Lyudmila Osipova, Director-General of “TDL Business” Management Company, informs that this document is the first one in the history of the company and there were some reasons for its creation:

- Until quite recently the problem of survival of the textile industry has been very acute. But nowadays we are excited about our future.

This confidence made the strategic planning possible. The special Marketing Management was organized and the leading experts of the company started to develop the strategy taking into consideration the fundamental principles of current market trends.

- We have our own production and manufacture our own fabrics, - says Lyudmila Osipova. – And we sell not only fabrics but ready maid goods of particular brands (“Vasilisa”, “AURA”, “Lenushka”) as well. Besides, we enlarge our range of goods with marketable imported fabrics made of long and fine fibers which are not finished by Russian textile manufacturers. The interesting point is that we often import printed fabrics which pictures were designed by our specialists especially for Russian customers.

While developing the three-year strategy of TDL Association the intension of textile cluster creation in Ivanovo Region was taken into account. The company studies thoroughly the possibility of participation in one or several projects within the textile cluster (the total number of projects presented in the industry development strategy is 11). In some the projects it is suggested to give up spinning as the most ineffective part of the textile manufacture.

And this trend can be already observed in Ivanovo: some up-to-date spin-weaving mills with high quality equipment stopped their activities and were reorganized. Thus, the former spin-weaving mill “8 Marta” has been reconstructed in “Serebryany Gorod”, the trade and entertainment center and the mill named after Balashov has become the entertainment center “Bomba”.

The specialists of TDL Association are persuaded that the question of production cessation must be solved in any single case. For instance, coarse calico, the most popular fabric, is made exactly of medium-size yarn which is bought instead of cotton in Central Asia today. This yarn surpasses cotton in fineness as, thanks to investors, almost all of the spinning mills in Central Asia were reconstructed and the new European equipment was purchased and installed.

- The middle-size yarn makes 60 percents of the whole textile fabrics. And buying this yarn is cheaper than manufacture, besides, the prices for power and gas increased significantly (for 15-20% since the new year); the direct labor costs and taxes increased as well, - complains Lyudmila Osipova.

In the created system both the manufacture (including garment) and trading business (selling goods to leading Russian dealers and world trading networks) are implied and it is now well understood that DTL Association can be considered as mini-cluster model. The three-year development strategy of TDL Association includes:

- Maintenance of textile manufacture;

- Development of garment manufacture;

- Extension of dealer network (now the company works with 2,5 thousand partners) and organization of regional warehouses;

- Optimization of logistics and supply management;

- Creation of new famous brands and development of the present ones.

Effective branding is one the most important objective of the company.

- The high quality brand is very important, – says Lyudmila Osipova. – If you have such a brand, you can work with famous trade networks and retail centers. But today we are working with wholesalers and dealers mainly.

The activity of Strategic Development Management is based on macroeconomics, market trends determination and forecasting, knowledge and experience of colleagues – the experts of TDL Textile and the management of TDL Association.

However, the developed strategy is not the fixed and invariable three-year plan of the company. The TDL experts intend to make corrections annually as the life changes and many events can occur on the market for the following three years: for instance, it is possible to predict the consequences of WTO accession or the competition with South-East Asia textile manufacturers, but it’s nearly impossible to predict the price movements, although today the TDL production is quite competitive. It may happen that customers will appreciate the quality of TDL brands and continue buying these goods at new, higher, prices.

The three-year plan is meant for the own resources only. Unfortunately, Russian textile manufacturers do not have such state support as the textile manufacturers in China, Pakistan or Bangladesh do. Though TDL continues executing government orders of Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Railway Communication of Russian Federation. Lyudmila Osipova says that these orders help the company to maintain its reputation and meet the most stringent requirements of the clients. TDL Association intends to make fresh gains - production and selling of industrial textiles (including the textiles for building sector). In case the company makes the decision, it will base on the products quality and market needs. The TDL marketing analysts are to make the serious researches as the intuitive methods are incompatible with the market approach.

Home and medical textiles, the current production of TDL Association, correspond to GOST standard requirements. And TDL develops these lines of business successfully.

- Many manufacturers pay a lot of attention to design, - informs Lyudmila Osipova. – But quality of their goods leaves much to be desired. They save on quality dyes, for instance, on additional textile processing... We value our reputation and realize that the blemished one cannot be restored. We must develop not only exist on the market.

We have the Name, we have competent staff. Add now we have our own strategy.

HR Policy is one of the important points of the strategy and includes non-stop staff training, staff exchange (up to 10%), reserve training and forming of corporative culture. The staff is provided with employment benefits and other incentive compensations. Salaries depend on professional results and new motivation plans are put into practice.

So, TDL company is ready for reconstruction. It is geared to the inner development on marketing basis and ready to complete commercial orders.

The planning final goals of the strategy are impressive:

- 30% sales growth,

- garment manufacture growth (for not less than 50%),

- development of regional warehouses and point-of-sales,

- export share increase (our stand is always very popular at home textile exhibition in Frankfurt).

The experts of TDL company are convinced that they will achieve all the goals.

- I repeat once again that we will make corrections in our plan annually taking into consideration all the market peculiarities, - says Lyudmila Osipova. - We are not stretched to the limit and all our plans are realizable.

Although this strategy is developed only for three years, there will be other ones for five and even more years.

Light industry of China has passed into a proverb. Low salaries, national export support, rapid retooling and modernization – that’s the guarantee of its success.

Besides, in these latter days the other textile corporations are developing in the east. In Europe the expansion of the textile production from Turkey and Pakistan is felt already. India is also a strong manufacturer and so to say “the Trojan horse” of the world textile market, which has not gained a foothold on foreign markets yet but it is quite certain that Indian manufacturers will reach their goals. Day by day these “textile monsters” are closer to Russia and it seems that domestic textile mills will have to repeat the bitter experience of European plants and factories. What can Russian manufacturers oppose them? In fact... there is no need to impede the expansion at all. That’s the decision of TDL Association management who has learnt carefully the experience of “the China dragons” and realized that it is better to cooperate with the competitors and adopt their methods of working.

This fall the TDL experts has visited the “China Exporters” International exhibition in Guangzhou (China) as well as they have visited India and Pakistan.

- All our visits appeared to be very interesting and useful, - says Pavel Korzhanov, Director-General of TDL Polartex. – We insist that our company is always client-oriented. And we have amassed a wealth of experience about the inner Russian market. We know the tastes and desires of our Russian clients. But the International exhibition in China was very helpful for us as the customers from the whole world came there – this country has become so to say “the data bank” of the world market climate. Here we come to the main advantage of “the China dragons” – they can satisfy any customer. And there is no better place for us to study the modem textile business trends than China.

- The Chinese manufacturers possess valuable marketing information both about the range of textile products and fabric structure and designs, - informs Michael Nachinkin, Deputy Director-General of “TDL Business” Management Company. – This information is very useful for us. Besides, we already have the base range of products we offer to our Russian clients and we have studied the local demand carefully. Now we are ready to create new product which the customers get interested in.

The idea to enlarge the products range with imported goods came to TDL company long ago. The fabrics which cannot be manufactured in Russia or which production is very expensive are imported first. For example, high quality sateen, mixed fabrics with high fabric count and smooth surface. Pavel Korzhanov says that it is quite easy to buy fabrics abroad and sell them here, in Russia. But the results of this activity will be far from the expected ones, because many manufacturers produce their goods from one and the same fabrics purchased abroad. And there is simply no difference between the products of different brands. Only a wide range of high quality and unusually designed imported fabrics can be really interesting.

That’s the policy of TDL company. To satisfy market demand for fashionable and up-to-date designs, special studios began their work where the experts create new textile designs taking into account tastes and needs of potential customers as well as modern European trends. Then the designed fabrics are manufactured in Pakistan and the specialists of TDL company control the quality strictly. The fact is that textile mills in Pakistan keep strict watch on the quality of their production and the prices are quite attractive even for China. The garment manufacture of TDL company is situated in Russia already. And it means that there is a possibility to create brands of bed sets with a style and target group of their own.

- Working with foreign manufacturers we strive for creation the products of high quality. And it is possible thanks to up-to-date equipment installed in the countries of South-East Asia. But moreover, we want to create the fabrics of high individuality. We want our customers to recognize TDL fabrics from many others, - tells Pavel Korzhanov. – And if you can do this, we will have a great advantage; it will be a step for our further development. We realize that high quality fabrics and the use of various proofing (scented, hypo allergic, fire-resistant etc.) is very important on the textile market today. We can also cooperate with China in manufacturing of linen fabrics: the strong point of Chinese producers is mixed fabrics, the strong point of Russians is pure linen fabrics.

Besides, we intend to purchase ready made goods from China, India and Pakistan, - informs Michael Nachinkin. – I mean the fabrics of Ethnic style which are highly appreciated by European customers.

- Owing to imported products we can enlarge our range of terry goods as well as the goods for bedrooms, kitchens and hotels, - says Anna Glebova, the Head of TDL Textile Assortment Department.

- Within the “China Exporters” International exhibition we have found out an interesting fact, - says Pavel Korzhanov. – Today Russia is considered to be a serious client. Some years ago the buying quantity of Russia was quite small. But nowadays our country is one of the three largest customers for Chinese production. Now we can buy quality goods at significant discounts – and that’s the great advantage. Russia has become a serious player on the textile market and has serious preferences.

The Oriental Wisdom says “Use the energy of your enemy!” That’s exactly what DTL Association does.