A well-established name in manufacturing of labels and elastics in the garment industry, Tirupurbased Top Light Labels is a trusted name for many familiar brands, internationally and locally. Speaking exclusively to Apparel Online, N. Velusamy, Chairman, Top Light Labels and his enterprising daughter Kani Prabha Velusamy, representing Gen-Next of the company, talk about the business and what new the company is doing.
Always looking to keep abreast with latest market needs, Top Light Labels has recently ventured into digital printing on elastics at its factory, which was established in 2005. Mostly catering to niche jacquard elastic for undergarments, having in-house production makes the company different from its competition. “Tirupur is a big centre for undergarments and since we are based here and have complete control over the manufacturing process, it gives us an edge. We don’t do inner elastics as there are too many players,” reveals Kani Prabha.
The company has responded to the call for detailed designs and gone in for digital printing on elastics, as intricate designing is not possible in jacquard weaving. With a 25 per cent difference in cost of digitally printed and woven elastics, the company believes that only niche or high-end players in the market can afford to buy digitally printed elastics for their brands. Providing various options for its products, the company currently manufactures 25,000 metres of elastics, 7 lakh woven labels and 1 lakh regular labels per day.
Catering to assorted product category such as woven elastics, woven and printed labels and customized offerings, in the same, the company has a lot of nominations from local buying houses. The father-daughter duo share that though Tirupur has been facing hardships for the past few years, recently the market conditions seem to be improving. “Business is picking up! Now it is not as bad as it was earlier. The yarn price is less this year by around 20-30 rupees, so the cost of production is also less, therefore the exporter is ok. However, the embroidery segment is still facing a very tough time and many companies have closed down in Tirupur. About 20 years back, 1,000 stitches in embroidery would cost 6 rupees, which has come down to only 60 paise,” informs N. Velusamy.
With an in-house product development team, the company is trying to cater to market trends. Interestingly, though PD for export market is buyerdriven, local brands are using the support of the in-house PD for ideas. Looking at the market condition, the company feels it is more appropriate to diversify into accessories rather than garments. “We have always focused on accessories with labels as our core product eventually got into elastics. With garments only if you have a really niche product you can have an upper hand,” asserts Kani Prabha. The company’s export market still accounts for 70 per cent of business, though now the domestic business is growing at a faster pace. “Domestic brands are looking at international standards and they are keener on quality now. For them, as they are in the process of establishing a label, so it is an important part of the business, which they focus on a lot,” adds Kani Prabha.
One of the challenges that many label manufacturers face is compliance to international buyers, and mostly regarding deliveries, but the company feels otherwise. “Buyers give orders at least 6 months prior to shipment, and though there may be 20-25 per cent variation in the deadline, we can prepare ourselves well in time. That way we can be consistent on our qualities and get the yarns in time. It’s only those who are not organized and wait till last moment for raw materials that face this problem,” claims N. Velusamy. Nonetheless, with most brands directly setting up their offices locally, the situation is getting much better. The company however points out that it faces problems from Government policies, which create unfair competition in the market. N. Velusamy claims that though the labels that the Indian market produces is at par with international standards, made possible by using the same machinery, still a lot of labels are being imported from Hong Kong. “Labels do not have any import duties, while for zippers there is a tax on import, which is unfair. Now that we are pushing Make in India, it will be really good if indigenous products are promoted. It’s ok for products you don’t get easily in India, but in case of labels you have million suppliers in India itself,” argues N. Velusamy. Kani Prabha further adds, “Every month, 2-3 shipments go to China from our company, as it’s of the same quality that they are expecting.”
Despite the challenges, the company is doing good business by not only working through nominations, but also by tapping potential business from non-nominated avenues. “The non-organized sector is all about how we service them; it’s very relationship based. Almost 40 per cent of the orders we receive are still from nonnominated sources,” maintains N. Velusamy. Targeting all 3 markets – women’s wear, men’s wear and kids’ wear, the company also manufactures labels for leather manufacturers and works through offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi and through suppliers/ distributors all over the country.
With short lead times of one week or less for sampling and a week again for production, the company maintains all quality standards set by the buyers. “Besides that we have our own in-house quality department, which keeps a strict eye on all products. Yarn and other materials have OEKO-TEX standard clearance. Yet, every time we get a new lot of yarn, we do in-house checks,” informs Kani Prabha. Going forward the company is exploring options to cater to niche product categories such as transfer labels or metal buttons, apart from expanding its already established core competence.
