The Man Who Made Chinnalapatti Famous - The Real Story of Arun Textiles

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Hello all, today we are going to talk about a man who made Chinalapati famous.

[00:00:05]There is a small town called Chinalapati just 12 kilometers from Dindle. You can even miss it if you just blink your eyes while passing Maduray. There is no malls, no cafes, no big restaurants. So but there is still customers. There are still few peoples who are coming from other states, other districts and even foreigners waiting in line sitting in a small bench just to buy one handroom sari from Arun Textiles. How could a man who had no money to travel for a bus ticket can able to get foreigners waiting for his one sar? This is a story where he's going from the racks to riches where he has been facing many struggles in his start. Now going back into the someone who is unbelievable and surreal. Today we are talking about a man called K Arunachalam also called as Arun by others. Recently he has passed away but his story is going beyond everything. Maybe his body is gone but his soul still lies in the hand weavingings. So first he started with a empty-handed boy. Arnoam was born into the contraam looms where his father was working under one other loom and he had around rupees 3,200 depth which is very higher amount in 1980s. So he was forced to drop out from the school at 8th standard. An old weaver named Kalaya Perumal was able to go to the Thirupur because he was transferring his all assets to Tripur. At that time Arun was able to get that L for free but under one single condition. The Klaya Permal mentioned you can get it for free but you need to give me one s as a return gift once you repaired it. So Arun never slept for three consecutive day without going to any food hunt. He slept hungry and without eating anything. He repaired it under rupees 40 that was his own assent. He invested zero investment but he gained countless priceless moment unto his. He made his first sar a simple cotton zari with a zari border. He took it into 12 kilometers away from China which is called dindical districts. He met a middleman. He saw that and said it is very ugly. How can I buy it? I will give you 70 rupees. Take it and leave it. But Arun refused. He w that day. No middleman ever. He walked 12 kilometers back foot from that to Chinalapati. He made a O. We should never go to the middleman ever. That is one of the turning point in his life and one of the golden mind in his entrepreneur journey.

[00:02:42]Now listen carefully. This is the one of the golden mind for any entrepreneur.

[00:02:46]Here is how Arnach Shalom build without grown. Strategy one he followed is horizontal sourcing of waste yarn. In 1990s quameatur and tirupur has been only using the first quality yarn and throwing away the second quality yarn.

[00:03:02]He know the opportunity there. He went to that places every morning 5:00 a.m.

[00:03:07]and waited there and got all those yarns for 50% 15%age below that market price which was zero interest zero capital but he can able to get his own raw material without spending single amount of money.

[00:03:21]Secondly he used the daily cash model which is most viewers in China were not paid monthly and also get into the depth. uh they also get their monthly payments which is 30-day ones or 45day ones which al also comes with the 10%age interest rates from the middleman brokers. He did something very surreal.

[00:03:42]He sold his wife's mi which is known as the silver ring for rupees 350. He paid every single beaver on every evening that made without any receipts just a handshake between the beaver and aron.

[00:03:57]This made him respect go higher and higher. So the weavers left their big bosses and big companies and joined with Arun for last 30 years. No single weaver left his business and there is no bank and no interest. For the first 14 years Arunachalam didn't get any single loan from the bank. Here's what he did. He used a seesaw finance. A seesaw finance is where he would go to Maduray. He would uh get advanced payment for the first 50 saries he is going to V for the next week. He would use that advance payment to buy the yarn and pay the viewers. They are going to s hand those saries and again he would sell the 50 saries to the same small shop owner in Maday and he will again get the advanced payment for the next 50 saries. This is how the mechanism work. So there will be the no interest zero collateral and pure velocity city. He has a unique role. Any s which single mistake or any deviation in color or any uneven color he will not let that out of his factory or his hand room because he believed a single mistake can turn into a biggest disaster. He unrove that rejected saries and taken out the 70%age of the yarn and recycled it and used it and double the profits. So one of the real example in his life is in 1998 a batch of 200 saris were gone into a uneven dying process under his hand looming peoples but all other entrepreneurs cried at that stage for losing the 200 saries but Aron did something more surreal what he did was he didn't laugh he did laugh because he thought this could be the turning opportunities in his life. What he did was he undyed the whole saries and made it into the kchiefs and like shaws and sold it to the quadal hotel and he doubled the price. By 2005 Aron textiles had around 42 looms not even a single machine loom all hand looms because he believed a hand can makes the soul come into the real life. So this is one of the first foreign customers he had. Once in 2008 a French uh A man woman named Sophia was traveling from Maduray to Paranel where his car broke down in middle of the Chinagapati. While waiting she run into the Arun shed a small home where he was hand looming on all his sar till the date. She saw a black and white sar with a cotton zari border. She was impressed by the hand looming structures and the color patterns. He asked her around how much would it cost. He mentioned it would be around 800 rupees ma'am because she doesn't know how to speak in Tamil and he doesn't know how to reply in English. All they expressed was the word of communication only the rupees like 800 900 but she gave him 2,000 and didn't get any payback. At the same day she bought 15 saries along with her and went blanks to French the Paris the city where she's living. In within a month she sent another six French friends of her to this same chinapati.

[00:07:15]There is no Google maps there is no ad no way of communication only through email they got the perfect location and they traveled from Maduray and came into the Arun's place and they bought more than 50 saris at a place. So within 2 months the Aron textiles got into exporting directly into Japan, Germany, USA, Australia, Malaysia and even Singapore, France and even Switzerland as well. So foreigners are coming in persons. This is the part where which is getting more into the truth. It is 100%age true. In 2019, a group of 20 Japanese women from Tokyo came to Chinalapati specifically to the Arun Textiles where they traveled to Maduray via flight and from Maday they took they booked a rented a car and came to Arun Textiles and lived stunningly. They bought more than 200 saris and uh a tea tea owner was watching a Japanese woman visiting a small house where they were hand grooming the saries and the tea shop owner was shocked where a Japanese woman is bowing to a Tamil we beaver which is a most respectful and more beloved to our Tamil culture as well. On January 12, 2025, Arnachalam has passed away due to some uh health issues. But still the business is continued by his son Sunda. So as a entrepreneur, if you remember these five points, you will never be poor again. Learning one don't avoid struggles, rent it. Arun did not try to escape his poor but he meant that this starting stage I need to struggle to get into the something better and best of my life. Trust is cheaper than any software. He never used any software or any ad or any Instagram res to sell his business. He built a trust within his customers within his views. That is where he able to grow this much higher.

[00:09:12]The best marketing product is that trust them out. Arun never spent any single rupee on advertising his market or giving it for free. The product speaks the worth of Aron. A single zari sari can able to make the cost of around 2,000 that made him build a more basic foundational trust among every customers all over India. The learning for we are going to get today is rejection is simply a redirection. When Arun got rejected he didn't stop there but he thought as a building stone of his own success. Later years even that middleman who rejected his first diary work sent his son for getting a job and he now works as a delivery boy for Arun. This is the example of real success and key takeaway five is the richest man dies with empty hands but full of cost. When Arun died he didn't have many luxury cars or any new bang loss but he had around 600 plus viewers coming to visit his funeral. That is the example of the one of the real entrepreneurship and real success he's going to make. Even after 50 years, Arun texture is going to grow, grow and grow highers. Even if he died, the weaving doesn't stop a single day. The weaving goes on and the people from other countries, other states are coming to him and getting his salary every single day. This is the power of real business. So young entrepreneur, stop trying to become an Amani. try to become an Aruron chinalapati that is harder and far more val valuable than you think. This is the end of his physical story but his looms are still moving today. His saries are still being worn in Tokyo, London, even Malaysia and Japan. And his lesson you don't need a big to start. All you need is a little courage and enthusiasm to start your business. So I salute this unsolved hero who has been woripped by many peoples which is unknown to anyone. Let's all take this key take away from Arun's lesson and start small and big bin.

[00:11:12]Thank you so much.