OCM is the most interesting name in the Indian half of our shelf, and the one fewest customers have heard of. It started at Amritsar in 1924, moved into worsted cloth in 1972, and in doing so became the first integrated worsted unit in India: spinning, weaving and finishing worsted wool under one roof, in a country that until then largely imported it. The cloth is better than its public profile suggests.
Amritsar, 1924, and the first Indian worsted
OCM began manufacturing at Amritsar in 1924. The move into worsted came in 1972, and it mattered: this was the first fully integrated worsted unit in the country, which meant India could make a proper worsted suiting rather than buy one.
Anyone who has handled a badly made worsted knows that integration is not a marketing point. Worsted quality depends on the whole chain, from how the top is combed to how the finished cloth is set. Doing all of it in one place is how you get consistency from one bolt to the next.
OCM was the first worsted suiting maker in India to hold ISO 9001, and the first to gain NABL accreditation for its laboratory. Those are dull facts that tell you something real about how the place is run.
Suitings, jacketings, trouserings
The OCM book runs across suiting, jacketing, shirting and trousering in woollen and worsted cloth. For a tailor the worsteds are the point. This is proper wool suiting made in India, and it sits in a different category from the poly-viscose end of the domestic market.
In the lighter worsted weights it is a sensible Chennai cloth, and we will happily put a length of it beside a European worsted of similar weight so you can judge the two by hand.
When we put you in OCM
OCM is our answer for the customer who wants a wool suit, wants it made from cloth woven in India, and does not want to compromise on it being actual worsted wool. That combination is rarer than it should be.
It is also a straightforward recommendation for a first proper wool suit. Spend on the cut, order the cloth here, and put the difference towards the second commission.
OCM cloth is available to order through us.