CEO Insights Magazine

The global textile industry was valued at USD 577.83 billion in 2022 and owing to the increasing demand for quality textile products, more companies are mushrooming in this vertical constantly. In Asia, Lucky Textile Mills is quickly becoming one of the most preferred names in the market as a result of their constant endeavour to not only offer the best products but also to provide world-class customer service to their clients. Leveraging his vast industry experience, Sardar Ahmed Khan, Director of Marketing & Operations at Lucky Textile Mills has been able to take the company to greater heights both nationally and internationally. This business leader believes in the power of hard work in  achieving success and building the right team around you to achieve your goals efficiently. He is also a constant advocate of guiding your team in the right direction while still giving them enough flexibility to find their own ways to achieve a business objective.

In an exclusive interview with CEO Insights Asia, Sardar Ahmed Khan talks more about his professional journey and the unique operations of Lucky Textile Mills.

Throw some light on your professional background and experience. Tell us about your journey so far with Lucky Textile Mills and what drives you today as an industry leader.

I am a business administration graduate from the US. After completing that, I came back to Pakistan and started working at SONY. During the next three to four years, I realized that in Pakistan, the textile industry had more potential as the country is world famous for its textiles. I have been working in this industry for nearly two decades now and I have worked with textile leader BEXIMCO in Bangladesh for a while as well. I started working with Lucky Textile Mills more than three years ago. The company started out as a home textiles company and now, we have built a separate product vertical for garments. I still believe that this is just the beginning for us and we are on the right path to doing great things in the industry.

You possess over nineteen years of experience, how has your path to success and what is your success mantra?

I believe that if I constantly learn more about fashion, I can produce garments that will do well in the market. To be successful in any industry, people should have a clear idea of the business they are in and for me, aside from just seeing us as a garment manufacturer, I see us as a supplier of fashion in the market. I also try to learn from the customers as sometimes they can offer unique and valuable pointers that can help you improve your operations. To scale our operations and come up with unique products, we constantly try to innovate. For that, we have design studios where designers will not only interact with our customers but they will also get in touch with other institutions as well. And all these different facets make this such an interesting industry to be working in.

How would you define Lucky Textile Mills as an organization and its position in the market? What is the unique proposition that your organization offers to clients?

Lucky Textile Mills as a group is second in terms of exports in Pakistan and we are doing more than 800 million dollars worth of business a year. The major chunk of this number is from the home textiles vertical. We are very well positioned in this market and we are known around the world for our products. We also offer a lot of products that are industryspecific. For example, we have products for the hospitality, and healthcare industries to name a few. Even though we cater to different industry verticals, we are committed to never compromising on the quality of our products. To ensure that, we have separate manufacturing plants to create products for each individual industry.

Could you tell us about the sustainable practices that Lucky Textile Mills has adopted in its operations and what is the vision for the company towards a sustainable future?

Sustainability is a top priority for us and we consistently work on finding new ways to operate in a more environment-friendly manner. We are following the UN's goals to ensure sustainability in our operations. We prioritize conserving electricity and water. We have a wind energy project and through this, we are supplying to the national grid as well. Also, when it comes to fabrics, we prioritize recycling the left over materials.

Going forward, what are the changes in market behaviour that you anticipate, and what are the opportunities that you foresee?

There was a period when all factories used to look for orders with long runs of the same product. In my opinion, those days are gone and the market is rapidly changing. Going forward, factories should be flexible to do short orders and those who are able to do this will succeed. Factories that can meet these challenges and adapt to the rapid changes will have a competitive edge over the rest. Also, responding quickly to market needs is the key to success going forward.

Sardar Ahmed Khan, Director of Operations (Apparel Division), Lucky Textile Mills

This industry stalwart is a passionate learner who aspires to learn and re-invent himself constantly. This attitude of his has helped him not only achieve sustained success in his professional journey but also to instil this passion for learning in those around him.