One of our editors at PCIAW® Voice magazine, Shaun Hutson, had the pleasure of interviewing Padam Vaish, founder and managing director of VAP SOURCING LTD. Padam had flown all the way from Bangladesh to discuss the future of his company and he brought an incredible array of samples with him to illustrate the huge range of products that his company produces. Everything from suits, shirts, tailored trousers, blouses, school uniforms, cargo pants, shorts and leisure wear testified to the fact that Padam and his company are more than capable of making anything from Hi-vis to police uniforms.Here at PCIAW® Voice magazine, we work with many different companies and it’s amazing how many of them began as and continue to be run as, family companies. The Professional Clothing industry itself is like a huge family and all the integrity and warmth associated with a family can be transferred into the business practices of family run companies.VAP Sourcing Ltd is another family business. Established four years ago and based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, it has gone from strength to strength.This is not surprising when one considers its background. The original tailoring business that they grew from was founded in 1927. To date, they are the oldest English cutters in India. Members of the company learned the art and skill of draping from London Drapers. The pedigree and expertise of the company is unchallenged.Padam left the family business in 1996 and worked for a number of different companies including a period spent as Production Manager for Liz Claiborne (who had 90 factories across India).He also served as Production General Manager for the PDS group where he worked closely with such industry giants as Walmart, Tesco and YKK.One of his projects during this time was to rip out three floors of a building and convert them into an area where research could be done into the sleep suits and diaper suits that Padam was overseeing for Walmart.After leaving PDS he was asked to meet with the head of Dimensions, and he set up an office with just seven people. However, despite such a small staff, the impact was startling. By the simple expedient of changing all air shipments to sea shipments, Padam saved the company over two million pounds in his first year!He began looking for partner factories, building the total to eight and, in just five short years, increased the output of the company from 800,000 garments in the first year to over 7 million by the end of the fifth year.A truly staggering achievement.Like all businessmen, Padam has seen his share of ups and downs within the business and his working life but he has retained that integrity so necessary for a successful business. “Sometimes you have to spend more money to learn bigger lessons,” Padam said.VAP Sourcing Ltd present a huge diversity of superbly made products, all fashioned from a vast range of fabrics. They produce everything from police uniforms to leisure wear and school uniforms to hi-vis and are capable of creating between 50,000 and 100,000 garments a month. They have been learning their craft since 1927 (Padam himself is more than capable of taking over a sewing machine to create a garment from scratch) and they have retained the integrity and expertise associated with a family business. To those attributes they have also added output (SP samples normally have lead times of 60 days, they can supply in 25 days!) and dependability.In short, if you’re looking for someone reliable, choose VAP Sourcing.