



Sundays are for movies for me but today was different. Today, the founder of Odokan.Com Mr.Susan Adhikari invited me to visit the LVD (Live Vintage Denim) store and warehouse. I couldn't say no to this. I claim to nothing about the apparel and the clothing industry. I have no sense of style. I can't buy new clothes because I am a miser. But this opportunity presented itself as an exploration into the unknown. I got to have a conversation with a brand that has established itself all over Nepal.





I was immediately impressed by the simplicity of the man Mr. Pratap Pradhan of LVD Jeans. He sat at the footsteps of a closed down shop waiting for us and invited us to his office/warehouse. He had a T-Shirt on and this man was visibly fit. This was a breath of fresh air for me, as most of the entrepreneurs I meet tend not to care about their physical health. The duo of Odokan and LVD discussed their confidential business while I waited in the lobby. When they finished, I joined in. This is when things took a turn for the better.





My first question to Mr.Pradhan was, how long had he been operating this current business? He was straightforward to give me the answer, it was 4-5 years. He didn't beat around the bush which was unheard of for a clothes salesman. I followed with a question, what did you do before this and he answered simply by saying other types of business. I could notice then and there that this man was from the school of hard knocks. Not just from his personality but the way he dealt with my questions.





I followed up with the usual question, what kind of educational background did he pursue and he frankly answered with his truth with a smile. Then, I asked him about consumer behavior and that is when the learning experience began. According to his experience, most of the apparel and the clothing industry in Nepal is marred with the lack of quality and dishonesty from the retailers side. Importing clothes at a certain cost price and selling it at four times the cost price had in the past destroyed the trust of consumers in the jeans market. He talked about his efforts in overcoming this setback in the last 4 years.





He also talked about the value of labor and how our society discourages that. The vanity of having a good degree but a lack of complete education is what has brought the economy at its state. This was a dictum I completely agreed with him on. He is a man who understood what kind of a customer buys his product and yet he seemed emphatic to individuals who could not buy his product. He hinted one of his dreams was to create a product for different market segments.





But the retention rate with employees was what scared him. The prospect of jobs is lucrative with entrepreneurship. The lack of loyalty and the notion of organizational growth mindset among prospective employees is what hinders job growth. He did not outright state this but I could see the pain in his perspective. At least in my interaction with him, I understood it takes a lot of courage to establish a foothold for an original product in Nepal. The lack of consumer awareness with fake products in the market is what he is competing with. A monumental task indeed. I wish nothing but good luck for this wonderful man.



