A family business in Mumbai is finding growth in a complicated global economy

As part of our series, The Age of Work, “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal and ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson, our project partner on the series, have visited a wide range of businesses — from a textile market in Vietnam to a skincare business in England to a student-run soda shop in Utah. Each of these places gave a different look into what the changing global economy means for businesses and workers around the world.

To get that view from India, Ryssdal and Richardson went to Fashion Panda, an apparel manufacturer based in Mumbai, to speak with its owners: siblings Jay and Neha Shroff.

While most of the work they do is making clothes for brands based in the European Union, these days, the two are looking to grow the business from within. Two years ago, they launched their own brand: Popcorrn. It’s a children’s clothing line they’ve mainly been selling domestically.

To keep that growth going, there are some very real challenges Jay and Neha are up against. For one thing, despite having a massive working age population in India, competition for workers can be intense.

“The total employee count [at Fashion Panda] is about 200 to 250 people, and that's been an ongoing challenge to recruit the right people, to train them, and to retain them,” said Neha.

“We lost one of the employees to the gig economy,” Jay added, “And she went to work somewhere where she will do like housekeeping work, which is, you know, you order it on an app. And she claims that she's earning one and a half times what she would earn with us.”

On top of the labor issue, there are global economic headwinds that they’re up against. Tariffs, for one thing, an oil shock for another.

“People wouldn't realize the effects that it can have, right?” Jay said. “OK, war happens, and then the sea routes are blocked. What that means is that you got to use alternative sea routes. You got to go around the Cape of Good Hope. It'll add 10 to 12 days to your transit time. I’ve still got to meet my delivery to my customer, which then means that impacts me on the floor where you got to suddenly plan for doing overtime shifts.”

Click the audio player above to hear more.