T&C, a joint venture company founded by Egyptian Tolba Group and Turkish Tay Group, launched in 2010 with 500 workers producing 5,000 pieces per day. Today, the company is one of the biggest denim producers in Egypt, with 7,300 employees producing up to 65,000 pieces a day, up from 18,000 pieces in 2000. T&C offers cutting, sewing, laundry, finishing and design and has an onsite accredited lab to save both time and money.

The company’s growth was strategic. As chairman Magdi Tolba saw business moving out of Asia and the demand for shorter lead times borne from the pandemic, he decided to triple the investment in machinery, staffing and construction. Now, the company ships to 35 international destinations a week, primarily to the U.S. with just under a third bound for the EU.

T&C operates on a principle of continuous improvement. “We have a policy: if you don’t innovate and upgrade your machinery almost every year the factory will become like an old sick man,” said Magdi. “Every couple of years, we make a complete evaluation of the factory. We replace old machines with new ones as they come out, which means that the factory is young and modern.”

To that end, T&C is investing 120 million pounds to boost its sustainability. The first is water treatment that recycles 80 percent of the company’s water usage. T&C is also leaning into solar energy, with the goal of covering 50 percent of its overall energy usage.

“We work hand in hand with our clients on construction and design, and we host them in their own offices here,” Magdi said. “Working that closely and having personal communication with them daily is a major aspect for long-term cooperation and success.”

Magdi credits the company’s success to its workforce, which it works hard to retain and train. Recently, T&C implemented a system to measure the efficiency of the workers, which translates into monthly bonuses and furthers its goal of improving efficiency by 20 percent.