When he returned to Pakistan after studying marketing and becoming acquainted with consumer rights, Salman Parekh knew he wanted to establish his own business, but not what that business would be. All he knew was that the model he established would have to be sustainable and have an impact that reached beyond personal profit and growth.

In 2022, most of us are familiar with Manto, the clothing brand. Still a relatively young brand, the principles that guide its operations are surprisingly, pleasantly mature, and bafflingly noble.

“When someone is coming to us to buy our product, they’re the ‘big’ one, not us; we are just extending our service,” says Parekh.

This sentiment rose when Parekh and his wife, Bismah, were getting married. Upon approaching designers for her trousseau, they were immediately asked to state their lines of work, whether they would be able to pay for their order, and were generally treated with condescension.

That was one thing Parekh had decided to build into his business. “From the beginning, any marketing, any communication we did was free of the patronizing tone you might see with bigger brands,” he says.

From here came another insight. Being a small business, Manto may not have had the advantage of huge operations, or the economies of scale, but it did have the unique opportunity to build a personal relationship with clients.

“That’s something that a brand with clientele in millions can’t really do,” says Parekh. “With their nationwide setups, thousands of designs, hundreds of brilliant designers, plenty of the sharpest business minds, this is where a smaller setup can come out on top.”

“We’ve had people give us feedback and tell us that they pray for our success. Isn’t that incredible? Usually businesses charging a premium price – for premium products – kind of only invite a mild form of hate.”

The admiration and support isn’t unearned. Manto offers to its market exactly what the founder/CEO wanted for himself: comfortable clothing, that looks good. But as Parekh notes, in his quest for creating the perfect, easiest daily outfit – “for me that was a kurta with a Lucknowi collar” – he needed the most high-quality fabric. Thus, the coord or printed top you might find on the racks of a fashion retail chain will definitely beat Manto at pricing, but not quality.

Manto, according to Parekh, was a demand-based solution. Smart-casual clothing that could work in a formal setting too. “I don’t know when we decided eastern clothing couldn’t work in a formal or professional setting, but really, you can dress it any way you like. I’ve seen Manto being worn with sneakers and a hijab, and with extravagant jewelry, turning it into a formal,” notes Parekh. The ‘big idea’, so to speak, for Manto, is Basic, Not Boring, and true to the idea, any Manto solid coord can be styled to look as casual or formal as one may want. Given the quality and versatility of Manto pieces, the price appears to be justified, and the brand’s offer of a 15-day exchange or return, no questions asked, removes any lingering doubts about investing in a ‘plain’ desi outfit.

“If we want to succeed long-term, we have to forego short-term profit,” Parekh says. “We want the returning customer, over the sale of one outfit, and making profit just that one time. “

Parekh points out that to achieve that, a system to ensure ease of purchase, and easy feedback had to be put in place.

“We have some amazing people handling our customer service, they are the ones connecting with clients and keeping them happy,” he says. “If they are happy, then automatically our clients will be happy.

“The biggest brands have ignored the one detail that can skyrocket their brand, business, reputation,” says Parekh. “Whom do you think, in an organization that caters to customers end-to-end, is the lowest paid? It’s the customer service guys. But the marketing people in any organization will always be highly compensated.”

This is where Manto may beat the big boys of retail fashion. Manto Customer Service was the first department Salman Parekh hired for, and is the one department he intends on retaining long-term. The cost, he says, of an unhappy customer service professional is both loss of business and employee attrition. Just by ensuring an employee is compensated fairly, and treated well, any business can avoid the long-term costs of rehiring, retraining, and losing clients.

“You could spend all the money you want on advertising your products,” says Parekh, “but once the customer has your product, isn’t satisfied with quality, was run through the grinder to both purchase and/or return, at the end of the day you have lost more than one client: you’ve lost a client who could return for years, keeping your business sustainable.”

The many, many, one-time costs Manto incurs by responding to customer feedback and offering to take back, exchanging, or altering sold items, are borne with a smile.

If a client has a good experience with one brand in a particular category, Parekh has reasoned, they will be more likely to give other brands in the same category a shot. By being a business with good practices, Manto is how Parekh hopes to create abundance within his community, while catering to his clients.

“All I wanted, when I was starting out, was a business, that might not be successful or profitable in the first five years,” he says, “but one that would ultimately impact the entire business ecosystem in Pakistan. That, I believe is what sustainable, profitable business is all about.”