August 16-31, 2014

Steering clear of total dependency on the US and European countries for regular business, Indian apparel exporters have started increasingly adding new and unexplored markets in their portfolio. The markets in South America are among the key focus countries. Falabella India, setup just three years ago, is one such buying office that provides an entry point to this lucrative market and has been one of the fastest growing sourcing offices registering an average 100% year-on-year growth. Amongst the first Indian exporters to explore the South American markets, comprising mainly of Argentina, Peru, Columbia and Chile, was Jyoti Apparels. AO speaks exclusively to Alpana Razdan, General Manager of Falabella India who has established the brand identity in the Indian sub-continent and aims to touch US $ 100 million business in next two years, and Rakesh Magu, Partner, Jyoti Apparels, on their huge flip to business working with the markets in South America. Often referred to as the ‘Manchester of the south’, Tirupur is now foraying into manmade fibre apparels. “If the hub can also include synthetic knits in its portfolio then there can be an increase of about 50% in the turnover,” feel industry stalwarts. AO investigates how the industry is responding to growing international demand for synthetic knits… Besides the above, our regular columns of Mind Tree, H2F, Fashion Trends, Industry Wire, Export Statistics, etc. make the issue worth reading.