Having started the journey as an importer and distributor of spandex yarn, and then moving into knitting needles after sensing opportunity in the fast evolving Indian knitting industry, Alpex has come a long way as a leading solution provider to the knitting industry. Today, the company has four distinct business divisions – spandex yarns, knitting needles, solar panel manufacturing and wind energy generation.
The company was present at the recently held KnitWorld displaying innovative needles from its principal Samsung. “The response at the fair has been quite promising. We have the widest portfolio of products. Besides needles, we offer other knitting components like jacks, sinkers, transfer needles, warp knitting needles and many other high precision parts catering to knitting industry,” says Ashwani Sehgal, President and CEO of Alpex, the sole agent and distributor of Korean based Samsung Knitting Needles in India, which Ashwani claims is the second largest manufacturers of needles, closely following the market leader Groz-Beckert. Currently, the company has a deep assortment of 2700 types of needles for various applications.
The company attributes its success in the knitting industry to the fact that it does not deal with any sub-dealers but directly interacts with its buyers. “Accepting that India is a key market, we have major presence in the country with network offices in all textile/knitting hubs of Delhi, Mumbai, Tirupur, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, Surat and Kolkata, so that we can give prompt service to our customers,” says Sehgal. The company is supplying knitting needles to some of the biggest names in the industry like Superfine, Pratibha Syntex, Arvind Mills, Oswal Group, Nahar Industries, Eastman Exports, SP Apparels, Defiance Industries, SPL, OWM and Krishna Intertex. “We are working with more than 3,300 knitters/exporters for our products and the trust
that we have earned only goes to endorse the product and service that we offer,” adds Sehgal.
The abundance of Chinese competitors does not worry Ashwani who says, “Needle manufacturing is a very complicated process, involving as many as 150 processes. The quality requirements are too high for home grown Chinese manufacturers to match. Samsung has all the know-how, to manufacture a quality product as it has been making needles for more than 100 years.
