Future in Print: The True Colors Journey

India has a strong ‘jugadoo’ culture. Jugadoo for those who may not understand means someone who is very resourceful and can find quick fixes or clever solutions to problems, often with limited resources.

The funds were limited, but sublimation printing was the way to go. The sublimation process involves printing on paper and then transferring onto fabric with a heat ‘calendar’. Since the young men did not “have the money for a calendar, we outsourced the transfer to one of our acquaintances who worked in textile designing,” elaborates Sanjay. The four claim to have introduced India’s first-ever sublimation textile printer.

For the design, the Photoshop software was used at a photo studio which belonged to a classmate’s family. “We started making designs with his help. When we took those to the market, especially at Surat’s Sahara Darwaja — where most textile trading begins — people were amazed. They had never seen fabric prints with such realistic stones, trees, flowers. They would ask, ‘How did you make this?’ But the moment we quoted ₹170–180 per meter, they would say, ‘Impossible. Polyester fabric costs only ₹30–40 per meter. At your price, the cost of an entire saree is the same!’”

Finding customers was proving to be an uphill task. “We went from shop-to-shop, but got almost no positive feedback. Then we came across one customer who dealt in lace. For lace, even a 44-inch width printer was enough. Small pieces could be printed and cut, and the cost still made sense. That gave us our first breakthrough.”

Along side, “we received small orders for sampling, and these included from exporters who needed 20, 50, or 100 meters. For them, it was worth paying ₹200 per meter because it was only 50 or 100 meters. For us, with a small machine, even these orders were enough. As word spread, more people got interested. Some wanted to buy the printers. We seized that opportunity too and managed to sell 5–6 printers, and with that, we got three more printers for ourselves. That was the real turning point,” Sanjay recaps.

Dot Gain

The growth was good and business shifted to a bigger place with 3 printers and a calendar. A big order from a European company — three designs, 80,000 meters each — required a lot more printers so the task was taken up by convincing the company to give them the full job which they will fulfil by splitting it within their network. “We supplied the paper and ink, and they printed the orders. Slowly, over two to three months, the order was completed.”

Big money also translates to big trouble, specially when the start-up is a hustle. The trader who acted as a middleman between the company and the exporter owed them ₹35 lakh. “We had taken post-dated cheques from him, but when the order ended, he still owed us around ₹24 lakh. We struggled for two years trying to recover the money. Finally, during Covid, we went to court and recovered the full amount by 2020-end.”

Another hitch, call it a litmus test, came in when the company partnered with a local investor who wanted to enter the textile domain. He put in around ₹3 crore to set up a cotton printing unit on a 50–50 partnership. A direct printer was imported, but within six months differences began. The investor wanted Sanjay to leave the other three friends and run the business with him alone. When Sanjay refused, he went to another partner, Sagarkumar Bipinbhai Mulani, who also declined.

Unbeknownst to either, the Relational Contract and Social Capital Theory was at work They were clear. The four had not come together to do business; they were already together as friends, and business happened because of that. “We couldn’t abandon each other for money. That was the hardest moment — we were asked to leave. They offered us ₹5–10 lakh to exit and said they would take over the printers. For us, it felt like the end,” Sanjay’s deprecating laugh says it all.

The situation could not have got grimmer. They had three printers. Two had quit their job, one was fully into the business and the fourth had stopped looking for work. They had to cross the rubicon. This challenge became a critical stepping stone, a lesson, not a loss.

Once again it was a hustle and yet another friend who came to the rescue. A customer turned friend allowed them to temporarily use his factory. “We placed our designers there, sat with his team, and continued giving our customers the impression that we were still running operations. That helped us survive,” recollects Sanjay.

It’s been a roller-coaster, he agrees, but what kept them going through the setbacks, was “honestly, the partnership and friendship. We four friends didn’t come together just to do business. We were already together, and business came from that. So whenever one of us felt low, the others carried him along. That support system made all the difference. We always told ourselves — this will be a roller-coaster, with ups and downs. What matters is adapting each time: GST comes, demonetisation comes, COVID comes — we sit down and ask, ‘Now what’s next? How do we respond?’ That mindset, and being together, is why we’ve survived and grown.”

The next premises was all confidence and derring-do, much bigger and at a monthly lease of ₹1 lakh, bearing out what noted Nobel prize-winning American poet, playwright, and literary critic TS Eliot once said, “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” Taking up this new place “felt like a huge step then, but we chose courage over comfort. We shifted the printers, created an air-conditioned environment, installed proper furniture, and restarted.”

This time, things moved faster. The printers ran well, they trained engineers, and slowly got into sublimation paper manufacturing. Initially, they were importing both paper and ink from China but seeing the volumes “we were handling we decided to manufacture sublimation paper ourselves. Gradually, we scaled up to almost 20 million meters of paper per month.

“And that’s what gave us an edge. We created an integrated ecosystem: machines, consumables, and services. Customers trusted us because if they had a problem, we could solve everything under one roof. We also expanded geographically. From Surat, we set up offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Amritsar, and later in Kolkata. In Tiruppur, we placed two resident engineers and a sales team. Today we have more than 55 engineers across India, and we have installed over 1,200 printers nationwide.”

Around 2014–15, Surat-headquartered True Colors was running three printers, making profits of a few lakhs, earning as it did not only from printing but also by selling printers, inks, papers, and training services. By 2016–17, operations had stabilised.

The company withstood the disruptions during demonetisation and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax. “Both demonetisation and GST were shockers. Until GST, textiles had been largely unorganised, with most transactions in cash. Job work was not taxed, VAT applied only on fabrics. With GST, job work also came under tax. The industry was confused — people didn’t know whether to continue in cash or to formalise. Looking back now, it did good to the industry.

“By 2018–19, we were preparing to expand further, and then Covid struck and surprisingly, it turned into our biggest growth phase.”

In 2020–22, demand for digital printing shot up. Weddings, festivals, everything had been postponed, and when markets reopened, there was a boom. Digital printing was the fastest way to meet that demand. Customers realised they didn’t need to maintain big inventories — they could just keep design folders, and print on demand. Sampling became easier, lead times became shorter. “For us, those two years gave the highest growth. Today our turnover is around ₹230 crore. It has taken us about 10–12 years to reach this stage,” states Sanjay.

Future Proofing

While in 2021 the company was incorporated as True Colors Pvt Ltd, February 2025 saw the name finally change to True Colors Limited, and this September, backed by a fund, again Surat-based, it successfully listed on the stock exchange, oversubscribed receiving ₹3870.53 crore against IPO size of ₹127.96 crore.

True Colors is in expansion mode, and the capital raised will be used to clear the approximate ₹30 crore debt; allocate ₹50–60 crore for working capital, “because we want to double our paper capacity and increase printing output by 25%. Another part will go into solar energy projects, since energy consumption in both our paper and printing units is very high. Besides, to scale further we need around ₹100–125 crore. Raising more debt would require collateral, which is difficult. The IPO is the best way to raise funds without over-leveraging.

We have already commissioned a 1 MW solar plant, and another 2 MW will be operational within a few months.”