Hari Narayan Shah, the CEO and Chairman of Moustache International, one of eastern India’s largest denim manufacturing and retailing company, died on Sunday in Kolkata due to a massive stroke. He was 55.
In the early 1980s, Hari Narayan Shah was a raw material supplier for a garment export company, which ceased operating and Shah was left with surplus export fabric, most of which was stone-washed jeans. It was then that he started making his own denim with this surplus under the brand name Moustache. He began by selling his products to the then famous shop Horizon in the New Market, Kolkata. Few years back, Horizon was rolled into one of Moustache’s EBOs.
The year 1998 marked the entry of Moustache into large-format retail stores, notably Pantaloons and Shoppers Stop. From 1999, Moustache started spreading its EBO network across the country.
It also operates through national chain stores and large-format retail stores such as Shoppers stop, Pantaloons, Reliance Trends, Bharti Walmart, and Central. The brand’s international stores are located in Lulu Center in Dubai, ABS Group in England, and Court Shop in USA. The first Moustache shop-in-shop format overseas came up in Manhattan.
The brand also exports to the Middle East, the USA, and the UK. Officially launched in the year 1984, the apparel company now has over 600 outlets.
Hari Narayan Shah was born in Kolkata on March 12, 1956. He is survived by his wife, Poonam Shah, and three children.
-IndiaRetailing Bureau
