[VMC]

Disclaimer:- This review and work was done on one of my colleague's car. I am posting on behalf of him. Either him or me have no personal gain or interest in this enterprise.

Name of the Business:- FitWell Seat Covers.
Location:- HSR Layout Bangalore

What they offer:

Custom fit car seat covers in all materials. Steering wrap, car floor mats, leather sofa manufacturing.

What I bought:

1. Artificial Napa car seat cover.
2. Original Leather wrapping in steering wheel (Stanley leather)
3. Artificial Napa in driver hand rest.
4. Artificial Napa in hand brake.

Likes:
1. Shreesha and Anil have more than 8 years of experience in fitting seat covers. Prior experience in working with Stanley and are serious about their business.
2. Their quote was very attractive. Being manufacturers, we save a minimum Rs.1500 compared to competitors
3. Fit and Finish is great. Transparency with the materials used and they let us monitor the entire work.

Dislikes:
1. Don’t have a dedicated area to park cars. I had to park on a congested main road in HSR layout.
2. I would not recommend visiting during late evening since the streets are not well lit and they use mobile lights to remove and fit the seats.

Now the Experience:

After enquiring in and around Koramangala, HSR and Bannerghetta road, I made up my mind and took the risk to get seat covers for my Hyundai Creta done from Fitwell - a relatively new outlet run by ex-employees from Stanley Leather.

Shops shortlisted for the job:
1. Edge Accessories, HSR
2. Glamour Accessories, Koramangala
3. Sachins Auto shop, Koramangala
4. Fitwell, HSR

This place is located right on the HSR layout 5th Main road and is easy to spot.



How did I come to know about them?

I accidentally ran in to this outlet while exploring options in HSR to fit seat covers. Met Shreesha who own the shop along with his friend Anil. Owners claimed they manufacture and supply, ready to fit and custom fit seat covers for Pratham and Advaith motors in Bangalore. They showed me the pics of work done in the past. Over the next half an hour, Shreesha explained me the different material options (PU, Artificial Napa, Stanley leather) and design options available and pricing for all options.

Their quote seemed much cheaper than other outlets. I took samples of the material and left the place promising to get back in a day. I felt the pricing was very good, but still doubted if they would be able to pull out the promised quality.

I continued my visit to Glamour accessories in Koramangala and checked out options. They costed minimum 1500 over Fitwell. I shared the samples I took from Fitwell and tried my luck negotiating to get a better price, but it did not work out. Still in dilemma, Later that evening, I went to Fit well again and expressed my concern on the quality of deliverable. Some interesting discussions happened for about 15 mins and then, I decided my mind to try my luck out here and scheduled to meet @ 12pm next day. Shreesha just took an advance of Rs 200 (yes, Two hundred rupees).

Next day, my plan got severely delayed since my car got stuck with Glamour accessories for fitting ICE, Sun film, roof rails, etc. Meanwhile Fitwell guys procured the materials and started work. They kept calling us regularly, and we kept pushing the appointment. I hope they would have lost trust in us, but Shreesha kept his cool over the call. Finally at around 6pm, we made to Fitwell. Shreesha and Anil immediately sprung to action and removed and moved the seats to their workshop. It’s a decent little place with two sewing machines, pre-cut measurements for all car models and materials.

Both these guys are enthusiastic, patient and very serious at work. They accommodated my requests to increase cushioning in driver seat at no extra cost. Also, they agreed to redo the stitching on one place based on my feedback. They did not rush to complete though it was too late. Overall, it took 6 hours to gets the entire process completed and I got the car back at 1 am.

Shreesha started removing the OEM cover, while Anil started stitching. They reused the OEM provided guides in seats. This ensured a better fit and finish.




Anil finishing the rear seats and fitting them.





The measurements for steering wheel marked and cut and gluing was done.





The seat cover work was finished by 11.40pm. It was close to 1am by the time the steering and handrest work was finished. At the end it was time and money well spent . I was quite satisfied at the overall package - Cost, material, workmanship and finishing.

Some more pictures of the work done

[motomaverick]

Seems to have done a good work. Can you share Google maps location unable to find the shop in maps.

[VMC]

Here is the link.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/28...5!4d77.6326379

Hope this helps

[hrman]

Looks like a job well done. Its good to discover newer gems in this industry and always better to have more economical options compared to the overpriced stanleys of the world.
BTW, noticed the steering wheel has a driver airbag. Is it necessary to check with Hyundai that the driver side airbag is still functional, since the steering wheel was taken out for the stitching?

[arunphilip]

They seem to have done a good job. Thank you for sharing this with us.

I like the tasteful logo on the covers as well, looks tidy. Why don't you suggest that they instead put their logo on a leather tab (0.5" x 2" or so), and stitch that into a seam? That would look more premium.

A couple of questions:

1. Do they cater to seats with side-mounted airbags as well? i.e. putting in a weaker seam there to let the airbag out.
2. On the steering wheel, at the 1, 5, 7, 11 o'clock positions, there are seams where they've folded the material in. Is that avoidable? The thickness isn't much, though, so that's reassuring (I've seen some that are worse).