Under IDOS label, we cover the entire Worker needs across industries

We spoke to Apurba Chakraborty, CEO & Director, ID Overseas Pvt. Ltd to understand IDOS - Dickies focus areas in the near future, the workwear products they believe shall gain prominence post COVID-19, new modifications to IDOS / Dickies portfolio that can be expected in the changed safety and health scenario and his advice and valuable feedback for OSH India Virtual Expo.

Interviewed by Adeesh Sharma

Please tell us about IDOS - Dickies – mention the essence / learnings from Dickies focus areas in the near future.

With the Prime Minister’s push on “Vocal for Local” towards complete indigenisation during these difficult times, we at ID Overseas Pvt Ltd immediately worked on introducing our own labels – IDOS (which is an abbreviated name for our Co.) and ProtectU. Under IDOS label, we cover the entire Workwear needs across industries and under ProtectU, we make PPE kits for leading hospitals, Medical wear and FR Range of Workwear.

The learning, ethical practices, focus on safety and quality that we have adopted from Dickies USA – the Global leader in Workwear, is helping us immensely and we have kept the same Global standards while producing the new labels towards growing our domestic Brands.

In light of the recent challenging times, any savings of Royalty and Expatriation of Foreign exchange, has been a big factor for us and this is the essence and theme for us in creating “IDOS – Proud Indian Workwear”.

Which Workwear products you think shall gain prominence post COVID-19? What new modifications to IDOS / Dickies portfolio can be expected in the changed safety and health scenario?

As most Corporates - their Factories, Labs, Offices, etc. follow ‘only essential work from Office / Factory–floor’ and are encouraging more WFH scenarios, we have found that besides PPE like masks, Gloves, Goggles, etc. that many companies actually provide to their workforce (Safety shoes, Helmets & Hi-Viz Jackets, etc. from earlier times), we are having to provide either disposable light-weight Aprons / Coats and since some Clients look for cost effective precaution via reusable Aprons and Work-coats, we provide such ‘wash & wear’ options as well!

In the Pharma sector, we are excited to see a surge in the requirement of ESD suits and Lab coats used by teams working in labs and this is also seen gradual growth in micro-electronics sector factories, who are now making more cell-phone components and units as well due to the ‘Vocal for Local’ initiative of the Government.

On the hind side, what has taken a hit on numbers, is the typical Dickie’s Workwear – Shirts & Pants meant for Automotive, Auto-ancillaries and Oil & Gas Industries that is going slow! Moreover, regular yearly budgeted purchases for Work-force at various Industries, Schools / Colleges, Malls, etc. for their staff and work-force, we see a lower trajectory in purchases and postponements towards the next FY of 2021-22. To meet current emergency needs, we have worked untiringly, yet safely, since May this year to with safety based changes in our Production lines to handle PPE coveralls production and have successfully delivered more than a million units as a Group so far.

As always, your advice and valuable feedback for OSH India Virtual Expo.

While we were keen to participate in the OSH’20 this year in Bengaluru (our home-city) in July, it had to be cancelled due to the Pandemic and so, while ‘touching and feeling’ of product may be lacking in this upcoming Virtual OSH Event, the most critical safety prospects are completely adhered to, using an Online – virtual event like this. I sincerely hope we have active interaction and more to take-away from this wonderful initiation from Informa Markets whom we are happy to be associated with since the last 5 years.