Amit Ladsaria, director of Turtle Ltd, is fiercely protective of the turtle. It’s not just the brand for his line of clothes that he guards so vigilantly. The Calcutta-based Ladsaria has joined hands with WWF India and the Wildlife Society of Orissa to fund projects on turtle conservation.

The soft-spoken and unassuming Ladsaria has reason to be grateful to Turtle. The brand has taken him where he is today. Says he: “We wanted our corporate social responsibility to focus on turtle conservation because that goes with our brandname.”

Not that Ladsaria was anything of a turtle in his younger days. “I studied in Don Bosco Park Circus (DBPC) from Class II to Class XII and then enrolled for a BCom (honours) at St Xaviers College, Calcutta,” he says. He was always a very keen student and invariably figured amongst the toppers in DBPC. In ISC too, he topped the school.
Studies took a backseat, however, when he started the company in 1992. So his masters remained an unfinished dream as business took up all his time. Ladsaria, however, has no regrets; that time was used well.

So what motivated him to venture into uncharted territory? His family wasn’t into retail; they were in manufacturing. Recalls Ladsaria: “I was quite close to my maternal uncle who has a 100-year-old store called Howrah Stores in Howrah. He anticipated that the readymade garment industry was on the verge of a big boom. And he needed someone from the family to help him start the venture. I jumped at the chance. In Marwari families, college-going children are supposed to work and that’s how it all started.”
And he’s never had to look back. Turtle has grown from strength to strength and now boasts a very loyal clientele.

There are solid reasons behind the success and reputation that Turtle enjoys. As a company, Turtle has always been very quality conscious and has also tried hard to deliver nothing but the best to its customers. “We never compromised on product, packaging, fabric,” says Ladsaria. “Slowly the demand for our products started growing. So, we put up our own factory at Howrah. That way, we could produce 200 shirts per day.”

The going was not always smooth and they had to vanquish quite a few demons on the way.

“Turtle was started with a capital of Rs 40,000 and I still remember that it was extremely difficult to set up the business as we had no manufacturing experience and no proper knowledge of the market,” says Ladsaria.

They were also refused entry by the retailers. There were price constraints and they had nothing up their sleeves apart from grit, hard work and determination. They did not even have the money to set up a factory and hence got their shirts stitched on a job-work basis from a factory in Bakultala. “We used to go there everyday, supervise the quality and then go to sell and deliver the garments in the market. We did not have the resources to engage manpower. We had to combine all these roles,” says Ladsaria.
Things were in fact so difficult that they were forced to operate out of his uncle’s Howrah Stores initially. It was only after two years that they could afford their own office in a flat in a nearby residential building. Also, extremely high property rentals and lack of mall management experience were challenges.

All this has made Ladsaria a tougher person. What kept him going through those difficult days was his firm belief in himself.

Says he: “We work on the very simple principle of delivering the best value for money to the consumer. We want all our customers, suppliers, associates and employees to be proud and happy about dealing with us. We also want to be the most respected apparel brand.” This has definitely paid off well. Today, Turtle’s recall value is very high.

So what does Ladsaria do when not spinning yarns of dreams? “I work out regularly in the gym, do yoga in the mornings and also spend time with friends and family. I am also quite fond of music and reading.”

He is equally fond of turtles, of course.