Though the July edition of Tex-Trends saw a reduced number of fabric exhibitors, the presence of big companies like Alok Industries, Welspun Zucchi, Birla Cotsyn, Spentex Industries to mention a few did make the event worth the visit. Even a few medium-level players like Kankariya, Balavigna and Raj Rajendra Textile created interest with their latest developments. Predominantly the exhibits in fabrics were for menswear, and workwear was one category which was highlighted at the Texprocil booth as well. Since many of these companies were spotted in different fairs across India earlier in the year, the newness factor was almost absent for a regular visitor.
Texprocil with 3500 companies as its members, spread across all major textiles clusters of India, was seen promoting workwear fabrics and garments at the fair. “Smart Textiles is the future for India’s textile industry. We are seeing that many companies are taking keen interest in this category as the demand for performance based fabrics is increasing; more the performance, the merrier it is,” said Rajesh Satam, Deputy Director, Texprocil while interacting with AO’s Textile Team. Texprocil undertakes regular market research, organizes participation in international trade fairs, conducts buyer and seller meets and also facilitates trade missions in India and abroad.
In line with the focus area, Mumbai based Alok Industries also concentrated on workwear fabrics and garments. While the company is manufacturing workwear garments at its Silvassa unit, workwear fabrics is manufactured at Vapi producing 20 million metres per annum. The specialized performance include flame retardant treated and inherent, high visibility, chemical splash, oil resistant, anti bacterial finish, mosquito repellent, teflon coated, fabric for combat uniforms, anti static fabric, UV protective, moisture management, IRR finish, army camouflage to name a few. Equipped with an R&D centre the concentration is on new fibres and finishes for enhanced performance. The main attraction at the Alok booth was diplaying camouflage garments for Indian army which changes colour at night. According to Naveen Sodhi, Vice President, Marketing (Workwear), besides the Indian army the company is also catering to the needs of private security services in the international market.
[bleft]Kankariya Textiles was showcasing dress materials, shirting fabrics in cotton, viscose, rayon, polyester for both men’s and ladies wear. The company received good enquiries from the buyers from France and Russia. [/bleft]
In the denim category, Arvind Mills as the sole company was showcasing its range of future denims and Euroclean denims for Spring/Summer’13. Future denims are heavy weight denims ranging from 13-14 ounce. Arvind is also producing organic denim using organic cotton yarns. According to Sunil Jain, representing the company at the fair, the cost for organic denim is much higher vis-à-vis other denims, but as they have a few customers in the US, Europe and Turkey who demand organic denim only and are paying willingly, it is a value business. Though the international market is slow, Arvind is producing at full capacity. “As of now Arvind order book is full from domestic market and we are running short of our capacities to fulfil the existing demand,” shared an upbeat Sunil.
Welspun Zucchi Textiles Ltd., a joint venture company between Welspun and Zucchi, an Italian retail giant, showcased its range of terry towels and bathrobes. The company has its manufacturing unit in Vapi where it is producing bath robes for all sizes from infants to adults and exporting to USA, Australia and Middle Eastern countries with FOB ranging from US $ 12 to US $ 25. The company is also manufacturing bath robes for Victoria Secret, US and El Corte, Italy. Welspun Zucchi is now looking at launching its own brand in the domestic market to be sold through the company’s own EBO’s.
Sustainable and unique fibre based fabric was seen at the booth of Tamil Nadu based Balavigna Weaving Mills, which showcased its fabric made with Sorona fibre made out of corn. With natural stretch of 8-10 per cent it provides excellent drape to the garment. Its best application is for shirting and the fabric has already created a buzz in the industry. “Though the fabric is still to be launched commercially in the market, the buyers have shown a great interest in this product and have taken samples for future reference,” shares M. Prabhu, Executive Director of the company according to whom only two or three companies all over India are using Sorona fibre. The company also exhibited its fabric made from Soyabean fibre, which contains protein and has remarkable strength.
Birla Cotsyn (India) Ltd., a Yash Birla Group company, is a leading producer of synthetic blended ring spun yarn and 100 per cent cotton ring spun yarn. The company showcased its blended yarns from cotton to poly cotton in all counts. The company also showcased its shirting fabric range in blends like poly/viscose and poly/cotton. The company received good enquires for its poly cotton yarn range.
One of the major players in yarn, CLC (Spentex industries Limited), which has about 5.5 lakh spindles in 5 units in Maharashtra and 3 units in Tajikistan was another exhibitor that received good enquiries. The company manufactures all types of yarns from cotton to poly-cotton and blends of all counts. Selling largely in the domestic market, the company claims to be booked till the year end. “The main markets for us are Ahmedabad, Tirupur, Delhi, Ludhiana and Ichalkaranji,” shares Chetan Choudhary, representing the company at the CLC booth. The company is also exporting its yarns to various countries, with Bangladesh emerging as a strong exporting base for Spentex. “Recently the exports to Bangladesh have increased substantially and we are seeing the country as a potential market for us,” adds Chetan.
[bleft]Smart Textiles is the future for India’s textile industry. Many companies are showing keen interest in this category as the demand for performance based fabrics is increasing; more the performance, the merrier it is.
Majority of the textile exhibitors feel that the domestic market is a more lucrative option vis à-vis exports as presently the European market is very dull and the US too is not as bullish as last year. [/bleft]
Ahmedabad based Kankariya Textiles Industries was showcasing dress materials, shirting fabrics in cotton, viscose, rayon, polyester for both men’s and ladies wear. “We are getting good enquires from the buyers from France and Russia,” shared the young Harsh Kankariya, who joined his family business just a year back. Kankariya Textiles is selling its fabrics in the domestic market as well as exporting it. “For some of the textiles companies we also do jobwork,” adds Harsh according to whom since 2008, the company is investing a lot on upgradation and expansions. Giving the details of the expansions Harsh says, “We have put new flat belt and rotary machines and digital printing machines. We have also bought a new stenter; the total investment on these is around Rs. 2.5 crore.” Kankariya has two digital printers and it prints about 2000 metres per day with around 1000 designs. With a turnover of Rs. 400 crore, the company is now planning to get into innerwear/sleepwear fabrics like cotton, viscose and rayon but largely it would be cotton fabric.
Mumbai based Raj Rajendra Textile Exports Ltd. exhibited its suiting and shirting fabrics. The attraction was the 100 per cent cotton shirting material and PV suitings. While interacting with AO’s Textile Team, Hiren Chheda, Head Operations shared, “We have been largely catering to domestic brands in suiting fabrics, but now we are exporting our fabrics to Far East, Mexico, Latin America, Egypt and Sri Lankan markets. We prefer doing volume business so small quantity buyers who do not really appeal to us.” Founded in1992, Raj Rajendra with a turnover of Rs. 100 crore, has two manufacturing units, one in Palgarh (Maharashtra) and the other one in GIDC Valsad (Gujarat). Presently the company has around 300 machines, all Sulzers from Switzerland and the monthly production of the company is about 1.1 million metres. Now the company is looking at going for expansion. “By 2014, we’ll come up with another unit for sizing and yarn dyeing. This again would be in GIDC Valsad,” concluded Hiren.
