'Triplex' is a household name in Coimbatore. 'Triplex Pannitaen' had become the generic way of stating in Tamil that the clothes have been dry cleaned. 'Triplex Dry Cleaners' is an age old business in Coimbatore. The company introduced dry cleaning to Coimbatore. Triplex never used plastic covers and therefore received awards and recognitions from the Coimbatore Corporation and RAAC ( Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore ). Prakash Lal Khanna (1918 - 1988) founded Triplex in the year 1948 at Coimbatore. Coimbatore had been a military garrison for centuries. The Vijayanagar rulers had permitted the Naicks of Madurai (Since 1529) to administer Coimbatore. The Coimbatore fort was the mustering point for the Palayams of this region. The practice continued for a long time and even the English found Coimbatore and its neighbourhood to be useful and therefore placed their garrison in the textile centre.
'Triplex' is a household name in Coimbatore. 'Triplex Pannitaen' had become the generic way of stating in Tamil that the clothes have been dry cleaned. 'Triplex Dry Cleaners' is an age old business in Coimbatore. The company introduced dry cleaning to Coimbatore. Triplex never used plastic covers and therefore received awards and recognitions from the Coimbatore Corporation and RAAC ( Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore ). Prakash Lal Khanna (1918 - 1988) founded Triplex in the year 1948 at Coimbatore. Coimbatore had been a military garrison for centuries. The Vijayanagar rulers had permitted the Naicks of Madurai (Since 1529) to administer Coimbatore. The Coimbatore fort was the mustering point for the Palayams of this region. The practice continued for a long time and even the English found Coimbatore and its neighbourhood to be useful and therefore placed their garrison in the textile centre.
"Our family used to move along with the British army in order to supply provisions and we used to have canteen contracts with them those days. The British moved from India but we stayed back in this region itself. Our family moved from Erode to Coimbatore in the year 1946. I was born in Peshawar and we hail from the North West Frontier Province ( NWFP ) of undivided India. Vaishno Devi is our Kuldevata. All of us stayed back in India after partition. My father Beliram Kapoor used to run a canteen for the military in Pakistan and my mother Durgadevi was the daughter of Kuljasrai Khanna. 'Triplex' was started by my uncle Prakash Lal Khanna and I had joined him in the year 1960. We had bought the dry cleaning equipment from the military camp and named our business as 'Triplex' after the brand name of the machine. Our first location was Variety Hall Road and this was followed by branches at Big Bazaar Street, R.S.Puram, Gandhipuram, Sai Baba Colony, Vadavalli and Sungam. Once upon a time, we had branches at Coonoor and Ooty too," stated septuagenarian Inderjit Kapoor, the nephew of the founder Prakash Lal Khanna.
Kuljasrai Khanna and Sat Bhirai had been blessed with five boys and girls. Durgadevi was the eldest daughter and the sons were Somnath, Prakash Lal, Roshan Lal, Brij Mohan and Jagmohan. The family had indulged in a number of businesses. The radio outlet ' Rhythm House, 'Super Crush' aerated water, 'Ship' brand beedi, 'Deepak' Hotel, 'Breeze' Hotel, 'Hill Crest' Restaurant in Ooty, 'Ajanta' Cycles, the first juice shop in Coimbatore and a sweet shop in R.S.Puram. 'Super Crush' was the first to introduce cork caps that had to be yanked away with an opener and they used to buy them by the load. Akshay Khanna, the son of Brijmohan Khanna manages 'Foundation One' , a property development business. Now ' Triplex ' is with three families - Inderjit Kapoor, Suresh Chander Khanna and Sulochana of 'Pralochna'. Inderjit Kapoor has been managing the business for more than 30 years. The unit is at Kalikanaickenpalayam and Pawan Kapoor, the son of Inderjit Kapoor manages it by staying put in the same location. The other son Pankaj Kapoor stays in the city and supports the operations along with his father.
"Its really difficult to recall the names of every client. Each one of them have supported us immensely. I am happy to share the names of a few of them during the Centennial Year of our Founder, Prakash Lal Khanna. M.S. Manickam & Co, P.Ethiraj, K.Govindarajulu from the P.A.Raju Chettiar family, LMW family, the complete KG family, Union Ministers Murasoli Maran and Uma Bharati have been our clients over the years. We have had regular clients from Salem, Erode, Karur and Pollachi among other places. Our counters used to open by 8 AM and we never had a lunch break. Now we function between 9.30 AM and 7.30 PM. The lunch break is between 2 PM and 3 PM. Those days we used to charge 75 paise per shirt and 1.25 Rs per pant. Our business is based on petroleum products and we absorb the hikes. Boiler uses diesel, we have a delivery van which uses diesel, Mineral Turpentine Oil ( MTO ), again diesel for the generator and steam pressing. We change our rates in the long run and never in the short run. For example, we buy commercial cylinders and they used to be priced below Rs.1000 in 2012 and very quickly they became more than double in the year 2013. However we stayed firm in our resolve and ensured that the customers did not suffer," stated Pankaj Kapoor.
The family had begun from a hill station called Razmak in modern Pakistan. They had moved along with the army as suppliers to places like Erode and Dharapuram. Sneh Kapoor, the wife of Inderjit was happy to share some details about the Founder - Prakash Lal Khanna, "He was fine person. Was like a father and was very helpful. He used to be very hard working. He used to be an expert stain remover those days. Soft hearted and accommodative at all times. He looked after 'Triplex' till 8 PM and thereafter he would go to 'Breeze', the Punjabi restaurant and stay there till 12 PM everyday.' Breeze ' was the first Punjabi restaurant in the city. Tandoori chicken and other Punjabi non veg varieties used to be served there."
"We use MTO ( Mineral Turpentine Oil as a medium of cleaning. It is used in a ratio instead of water. We take the clothes out after this process and put them in a hydro extractor for drying and removing odour. The clothes are then dried and pressed. Basically all our stores are collection cum delivery centres. Conjeevarams, Woolen clothes, outfits like blazers etc., come to us for dry cleaning. Our name became popular through word of mouth and now the popularity has made 'Triplex' the generic name for dry cleaning. 'Triplex' is a registered trade mark. We have had an excellent relationship with all our relatives and this has helped us to serve the people of Coimbatore for more than 70 years. Quality is our motto and we will always uphold the ideals of our elders," added Inderjit Kapoor with a smile.
'Triplex' had introduced dry cleaning to Coimbatore. Hopefully this story should motivate the Coimbatoreans to keep the city clean from the beginning of 2019.
"Our family used to move along with the British army in order to supply provisions and we used to have canteen contracts with them those days. The British moved from India but we stayed back in this region itself. Our family moved from Erode to Coimbatore in the year 1946. I was born in Peshawar and we hail from the North West Frontier Province ( NWFP ) of undivided India. Vaishno Devi is our Kuldevata. All of us stayed back in India after partition. My father Beliram Kapoor used to run a canteen for the military in Pakistan and my mother Durgadevi was the daughter of Kuljasrai Khanna. 'Triplex' was started by my uncle Prakash Lal Khanna and I had joined him in the year 1960. We had bought the dry cleaning equipment from the military camp and named our business as 'Triplex' after the brand name of the machine. Our first location was Variety Hall Road and this was followed by branches at Big Bazaar Street, R.S.Puram, Gandhipuram, Sai Baba Colony, Vadavalli and Sungam. Once upon a time, we had branches at Coonoor and Ooty too," stated septuagenarian Inderjit Kapoor, the nephew of the founder Prakash Lal Khanna.
Kuljasrai Khanna and Sat Bhirai had been blessed with five boys and girls. Durgadevi was the eldest daughter and the sons were Somnath, Prakash Lal, Roshan Lal, Brij Mohan and Jagmohan. The family had indulged in a number of businesses. The radio outlet ' Rhythm House, 'Super Crush' aerated water, 'Ship' brand beedi, 'Deepak' Hotel, 'Breeze' Hotel, 'Hill Crest' Restaurant in Ooty, 'Ajanta' Cycles, the first juice shop in Coimbatore and a sweet shop in R.S.Puram. 'Super Crush' was the first to introduce cork caps that had to be yanked away with an opener and they used to buy them by the load. Akshay Khanna, the son of Brijmohan Khanna manages 'Foundation One' , a property development business. Now ' Triplex ' is with three families - Inderjit Kapoor, Suresh Chander Khanna and Sulochana of 'Pralochna'. Inderjit Kapoor has been managing the business for more than 30 years. The unit is at Kalikanaickenpalayam and Pawan Kapoor, the son of Inderjit Kapoor manages it by staying put in the same location. The other son Pankaj Kapoor stays in the city and supports the operations along with his father.
"Its really difficult to recall the names of every client. Each one of them have supported us immensely. I am happy to share the names of a few of them during the Centennial Year of our Founder, Prakash Lal Khanna. M.S. Manickam & Co, P.Ethiraj, K.Govindarajulu from the P.A.Raju Chettiar family, LMW family, the complete KG family, Union Ministers Murasoli Maran and Uma Bharati have been our clients over the years. We have had regular clients from Salem, Erode, Karur and Pollachi among other places. Our counters used to open by 8 AM and we never had a lunch break. Now we function between 9.30 AM and 7.30 PM. The lunch break is between 2 PM and 3 PM. Those days we used to charge 75 paise per shirt and 1.25 Rs per pant. Our business is based on petroleum products and we absorb the hikes. Boiler uses diesel, we have a delivery van which uses diesel, Mineral Turpentine Oil ( MTO ), again diesel for the generator and steam pressing. We change our rates in the long run and never in the short run. For example, we buy commercial cylinders and they used to be priced below Rs.1000 in 2012 and very quickly they became more than double in the year 2013. However we stayed firm in our resolve and ensured that the customers did not suffer," stated Pankaj Kapoor.
The family had begun from a hill station called Razmak in modern Pakistan. They had moved along with the army as suppliers to places like Erode and Dharapuram. Sneh Kapoor, the wife of Inderjit was happy to share some details about the Founder - Prakash Lal Khanna, "He was fine person. Was like a father and was very helpful. He used to be very hard working. He used to be an expert stain remover those days. Soft hearted and accommodative at all times. He looked after 'Triplex' till 8 PM and thereafter he would go to 'Breeze', the Punjabi restaurant and stay there till 12 PM everyday.' Breeze ' was the first Punjabi restaurant in the city. Tandoori chicken and other Punjabi non veg varieties used to be served there."
"We use MTO ( Mineral Turpentine Oil as a medium of cleaning. It is used in a ratio instead of water. We take the clothes out after this process and put them in a hydro extractor for drying and removing odour. The clothes are then dried and pressed. Basically all our stores are collection cum delivery centres. Conjeevarams, Woolen clothes, outfits like blazers etc., come to us for dry cleaning. Our name became popular through word of mouth and now the popularity has made 'Triplex' the generic name for dry cleaning. 'Triplex' is a registered trade mark. We have had an excellent relationship with all our relatives and this has helped us to serve the people of Coimbatore for more than 70 years. Quality is our motto and we will always uphold the ideals of our elders," added Inderjit Kapoor with a smile.
'Triplex' had introduced dry cleaning to Coimbatore. Hopefully this story should motivate the Coimbatoreans to keep the city clean from the beginning of 2019.