‘Cambridge is a customer-driven brand’

In the 1960’s, the brand’s founder, Mohanlal Bhatia, began selling shirts stitched by his wife along with cut-trouser pieces on a door to door basis, when the concept of ready-made garments was unheard of. Then, he decided to execute this on a large scale. He rented a hall above Regal theatre in Colaba to display his wares.

With the success he achieved came the idea of starting an exclusive showroom. What began with a single shop in South Mumbai, today has grown to a network of more than 200 stores.

Cambridge’s management has the twin advantage of experience and innovation, owing to the fact that both the second and the third generation of the Bhatia family represent the Board of Directors.As a part of their golden jubilee celebrations, they also plan to introduce women’s fashion very soon. Speaking to After Hrs on why they planned to venture into women’s wear, Prashant Bhatia, one of the director’s of the brand, says, “We are a customer-driven brand. Our inspirations are our clients to whom we cater to, they kept asking us to start women’ wear, but it is not that easy to get into women’s fashion as it is vast, versatile and ever-changing. After thorough research, we have decided to get into the basic casual wear and formal wear very soon.”

Talking to us about how they brought new changes in terms of designs and styles, “We have stores in Colaba, Andheri, which are our oldest stores. Here we make available the new collection and depending on the response we take a call. Basically we follow the ‘trial and error’ method.”

The brand’s clientele also consists of the Indian Navy. They say, “Our association with all our clients has been really wonderful, but we are privileged to be associated with the Indian Navy. It feels great.”