Raymond
Founders
Albert James Raymond, Kailashpat Singhania · Founded 1925 · HQ today: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Raymond was founded by Albert James Raymond, Kailashpat Singhania in 1925. It is now led by Gautam Singhania.
The company began in 1925 as the Raymond Woollen Mill in Thane, making coarse woollen cloth and blankets. Lala Kailashpat Singhania of the J.K. Organisation bought it in 1944 and turned it toward worsted suiting. Raymond opened its first retail showroom in Mumbai in 1958, and over the following decades its fabrics, Park Avenue and ColorPlus labels, and the 'The Complete Man' campaign made it a household name. Its engineering arm, JK Files, grew alongside the textile business and became the base for the aerospace pivot.
| Founder | Role at founding | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Albert James Raymond | Historic Founder | — |
| Kailashpat Singhania | Historic Chairman & Builder | — |
British industrialist.
Albert James Raymond founded the Raymond Woollen Mill in 1925 in Thane, India. Operating during the British Raj, he established the early infrastructure for a small mill producing cheap blankets and woolen fabrics. The struggling mill was eventually sold to the massive Singhania family in 1944, who transformed the name into a global empire. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Indian industrialist and patriarch.
Kailashpat Singhania acquired the Raymond Woollen Mill in 1944. As a massive patriarch of the powerful JK Organization (a sprawling Indian conglomerate), he completely revolutionized the mill. He ruthlessly upgraded the machinery, pivoting away from cheap blankets to focus absolutely entirely on manufacturing premium, high-quality worsted suiting fabrics for the Indian elite. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Gautam Maini
Managing Director, Engineering Business
As the polarizing Chairman, he navigated the massive shift in Indian consumer habits from tailored suits to ready-made garments.
Gautam Singhania
Chairman & Managing Director
Turned Raymond Limited into a focused aerospace and engineering company.
Vijaypat Singhania
Former Chairman
Serving as Chairman for decades, the legendary aviator and industrialist built Raymond into a massive global textile empire before becoming tragically embroiled in a highly publicized, bitter succession dispute with his son Gautam.
The Raymond Woollen Mill was established in Thane in 1925, named after Albert James Raymond. Lala Kailashpat Singhania of the J.K. Organisation acquired it in 1944.
Raymond opened its first retail showroom in Mumbai in 1958.
Raymond was originally founded in 1925 in Thane, Maharashtra, by British entrepreneur Albert James Read as The Raymond Woollen Mill, manufacturing coarse woollen blankets for British commercial and military use.
In 1944, during World War II, Indian industrialist Lala Kailashpat Singhania (of the Kanpur-based J.K. Organisation) purchased The Raymond Woollen Mill from Read, seizing the opportunity to establish an indigenous Indian textile power.
Founded by Lala Kamlapat Singhania in the early 20th century, the J.K. Organisation was one of India’s foremost industrial dynasties, pioneering domestic cotton mills, steel, paper, cement, and insurance in pre-independence India.
Thane offered abundant water from the Ulhas river and Thane creek, railway connectivity to the port of Bombay (Mumbai), and ready access to skilled textile labor migrating from central India.
Kailashpat Singhania imported cutting-edge French and Italian spinning looms, phased out cheap blankets, and shifted production to luxury worsted wool suiting to compete with imported British woolens.
Recognizing that wholesale merchants often adulterated luxury fabrics or overcharged customers, the founders bypassed middlemen in 1958 to open company-owned retail showrooms with fixed, transparent pricing.
The Singhania family established prestigious educational institutions in Thane (including the Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania School, ranked among India’s top academic schools) and healthcare foundations serving local communities.
The founding principle that Indian craftsmanship and domestic manufacturing can match or exceed the finest luxury standards of Europe remains the bedrock of Raymond’s identity.
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