Avinash Suresh: Offering Tailor-Made Luxury Designs
Avinash Suresh
Managing Partner
What inspired you to venture into the leather industry and what drives you today?
Bab Leather was established in 1945 by my great grandfather. Every generation of our family has brought something different into the venture. Initially when my great grandfather started the business, we were into trading leather products. Later on, my grandfather was into the production of leather shoes. And when my father started the business, he was into leather export. I was also driven to join the family venture but wanted to contribute
something unique to it. So, I decided to pursue a design course from Italy. After returning to India, I started Bab Living, a unit of Bab Leather in 2008. Bab Living is a custom made furniture retail business. Creating new products is what keeps me going every day.
Talk about Bab Living as the retail furniture unit of Bab Leather. Also tell us about its uniqueness that keeps it ahead of others in the industry.
We proudly believe in Make in India. BAB Living is the lifestyle furniture unit of BAB Leather. It was started in the year 2008 with a showroom in Nungambakkam. BAB living focuses on customizable and hand crafted furniture to suit individual tastes.
Right from world renowned Italian leather to our very own inhouse certified leather, we offer a flawless range of leather varieties. Our furniture comes in various types such as leather sofa, bar stool, restaurant chair, office chair, center table and leather carpet. We are specialized in exclusive customization of leather and fabric furniture in terms of colorsize andvarious other specifications. Moreover, we manufacture our own leather which avails us with more than 300 colors of leathers which is something very unique about us.
How has been your response to the challenges posted by the pandemic both in your export and retail business? How would you describe
Customizable and hand crafted to suit individual needs, we offer a flawless range of leather furniture from across the world
Talk about Bab Living as the retail furniture unit of Bab Leather. Also tell us about its uniqueness that keeps it ahead of others in the industry.
We proudly believe in Make in India. BAB Living is the lifestyle furniture unit of BAB Leather. It was started in the year 2008 with a showroom in Nungambakkam. BAB living focuses on customizable and hand crafted furniture to suit individual tastes.
Right from world renowned Italian leather to our very own inhouse certified leather, we offer a flawless range of leather varieties. Our furniture comes in various types such as leather sofa, bar stool, restaurant chair, office chair, center table and leather carpet. We are specialized in exclusive customization of leather and fabric furniture in terms of colorsize andvarious other specifications. Moreover, we manufacture our own leather which avails us with more than 300 colors of leathers which is something very unique about us.
How has been your response to the challenges posted by the pandemic both in your export and retail business? How would you describe
your role in tackling those challenges?
Exports of leathers and its products have been severelyaffected due to the pandemic. But since the US market was comfortable working from home, we did not face much challenge, whereas China was completely closed. In the retail business, since all our furniture are custom made, we had to go through very little challenges. To make it easy for our customers we developed an application where customers could select their desired design and finalize their buying through our online portal. We were able to save a lot of time and get a good number of orders
What are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate and what are the opportunities that you foresee? Also, what are your future goals for Bab Leather?
India is a huge market and has a lot of scope into this domain. The last two years have been a great opportunity for all the brands to develop digitally and also prove their potential in the market. It is evident and it is going to get better in the next five years for sure. We as a company want to focus ourselves more into retail business rather than export. Our major focus will be on Indian markets. We plan to open three other stores in the next three years. We are re-establishing our showroom in Chennai. The luxurious one stop furniture store would cover more than 10000 square feet of area.
Avinash Suresh,Managing Partner, Bab Leather
An Entrepreneur with an Italian Design Experience aims to carry the legacy of the Brand BAB. Avinash is passionate about creating tailor made designs with meticulous attention to detail. He is making a benchmark in the leather industry.
•Hobbies: Playing Cricket
•Favorite Cuisine: Chinese and Japanese
•Favorite Book: Biographies of Successful Entrepreneurs
•Favorite Travel Destination: Norway
Exports of leathers and its products have been severelyaffected due to the pandemic. But since the US market was comfortable working from home, we did not face much challenge, whereas China was completely closed. In the retail business, since all our furniture are custom made, we had to go through very little challenges. To make it easy for our customers we developed an application where customers could select their desired design and finalize their buying through our online portal. We were able to save a lot of time and get a good number of orders
What are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate and what are the opportunities that you foresee? Also, what are your future goals for Bab Leather?
India is a huge market and has a lot of scope into this domain. The last two years have been a great opportunity for all the brands to develop digitally and also prove their potential in the market. It is evident and it is going to get better in the next five years for sure. We as a company want to focus ourselves more into retail business rather than export. Our major focus will be on Indian markets. We plan to open three other stores in the next three years. We are re-establishing our showroom in Chennai. The luxurious one stop furniture store would cover more than 10000 square feet of area.
Avinash Suresh,Managing Partner, Bab Leather
An Entrepreneur with an Italian Design Experience aims to carry the legacy of the Brand BAB. Avinash is passionate about creating tailor made designs with meticulous attention to detail. He is making a benchmark in the leather industry.
•Hobbies: Playing Cricket
•Favorite Cuisine: Chinese and Japanese
•Favorite Book: Biographies of Successful Entrepreneurs
•Favorite Travel Destination: Norway