- Creative Garments, Mumbai is expanding its operations in Tirupur and Vapi with the addition of 2000 machines by next year.
- Along with expanding capacities in existing woven plants, Indian Designs, Bengaluru is adding knitted products and its first unit for sportswear, polo T-shirts will be coming up soon.
- Shirt giant Laguna Clothing, Bengaluru recently added a new factory and has scaled its production capacity up to 10 million shirts per annum in two years which is currently 6.5 million shirts annually.
- SCM Garments, Tirupur is expanding its dyeing plant and garment manufacturing.
- Bhandari Hosiery Exports, Ludhiana has invested heavily in a state-of-the-art fabric plant and garment units in recent years. And it still continues to invest this fiscal year as well.
- Knit Studio, Ludhiana has 150 flat knitting machines and the plan is to do it 400 very soon.
The above are some of the news snippets which indicate that the domestic and export manufacturing industry in apparel sector is growing and the companies are expanding their capacities to grab the upcoming opportunities. Favourable international and domestic market scenario, growing demand of knitted products, focus on niche segments, tilt towards product development, adding new markets, long-term relations with the buyers are some of the reasons.
“I think it is a golden period for the apparel industry unless of course global, geo-political situation does not worsen. The industry will continue to show good growth in the coming years,” said Vijay Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Creative Garments. It is one of the most respected Indian companies, completing 50 years of its inception.
Nearly all the leading apparel manufacturers have a similar zeal.
Indian Government policies and initiatives have also been a great support factor, and in future, impact of these steps will be more visible. And the leading companies very well recognise this factor. Nevertheless, the PLI has sparked a lot of interest across retailers. The industry needs to cash in on all the interest generated from this, along with the help it’s getting from the Government’s positive moves.
“Business is definitely on the rise though buying prices have become more competitive. Once the FTA with Europe also falls into place, we will be in one of the strongest positions to compete with most apparel-producing countries considering the level playing field,” said Ravi Kumar, CEO, Indian Designs.
He further informed that with present clientele, the company is seeing a rise in demand for tops and dresses. The business with shirts, woven apparels and furnishing is stable. “The present plan to diversify into knits has taken shape. Our first unit will be coming up in Andhra Pradesh for polo T-shirts. Most of this will be polyester-based and first deliveries should be early in the second half of the financial year,” he said. The company caters to all market segments – men, women, kids and home furnishing/lifestyle.
Nitin Bhandari, CEO and third generation of vertical integrated company Bhandari Hosiery Exports confirmed the good growth as the company is witnessing a lot of surge in enquiries and business as well. He said, “I expect our garment export business to be around 40 per cent by the end of this fiscal; it will be nearly 30 per cent jump from last few years.” He further added that his company is not doing the mistake of mixing domestic business and export in the same plant. It already has and is further creating more infrastructure to keep them separate.
The company has increased its fabric capacities to 20 tonnes per day, while its garment manufacturing’s monthly capacity is around 200,000 pieces. It has an excellent product coming out of the plant with all high-value fabrics with spandex, special silicon finishes, Jacquards etc. The company is offering a wide range in kidswear, womenswear and menswear like polo to complicated jackets.
Niche product categories helping to grow well
Vijay accepts that there are few players in the bottoms (trousers) business and this sector is surely helping Creative Group in terms of order sheet. It also has an advantage of having an apparel factory in Daman, a place marked by peace and abundant workers. The region also has a reasonable cost of living for workers compared to other hubs.
Laguna Clothing, a premium shirts manufacturer, also has the same advantage as Sandeep Raut, Chief Marketing Officer of the company said, “In formal shirts, we don’t have any competition in India, we are competing with the best companies in countries like Italy, China and Hong Kong. When buyers look beyond China for shirts, they come to Laguna. This is driving our growth as there is no competition for us in India.”
Companies dedicated to knitted segment are enjoying more demand in this segment like Tirupur-based SCM Garments is into activewear and sportswear and working with prestigious sportswear retailers and is also into the supply of fabric in this segment. The company is witnessing more demand for T-shirts, innerwear and underwear, sleepwear, loungewear and garments with fabric value additions.
Not only the big export houses or giant companies are enjoying growth, but comparatively medium-level companies that have organised way of working are also on the same boat.
Having 250 stitching machines, Sri Garments, Tirupur is known for value-added garments for newly born and kidswear. The company working with prestigious clients like Galeria Kaufhof, Esprit and few more, recently expanded its Sedex approved screen printing unit.
“Our strength is value-added products like rompers, jackets, dungarees and much more,” stated Yuvaraj RS, Managing Partner of the company.
Domestic market is much stronger
The Indian domestic market is a focus for nearly all manufacturers. Understanding the importance of the growing domestic market, the export giants like Laguna Clothing have recently launched Aldeno, a luxury shirt fashion brand which they claim is performing well.
Nitin Bhandari also bets on the domestic market saying, “Volume in the domestic market is increasing day by day. Payments have been a concern in the past but they have improved a lot.” He further added that the quality for domestic market is as demanding as for exports which is the only way forward.
Trigger Apparels (part of KG Denim), a well-known name in South India, specialises in denim manufacturing and is also working in multi-directions to grow. Recently it introduced a new fit named ‘trim fit’ targeting youth consumers which is well accepted in the market.
The company has denim manufacturing mill that produces products like denim made of hemp and recycled fibre, and uses eco-friendly wash techniques like E flow washes and laser which save a significant amount of water and energy. “Along with all these initiatives and strengths, our innovation cell is also working on specs and fits for womenswear which is a great potential segment,” told N Rajagopal, CEO of the company.
Another exemplary value-added knit product manufacturer is Knit Studio from Ludhiana. Knit Studio was born out of a dream to launch flat knit garments for women, in premium colours and high-quality yarns including wool, cashmere, acro wool and other blended yarns.
“We aim to become one of the largest knitted garment manufacturers in India in the next two years,” said Gurpreet Singh Ahuja, Director of the company.
The company is currently working with MBOs (Multi-brand Outlets), marketplaces, leading retailers and corporate brands. It believes in creating remarkable designs, unmatched combinations and untouchable patterns/standards made by high-speed Swiss technology machines. It is using ERP (LOGIC) to maintain all the records/ transactions and to reconcile the stock and accounts.
“We will be soon shifting to a new unit (construction is in the process) and will follow required compliance exclusively for the export market,” said Amrin Bawa, Director of the company.
‘The present is great and the future seems to be better’ is the general consensus of all the companies.
