Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Limited
Encyclopedia
History
The Gul Ahmed GroupGul Ahmed Group
The primary concerns of the Gul Ahmed Group include Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Limited, Gul Ahmed Energy Limited, and Habib Metropolitan Bank. More recently, a chain of retail outlets has been founded under the name "Ideas by Gul Ahmed"...
began trading in textiles in the early 1900s. In 1953, the group decided to enter the field of manufacturing under the name Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Limited, and was incorporated as a privately limited company. In 1972, it was listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange
Karachi Stock Exchange
The Karachi Stock Exchange or KSE is a stock exchange located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's largest and oldest stock exchange, with many Pakistani as well as overseas listings. Currently located in Stock Exchange Building on Stock Exchange Road, in the heart of Karachi's Business...
. Since then, the company has made rapid progress and is currently one of the leading composite textile houses in the world.
Ideas
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
venture of Gul Ahmed Textile Mills. Considering the growing trend towards the retail industry in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, as well as the increase in cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
prices and the need to focus more on value-added products, the company decided to diversify into the country's retail sector in 2003.http://www.gulahmed.com/html/sec_1024/mess.htmlhttp://www.szabist.edu.pk/Publications/RetailBook.pdf Ideas offers a range of home textiles and furnishings for the bedroom
Bedroom
A bedroom is a private room where people usually sleep for the night or relax during the day.About one third of our lives are spent sleeping and most of the time we are asleep, we are sleeping in a bedroom. To be considered a bedroom the room needs to have bed. Bedrooms can range from really simple...
, kitchen
Kitchen
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
and bathroom
Bathroom
A bathroom is a room for bathing in containing a bathtub and/or a shower and optionally a toilet, a sink/hand basin/wash basin and possibly also a bidet....
, as well as men's and women's apparel.http://www.szabist.edu.pk/Publications/RetailBook.pdf It also provides in-house monogramming
Monogram
A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series of uncombined initials is properly referred to as a...
, embroidery
Embroidery
Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....
and tailor-made services.
The Ideas flagship store is located in the Clifton
Clifton, Karachi
Clifton is one of the neighbourhoods of Saddar Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.-Demographics:There are several ethnic groups in Clifton including Pakhtuns, Muhajirs, Sindhis, Punjabis, Kashmiris, Seraikis, Balochs, Memons, Tanolis, etc. Over 99% of the population is Muslim...
area of Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, with plans to establish a retail chain throughout Pakistan.
Equipment
The mill is presently a composite unit with an installed capacity of 130,000 spindlesSpindle (textiles)
A spindle is a wooden spike used for spinning wool, flax, hemp, cotton, and other fibres into thread. It is commonly weighted at either the bottom middle or top, most commonly by a circular or spherical object called a whorl, and may also have a hook, groove or notch, though spindles without...
, 250 wide width air jet looms
Loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...
, 90 Sulzers
Sulzer (manufacturer)
Sulzer Ltd. is a Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing firm, founded by Salomon Sulzer-Bernet in 1775 and established as Sulzer Brothers Ltd. in 1834 in Winterthur, Switzerland. Today it is a publicly owned company with international subsidiaries...
, 297 conventional looms, and a state-of-the-art processing and finishing unit.