Israel conflict forces Kerala firm to work on war footing

KOCHI:If Israel is at war with Hamas, Maryan Apparel in far-away Koothuparamba of Kerala’s Kannur is operating on a war footing.
Maryan MD Thomas Olickal may not be anywhere near Gaza, but he and his team of around 1,500, most of them women, are scurrying about their work as if they just heard an attack siren.
“The requirement now is for stretchable Olive-green pants and shirts and the order is to provide 12,000 pieces per year.They have asked us to advance deliveries of this consignment for training purposes,” Olickal, whose unit has been making uniforms for the police force and jail officials in Israel since 2015, told TOI.
The fabric for the order is under production. “We pro- vide shirts of three colours to different sections of the Israeli police force — dark navy, sky blue and light green,” Olickal said, clarifying he had no orders from the Israeli army yet. An Israeli company contracted by its security forces outsourced the orders to the Kannur unit, with Olickal indicating that Maryan’s work for other countries may have helped put them on Tel Aviv’s radar.
“Two high-ranking officials of Israeli police, a designer and a quality controller came to our factory. They spent around 10 days and went back after confirming the pattern, fit and other details. We deal directly with police and supply to them. However, there is an intermediary as well who has taken the tender there,” Olickal said. The trainees’ shirts are made of cotton and trousers of poly-cotton. “For the cops, the shirts have special polyester that must be mandatorily imported from a US supplier. The fabric for trainees and jail staff is made by us,” he said.Olickal revealed that his company has been supplying alakh pieces a year of police uniforms and 25,000-40,000 pieces of the jail staff dress, all of top quality and made with Japanese machines.
Other than Israel, Maryan ships garments to security forces in Kuwait, police and army in Qatar, besides uniforms for the Saudi Arabian and Philippines armies.