world country where labor is cheap and not terribly skilled. By September, the new factory will nearly be finished and the freshly trained workers will begin production of the brand’s first collection. The factory will be perhaps the first garment facility in the world with an organic garden.

“It took 1,100 garment workers dying in a factory collapse for the fashion world to wake up and change their production standards. Consumers are becoming conscious and demanding more information,” says Shivam. “We believe that behno can be the model for change, through a transparent business model that proves fine quality clothing can be manufactured in fair and safe conditions.”

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