Rabia Leather Industries

You can find us at Ashoka Palace in Karol Bagh. The smell of leather is the first thing you notice when you walk into our space. We’ve been working with hides and skins for a long time now. It’s a messy process, especially when we’re cutting the large sheets of leather into patterns for bags or jackets. There’s always scraps of material on the floor. Our workshop isn't very big, so we have to be careful about how we stack the finished products. Karol Bagh is always crowded, and moving our supplies in and out of the building can be a real headache with the traffic. We use some heavy-duty sewing machines that make quite a bit of noise. Most of our tools are hand-held, like the knives and punches we use for the detail work. We don't really have a fancy display area; it's more of a working factory where things are being made and shipped out. Sometimes customers come in to see the materials before we start a job. We show them the different textures and colors we have available at the time. It takes a lot of time to finish a single piece properly, especially with the stitching. We’ve had the same workers for years, and everyone knows their specific job. It’s a practical environment where we focus on getting the work done. The lights stay on pretty late during the busy season when everyone wants their orders finished at once.