A tailor-made experience at Gangaram’s
Four generations have been suited up by this family
You feel a sense of pride when you’re well dressed. It gives you confidence
LOVERS of tailored menswear have a new sartorial home in B Gangaram Emporium, a Durban boutique-cum-coffee lounge launched recently at the Palms in Umhlanga.
The tailoring business supplies and creates custom menswear ranging from Western suits to Eastern wedding garments.
The new store is the brainchild of company founder Bhagwan Gangaram’s greatgrandson, designer Prasheen Bhagwan.
It aimed, said Bhagwan, to be a one-stop designer store where men could get anything from a custom handkerchief and lounge chinos to the perfect dress suit. “The concept is Italian. When a client walks in, they’ll have a stylist on hand to advise them and help them find what will suit them. There’s a coffee bar, a lounge with big screens where they can sit — the vibe that I’m trying to bring is relaxed. There will be classic ready-to-wear suits.
“I’ve also got a section where I do my tailoring and fashion consulting,” said Bhagwan.
The new store is a step up from the Queen Street store founded by his greatgrandfather, Gangaram, in 1937. Gangaram was skilled as a tailor, like his own father in India before him. His work would be carried on by a line of expert tailors who saw to the fashion needs of the next four generations.
Bhagwan’s father, Bhupandra, recalls how he acquired the skills to join the family business. “It took about six months to really learn the trade — doing handwork and learning to cut the garment.”
Skills that needed perfecting were good buttonholes and bottom felling (hemming the bottom edges of garments) because “people were particular about the finish”.
“Then we learnt to set a machine and work on a garment. As times changed, fashions changed and we had to keep up with the market and designs.”
Bhagwan snr has seen fashions come and go — only to return again. “Like bootleg trousers. Before that, they were known as bell bottoms. Or skinny jeans. That was the fashion in the 1970s. They’re back in fashion now,” he said.
Bhagwan snr, like his son, prefers working with fabrics that retain their shape and feel good to the touch. “I like the texture of polyester and wool, which don’t crease, and imported 100% wool.”
Longtime client Sameer Desai, a Durbanite who is now based in Cape Town, said he flew home to stock up on “five or six” B Gangaram suits a year.
The IT contract manager said he was “particular” about what he wore.
“You feel a sense of pride when you’re well dressed. It gives you confidence.”
Desai was introduced to the tailors 10 years ago by his father and has remained loyal to the store.
“Obviously, there’s the service and the relationship they have with their clients. But it’s also the fit and design of their garments which I love,” said Desai.