Kerala touch adds power to Israel police's combat gear in war against Hamas

A relatively lesser-known company, Maryan Apparel Ltd from Kannur district, has been providing uniforms to this esteemed force, recognised as one of the top police departments globally, since 2012

Israel’s police force, which is retaliating against one of the biggest invasions by Palestinian militants from Gaza, has a Kerala connection.

The police uniforms — comprising sky blue, light green and navy blue colours — are made by a lesser-known company from Kannur district.

The company, Maryan Apparel Ltd, has been supplying uniforms to this elite force, considered one of the world’s best police departments, since 2012.

With the conflict escalating, the company has received instructions to expedite the delivery of this year's batch of around 40,000 uniforms, preponing the initial deadline set for December. 

With the conflict escalating, the company has been told to expedite the delivery of around 40,000 uniforms before the December deadline.

Maryan’s unit at a small hamlet called Valiyavelicham, with a monthly capacity of 250,000 uniforms, has already started work on this.

Besides the Israel police, Maryan also supplies uniforms to the country’s jail police and citizens, who are part of the police training.

“On Monday, we were informed by the related parties to prepone the delivery dates for all their uniforms. From 2012 onwards, our company has supplied around 600,000 to 800,000 uniforms to the country’s police force,” said Thomas Olickal, a Mumbai-based businessman and owner of Maryan Apparel. 

Around 1,500 workers at the unit are toiling to complete the stylish uniforms for the Israel police force.

“They have three uniforms —sky blue, light green, and navy blue. For their jail police also, there is another set of uniforms in sky blue. We are supplying that too. From this year onwards, our company is supplying dresses for police training as well,” Olickal added.

Maryan also supplies uniforms to various departments like the army and police forces of countries like Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Philippines.

“We have seen a major jump in turnover during the last few years, from Rs 40 crore pre Covid (2018) to Rs 100 crore now. While the entire industry was struggling due to the pandemic, supply chain bottlenecks, raw material price volatility and the Ukraine war, we were insulated and growing,” he added.

According to him, a major reason for this was because of the continued demand for army and police uniforms globally.

For the company, its major breadwinner is the fire-resistant dress used in the petroleum sector.

It was in 2007 that Olickal started his Kannur unit. This was after selling his unit in Thiruvananthapuram.

It was in 2012, that the company was approached by people related to the Israel government for supply of uniforms.

“We expect to see a 40-50 per cent rise in our revenue this year as well. We do not see any impact of the current crisis on our orders to Israel,” Olickal said.

Maryan has an expansion plan, which depends on its future orders. At present, 95 per cent of its orders come from overseas markets.