Forgetting about GST difficulties and other market complications, the Indian domestic market, including small, medium and even top-level companies, appears geared up for further growth and expansion to add new categories in their product basket. It was clearly reflected at the recently concluded Gartex 2017 at Delhi. Organized by Max Exhibitions, the second edition of the event witnessed nearly 18,000 visitors from all apparel manufacturing hubs. Apart from several value addition technology players, the event also included few big companies of stitching, cutting room, fabric and accessories. Team Apparel Online met both the optimistic exhibitors and the visitors and discussed about their future plans and strategies for business growth.
Coming to the viewpoints of the exhibitors, they were really content with the variety and quality of visitors at Gartex 2017. Key Indian apparel manufacturers like Orient Craft (Gurgaon), Eastman Exports (Tirupur), TCNS (Noida), Blackberrys (Gurgaon), Pure Cotton (Noida), Affordable Exports (Delhi) were amongst the visitors’ list who attended the show. From the visitors’ perspective, they had expected more exhibitors in segments such as garment machinery, fabric and accessory which were less in number. However, they were still happy to see a few major accessory and fabric companies exhibiting at the fair such as Madura Coats, Gian Chand Sushil Kumar Jain (More Thread), Pashupati Overseas, Mahashakti Thread Mills, Nilesh Impex India, Neenu Plastics, Synodic Carnival Commercial etc. Chetan Agarwal, Partner, Pashupati Overseas, Delhi was quite busy with the visitors for all three days. Happy with the response, he shared that he got the advantage of being the only fabric company in the show. Importing primarily from overseas countries, the company offers wide variety of different kinds of fabrics specially those which are not being manufactured in India.
Digital printing seemed to rule the reign at Gartex 2017. Various technology companies like Mimaki India, Epson India, DCC Print Vision, Negi Sign Systems, ColorJet India and Apsom Technologies which offer digital printers for textiles, signage, home textiles, etc., presented their latest machinery in this segment under the theme ‘DigiTex’. In the digital printing category, ColorJet also launched its AuraJet II digital printer which uses less ink and has the capability of printing on a 45 GSM paper. It is one such company which manufactures digital printers within the country and promotes ‘Make in India’ concept.
Embroidery technology providers like Aura Technologies, Tajima, Peayush Machineries, Baba Textile Machinery India, Tang, and Unix Stitch Machines also marked their presence at the three-day fair with display of their latest embroidery machines for the industry. A key highlight of the embroidery machinery section was the multi-head embroidery machines ranging from 18 heads to 90 heads. This proved the inclination of the market towards large embroidery machines. Aura Technologies’ boring machine with multi-colour threads and multi-head embroidery machines with automatic bobbin changer also grabbed the attention at the 2017 edition of Gartex. Another company, Tajima, also showcased an 18-head embroidery machine that can simultaneously use various types of threads be it cotton, silk or woollen.
“We are very much satisfied with the event as exhibitors gave us positive feedback about the quality of visitors. The show witnessed almost 18,000 visitors from across India. Our next edition will be even bigger and will have more variety in terms of exhibitors.” – Gaurav Juneja, Director at MEX Exhibitions
Good visitation with investment agenda…
In an exclusive conversation with Apparel Online, some of the visitors discussed their multiple goals to expand in their respective businesses. Anirban Kumar Das, Director of Jinil Spinning/Ansu Meditech Gandhinagar (Gujarat) with a business of nearly 42 crore, shared about having an embroidery unit in his already existing company to boost more growth. Being a textile engineer himself with 25 years of experience in the textile industry, he knows that expansion is the mantra for further growth and therefore, he is investing Rs. 50 lakh on this unit whose production will start within a month. Process house, Color n Style (Noida), is investing in rotary printing technology; jacket suppliers for the domestic market, Kundan Lal & company (Delhi), is planning to do in-house production as it currently outsources for the stitching process. Denim process house, MS Creations (Delhi), which is planning to start kidswear manufacturing, was also seen looking for garment machinery at the fair.
The fair witnessed few visitors from buying houses too such as: Natalino Duo, Director, Pure Cotton, Noida; V. Gopal Krishnan, President, GS International, Noida; and L. Sachin of 4E International, Delhi.
Ahmedabad-based, Kalantry Textile Industries, dealing in second-hand textile machineries, is now investing in garment value addition and finishing plant and will work as a job worker and later may have its own clothing line too. Escott Apparels (Noida) is also expanding its digital printing operation and is looking for machines in the same segment. Similarly, Rohit Bhandari, Director, Strawberry Clothing, Noida, also stated, “Sequence and sublimation printing attracted me as normally we face difficulty in sourcing of sequence. Costing of sublimation printing is what interested me the most.” Doing ethnic wear for domestic market, Magnum Apparels, Delhi, is also investing in specialized machines for formal suits and shirts. “This year, marriage season is favourable, so we are expecting good growth in the current fiscal,” informed Manish Chand Mohnani, Owner of the company. The company is also strongly into embroidery segment and explored the machinery for the same in the fair.
The fair also had two booths of jobworkers. While Rajdhani Creations, Gurgaon – a renowned name in digital printing jobwork – highlighted its digital printing capabilities, Rishab Print & Laser, Delhi displayed its expertise in laser work on denims and Tees and attracted several visitors.
Gartex 2017 also unravelled some of the new companies in the apparel industry who are growing very well and having their own expansion programmes. Having started six months ago, Jodi (Yas Group), Kolkata, began its apparel business with 165 stitching machines and exported to gulf countries. It is now planning to double the capacity within one-and-a-half year. “As we are new, every technology is interesting for us and we like the fair,” shared Thakur AK Singh of the company.
Almost two years old and catering to the uniform sector, Liberty Innovative Outfits, Panipat (associated with Liberty shoes), is witnessing good demand from schools for tees, track pants and track suits which are its core products. Aditya and Saurabh Bansal of the company were impressed by the stitching, embroidery and printing machines in the fair. “We are expanding overall, so we will be investing in whatever machines are required for this purpose,” the duo shared.
The show also witnessed many visitors from embroidered fabric segment. Having stronghold on schiffli embroidery and designs, Gurgaon-based Shiv Shakti Embroidery’s Rajesh Gupta shared, “The fair is okay as I found some relevant technology at some of the booths having value addition.” He further added that despite the increased challenges, his business is growing. Mohib, MD of Surat-based Lace Manufacturers India stated, “Embroidery machines displayed here are good. Along with capacity enhancement, we are focusing more on designs as per the garment’s requirement. For this, we have enhanced our research. The company produces more than 50 lakh metres of lace per annum.”
Apart from these mentioned companies, there were few more who met Apparel Online at Gartex 2017 with their future plans which again proves the industry’s positivity and its movement in the right direction.
