In 1982, a shirt manufacturing company, Packaging Fiji Ltd went into production in Nadi.
The venture, costing $80,000, was reported by The Fiji Times on May 1, 1982.
As reported, the directors of the company sought loans from the Fiji Development Bank and the Bank of Baroda, and with their own finance, Packaging Fiji Ltd came into being four months earlier.
But had it not been for the insistence of former secretary for commerce and Commissioner Northern, the late Ponswamy Gounder, the company may not have started at all.
Packaging Fiji Ltd director Harish Sundarji paid tribute to Gounder, who died in Labasa, as the driving force behind the formation of the company.
“Gounder was secretary of commerce in November and he explained to us the need for local industries, explained about licensing and protection given by the Government,” he said.
“With his backing, we approached the FDB, Baroda Bank and with a bit of our own capital, our shirt-making company was under way,” Mr Sundarji said.
The directors of Packaging Fiji Ltd were made up of two sets of brothers — Sundarji, his brother Mahesh Sundarji, Indra Wadan Khatri and Umesh Khatri.
If that didn’t prove it to be family business, the Khatri brothers’ father, Shiu Lal Khatri, was the firm’s master tailor and designer for shirts.
The article stated that the company advertised for tailors and 20 people were successful. They manned the machines as they tried to meet a growing demand for their products on the local market.
The company, which operated from Namotomoto Village in Nadi with the factory situated in the Lord’s building, specialised mainly in dress shirts and produced quality final products which were reasonably priced.
Sundarji said they imported the materials for their shirts directly from Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.
Most of the shirts produced by the company were of polyester cotton material and they had five different designs on the market.
An average of 100 shirts a day were produced but was yet to meet local demands so a bright future appeared to be in store for the company. Shirts were priced at between $9 and $12 and available from major distributors around the country.
Company director Harish Sundarji said the response to their products had been incredible.
“Orders come with only two weeks’ notice but we are finding it difficult because we are taking about three weeks to meet orders. We employ 20 tailors and are working on trying to fully meet the local demand in the very near future,” he said,
“We are also looking into the possibility of exporting our shirts once we have been able to satisfy the local market.”
It was also reported that negotiations with a New Zealand company had started on the possibility of exporting their shirts to New Zealand under SPARTECA.
“But there are certain loopholes in the agreement which could stop us from exporting, and we are working on this right now,” he said.
