Only Vimal - A brand that revolutionized Indian textiles

Named after his nephew, Vimal Ambani (Ramnikbhai's son), Shri Dhirubhai Ambani established a clothing venture, in the late 1960s, which became popular not only for its quality but also for its innovative and creative advertisements. It also marked the beginning of Reliance Textiles Industries Limited in Naroda, Gujarat.

The journey of Vimal and Reliance Textile Industries Limited began in 1965, when India underwent a war-like situation, resulting in the devaluation of the Indian rupee. The government had to freeze all its export-oriented schemes owing to the steep rise in foreign exchange prices. Shri Dhirubhai Ambani had to face immense losses in his trading business. These circumstances led him to venture into a new business, so he started looking for plots to establish a textile mill for manufacturing fabric out of the yarn he was importing.

Owing to the lack of space in Bombay (Mumbai), Shri Dhirubhai Ambani looked for industrial space in his home state Gujarat. His brother Ramnikbhai and friend Krishnakantbhai toured the state’s industrial areas tirelessly in a second-hand Fiat. They came across a vacant corner plot in the Naroda industrial area near Ahmedabad, which was developing under the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation. Dhirubhai immediately bought 10,000 sq. yards and started buying those plots, which became vacant after the factories sold them out due to losses. Naroda mill, thus, got expanded over 125 acres. Finally, in 1966, Shri Dhirubhai Ambani transformed Reliance Commercial Corporation into Reliance Textile Industries Limited.

The mill began its operations with four German warp-knitting machines and a processing house. Shri Dhirubhai trained his men by sending them to the factories that exported all the equipment and machine to the Naroda mill. Thus, they learned not only how to use the equipment but also how to repair them. Printing and design were the other areas of concern for Shri Dhirubhai Ambani. To address the issues of printing and designing, he calmly assembled his design studio by hiring two of the industry’s top professionals. A strong team of around 300, the largest of its kind in Asia, thus began to produce up to 500 designs in 18 different color combinations – that is, 2200 designs every month.

The fabric produced at Naroda was renamed Vimal by Shri Dhirubhai Ambani, named after his nephew Vimal Ambani (Ramnikbhai’s son). He was so excited about the first batch of the shirting fabric manufactured at the mill that he insisted his daughter, Nina and Dipti, wear dresses made of the same fabric. His trousers, too, were made of Vimal fabric which he switched to safari suits in the late 70s. Owing to its superior quality, Shri Dhirubhai had priced Vimal higher than other brands in the market. Also, in the beginning, the textiles were not readily accepted by the wholesalers in Ahmedabad and Bombay. The warehouse of Reliance piled up with unsold stocks of high-quality fabric, built up over four months. These stocks were then sold directly to the retailers, bypassing the wholesalers, in some cases by Shri Dhirubhai himself. The retailers, impressed by the efforts of the Reliance team, put all their efforts into Reliance products.

Shri Dhirubhai Ambani put all his efforts and hard work into capturing the domestic market for Vimal fabrics with an aggressive marketing strategy. To reach the younger generation, he organized the first Vimal fashion show in 1979, much against his associates’ advice. Meanwhile, the Vimal sari ad campaign (see the above image), “A woman expresses herself in many languages, Vimal is one of them,” caught the shopper’s imagination. With catchy advertisements and grand showroom openings, where helicopters showered flowers and leaflets, Shri Dhirubhai made ‘Only Vimal,’ the ad slogan, impossible to ignore. Vimal became the one-stop shop for the average family’s textile purchases: shirting, suiting, sarees, dress materials, and furnishing fabrics. Sometime in the early 1980s, he simultaneously opened 101 Vimal outlets across the country, all in one day, which became a part of retail lore.

In the late 1970s, Reliance was working with an advertising agency founded by Mr. Frank Simoes to design the promotional strategies of Vimal. While describing the expectations to Mr. Frank for the advertising campaign on Vimal, Shri Dhirubhai Ambani frequently mentioned the term ‘Only Vimal’ to highlight its qualities that no other brands possessed. Thus, Mr. Frank decided to run the entire campaign on the slogan ‘Only Vimal.’ This slogan gets used for the first time in the campaign for Vimal sarees.

To reach out to the masses of India, Reliance planned to sponsor the 1987 Cricket World Cup held in India. Mudra Communications, founded in 1980 by Mr. Atchyutani Gopala (AG) Krishnamurthy, was roped in by the Reliance team to design marketing campaigns for Vimal suiting. The advertising firm adopted the strategy of roping multiple celebrities and onboarding well-known cricket celebrities for the advertisement. For this campaign, the Mudra Communications team finalized Sir Vivian Richards from West Indies, Ravi Shastri from India, and Allan Border from Australia. Adrian Mendonza, who joined as a junior copywriter in Mudra Communications, worked with Mr. AG Krishnamurthy and produced the line ‘Looks of a Winner’ for the Vimal suiting. Thus, they decided to design the whole concept on the line ‘Looks of a Winner.’ One of the hurdles in the campaign was to get the measurements of the cricketers for their suits. But due to their busy schedule, it was impossible to get their measurements, so they decided to use their life-size photographs to stitch their suits. A total of four ad films were shot. It was directed by the ad film producer and commercial photographer Shantanu Sheorey.