SS Textile Media’s 11th edition of Yarnex, Tirupur was quite successful in connecting yarn and fabric manufacturers with their existing and perspective clients. With more than 100 companies participating in the fair, many big-level companies like Reliance, Vardhman, Arvind, Trident, Grasim, Bhilosa, Wearit Global etc. and several medium-size and emerging companies displayed their latest offerings and saw good visitation. With the industry revolving around basic fabrics like cotton, PC, mélanges, cotton spandex, it is evident that new/innovative products are of prime interest at present. In discussion with team Apparel Online, most of the companies expressed positivity about the business as they were sure that all the glitches within India and overseas market are for short term. According to them, the new offerings in textiles are the key to win over the stagnant market.
Keeping this perspective in mind, several interesting innovations by companies were witnessed at the event and were highly appreciated by the visitors. Focusing on blended fibres like intermingled injection slub with Neps, Jaspe with Neps etc., Winsome Textile Industries Limited, Chandigarh had good visitor footfall. Vipin Bathla, VP-Marketing of the company shared, “Fair proved really good as we met many prospective visitors. Buyers are looking for cheapest available products but they should look and work good also, so our innovations are worthy.” This price pressure has forced companies to come up with cost-effective products and some of the companies did it nicely. Punit Chandr Arora, AGM – Marketing – Fabric of Maral Overseas Limited, Noida informed, “Some of the fabric structures which were earlier used to knit using jacquard machines had higher production cost. We have, therefore, now developed such particular fabric on normal machines so that knitting cost comes down to nearly Rs. 70 per kg.
These fabrics are not jacquard but look completely like jacquard.” Maral Overseas Limited, producing 100% cotton, PC, cotton modal, value added yarns, came up with miyabi fibres (modified acrylic by Mitsubishi Japan) which are smoother compared to many yarns as well as warmer and light weight than wool and also do not create any itching or discomfort. The company is also working on hollow polyester which has better wicking effect in sportswear. Ranjit V.V, Manager – Marketing of the company shared his views about the demand, “In South India, PC (40:60) is a regular product but since last few months, demand is more for blends like cotton modal, cotton viscose. Even in 100% cotton, we are observing demand for value-added yarns like organic, BCI, Fair Trade.”
Alok Industries Limited, Mumbai, which participated in this event for the first time, also highlighted some innovative products, while several of its products are in under-development stage which are targeting mainly the Gen Next. Sunil Krishnan, VP, HOD, Knits Marketing of the company informed, “Some of our new offerings are going to commercialize in the next six months while few will take one year or even more. We had meeting with the world’s top raw material suppliers and we are on track to bring in fashionable apparel fabric which are comfortable and at the same time add value for the wearer. One example of such fabric is cool black which keeps the wearer cool even in the sun despite wearing black colour garments.” Furthermore, the company is working on fabrics which have inherent stretch as generally for stretch, one has to use spandex or lycra. But this upcoming fabric will have inherent stretch without lycra. This product will have price advantage and stretch will last lifelong. Similarly keeping athleisure in mind, the company is working on fashion products targeted for this category (with the use of nylon).
Mélange yarns were also a dominant feature at the fair, especially at the booths of top companies. As usual, Trident Group, Ludhiana had a beautiful booth with focus on this yarn (Lotus brand). With respect to mélange yarns, Trident offers 100% cotton, 100% viscose and blend of cotton with polyester, viscose, modal, tencel, wool, flex, lyocell etc. Ashish Ahuja, CEO, Yarn Marketing of the company shared, “Tirupur, especially the export segment, is a major market for mélanges. So we are focusing on the same.” He further added that as the last cotton season was severe for garment manufacturers due to abnormal prices right from the beginning of the season while yarn prices in Bangladesh, China were far more competitive, this created issues for 100 per cent cotton-based garments and hence blends became even more important. But now as cotton prices are dropping again, things will settle down again and shift to 100 per cent cotton. But, in fancy segment, there is an increasing trend of blended yarns due to fashionwear/womenswear. Tri blend, even poly-viscose, is now in fashion in knitted segment. This is how the trend is changing.
Mélange yarns were also a dominant feature at the fair, especially at the booths of top companies like Trident Group, Amarjothi Spinning Mills, Sarmangal Synthetics, etc.
Known for man-made cellular segment predominantly viscose, modal, tencel etc., Pallavaa Group, Erode is expanding into mélanges and dop dyed products and partnering with Grasim industries for the same. “We see a lot of future in this segment. We are reasonably happy with the pace of industry’s growth in man-made segment,” shared Durai Palanisamy, ED of the Group. He further added that in South India, the woven segment is increasing but eventually the fabric is moving to the North and other parts of India and the finished product is coming from there, not only for southern consumption but also for the consumption by the entire industry in South.
Indo Rama Synthetics (India) Ltd., Gurgaon, is also restarting dop dyed, bright yarns as currently it is just focusing on row white, semi-dull products only. Siddharth Vohra, AVP-DTY (Domestic) of the company shared, “We were offering the same till few months before but stopped. As now demand for speciality yarns is increasing, so within two months or even before, we will be in the market with these and many new offerings.”
There is consistent demand for mélange in the industry and one of the main reason for the same is its antique look. This is why more and more companies highlighted mélange at the event. But established players saw it is as a positive step rather than increasing competition. “Instead of considering them as our competitor, we have to show our strength in how much R&D we are doing, how much quality-focused, fashion-oriented and sustainable we are,” said UF Chanraj, Sales Manager, Amarjothi Spinning Mills, Tirupur. The company highlighted its fancy yarns as it strongly feels that to survive in the market, it must offer value addition and not just the conventional products. Having specialization in mélange dyed yarns, Sarmangal Synthetics, Pollachi has count range from 10s to 50s and is are working with garment exporters associated with top brands of the world. B Nirmal Jain, MD of the company reacts positively on the competition about mélange yarns. As stated in his own words, “We have competitive edge of quick delivery (shorter lead time) compared to any big giant. We also have hands-on management for this and lot of flexibility for ease of our clients.”
Not only were new offerings the focus point of yarn and textile companies, but even some of the top companies confirmed Apparel Online that they are planning to expand their capacities. Expansions are happening in almost every segment – yarn, fabric, and processing.
Having specialization in fancy yarns, PP Yarn Agencies, Delhi has also come up with metallic yarn requiring very fine gauge which is quite ideal for circular knitting, especially for exporters. Aakash Poddar, Director of the organization avers, “This new offering is very smooth due to fine denier which also increases its length. Some of our fancy yarns are also viable for embroidery (cording attachment).” Similarly, it also works on multi-shades in space dyed. The company also offers customized yarns. Further it is planning to offer fire retardant yarns in a big way.
Cotton nylon, cotton silk, cotton wool blends etc. of Vardhman Textiles Ltd. were highly appreciated by the visitors. The company displayed huge range of its products. Its agent for South India, B. Balusamy, Director, Royal Yarns Coimbatore, Tirupur shared that only few of the companies can do some of the innovative blends like cotton nylon and they have expertise in such innovative blends. Their clients explore further opportunities by using these blends. He further added that the increasing trend of manufacturing high fashion garments in Tirupur is also motivating the manufacturers to explore new blends which are the strength of Vardhman.
