The industry can learn from Tirupur in the way it organizes, participates and visits the trade shows, whether they are technology, fabric or accessory fairs. The 15th edition of Knit Show held recently, was a perfect example with the keen focus and involvement of almost all stakeholders of textile industry, be it the yarn and fabric manufacturers, medium size or big traders, world class printing technologies (screen or digital), knitting machines, ERP providers or accessories manufacturers and support services etc. Complementing the wide range of products on display, enthusiastic visitors consisting of top exporters to merchandisers, technical teams, domestic brands, buying houses and even job workers, visited the show throughout the three days, taking keen interest in the various products at different booths. Majority of the companies, both participants and visitors, expressed satisfaction with market conditions and are expecting business to improve.
A comprehensive fair, the event witnessed maximum exhibitors of fabric and accessories from across India, displaying their latest products. It was good to see that most of the companies and especially those with the younger generation entrepreneurs helming the organizations, expanding their footprints across the nation, be it from North, South or Western India. Radhika Knitters and Shree Ganesh Knitters, both from Amritsar, were participating for the first time at any event in Tirupur and had a nice collection of lace fabrics at their booths. Ayushman Agnihotri of Radhika Knitters claimed to have a very good market share in manufacturing of cotton rachel laces, as his product is cheaper compared to similar laces being imported from China. The company has capacity of total 10 lakh meters per month and has recently started offering organic lace fabric also. Sri Kalyan Export, Erode, which displayed organic fabric, also felt strongly that demand of organic fabric is growing in Tirupur.
Among the many fabric traders at the fair, Sri Kalyan Export and Viji Knitting Mills were the two companies having good manufacturing setups, claiming to be producing quality fabrics. Having specialization in knitted fabric and offering recycled fabric by using recycled yarn and cotton wastage, T. Senthilkumar, MD, Viji Knitting Mills claimed, “Recycled fabric is very popular with buyers today, as they are eco-friendly and cost effective. There is no strong company in Tirupur offering recycled fabric in the same price band as ours. To avoid shade variation and ensure good quality, we prefer fiber dyeing.” The company has 90 per cent clients from export segment for its 6 ton fabric per day capacity. It accepts minimum order of 100 kg and is able to deliver bulk order in one week to 10 days time. The variety includes single jersey, airtex and fleece, with matching collar & cuff.
Also of interest to the visitors were the companies offering a wide range of accessories as complete solution providers for garment manufacturers. Many of these companies claimed their dedication towards sustainability. The Theerthik International, offering variety of laces, buttons, zippers etc. and dyeing job works, is OEKO-Tex certified. “We have a dyeing capacity of 3 ton per day and we use only OEKOTex certified supplements,” informed RR Mudhiyaan and PK Rangaraajan, Directors of this two years old company having clients in Tirupur, Karur and Chennai. The company is now working to expand its reach all over India. The ISO 9001:2008 certified company has an office in Hong Kong which supports the sourcing of OEKO-Tex certified products.
Known for lingerie and garment accessories, BK Industry, Mumbai, had on offer plastic, metal ring & slider, padded bra cups, hook & eye and tapes, elastics, embroidered fabrics and many other things. “We are expecting that the market will improve further in the coming days and are accordingly expanding variety as well as designs in various products to meet the boom. Now we are also offering production of complete bra for exporters and for that we have a factory in Bhiwandi. It is like a support to our clients who were earlier taking only accessories from us as they get good quality ready products in reasonable rates. Similarly, we have developed dyes in India and that too in CNC mould to give superb finish. In this way, we are offering complete support to the lingerie industry,” claimed Yash H. Kotak and Harish V. Kotak, of the company.
Known for its quality products and offering in plastic seal tags, rubber labels, metal accessories and many other products including plastic hangers, button badges etc; Arun Electronics, Delhi, has also started manufacturing of zip pullers. Like its other products, the company offers customized services in this new offering too. Arun Arora of the company shared, “As we are continuously offering new products in the best quality parameters, Tirupur industry appreciates our products. The rich look of our products also attracts the customers. On the basis of my discussion with the garment manufacturers at the fair, I can say that market is opening up and business will grow more, we are expecting good orders in coming days.”
Gauri Impex, Delhi, too offers a complete variety of accessories like zippers, metal and ABS buttons, seal tags, leather patches and has recently introduced belts, especially for the export segment. “We have expertise in all the items we offer and now we are planning to add Schiffli machines to offer more variety and to also increase capacity in laces. We have been supplying to the Tirupur market for more than 10 years and have seen a good growth here; more business is on the cards. I must add that we get good volume orders from this region,” said Pankaj of the company, which has an office in Tirupur to serve the region better.
A respected name in lace manufacturing, Delhi-based KC Astir & Co. too has good client base in Tirupur and representatives of the company Vijay Mohan Nair and Sanjay Kharbanda observed that like the exporters, garment manufacturers for domestic market are also asking for quality products and latest designs, which is a good trend. “This trend will create more demand for our products as we are unique in quality, variety and delivery,” they said. In the lace section, besides Netflex of Mumbai, Pioneer Embroideries, also of Mumbai, too had a good response. Gangadharan, Senior VP of the company was of the opinion that as a lot of sampling has been done, the market is expected to improve in the coming days. The ISO 9001:2008 certified company is looking at good demand of cotton and crochet laces.
The booth of Radha Laces, a local manufacturer of laces, was also a point of attraction. P. Kalimuthu, Partner of the company said, “Being Tirupur-based and having in-house manufacturing facility of schifflli and other laces gives us a better understanding of the needs; the delivery time to the garment manufacturer in the region, is also quicker. We have huge capacity with 11 schiffli and 24 crochet lace machines. With more than 2,000 in-house designs, we can also offer whatever designs are being asked for. Moving forward, we are planning to offer colourful laces to our customer base of almost 500 exporters.”
VISITORS GALORE AT KNIT SHOW
Thousands of visitors including top exporters like N. Chandran, CMD of Eastman Exports Global Clothing and A Sakthivel, Chairman Poppys Group, besides representatives from Sri Jaya Prabha Exports, Pranavo Apparels, Dorai Fashion Wear, Dannie Fashions etc; and domestic companies like RD Knitwear , Gannex Fashion to name a few, were seen at the fair. Apart from these Tirupur-based companies, the show witnessed visitors from many other cities like All Times Living Fashion (Karur), Book Mart (Vijaywada), Rare Texsource (Chennai) and Perpic Designs (Ernakulam) to mention a few, also visited the event. Owners and the merchandising, technical teams of various visiting companies not only appreciated the show, but even accepted that they were able to find many products of interest. Majority of the visitors were positive about the market and further order booking, despite their worries about Europe and latest Yuan devaluation by China. “The Fair was good and I found good variety in most of the items and few new suppliers too,” said S. Ramesh, Owner of Dorai Fashion Wear.
