February, 1-15, 2017

With increasing focus on comfort and fitness, there has been a rise in the demand for knitwear products globally, like T-shirts, polos, sportswear, undergarments and leggings, to mention some popular categories. In India, the export of knitwear accounts for around 45 per cent of total garment exports and of that 44.29 per cent is coming from Tirupur. Even though Tirupur is the competitive hub, giving even Bangladesh a run for its orders in certain categories, of late it is the Delhi-NCR manufacturers that are the preferred choice if the demand is for fashion or semi-fashion knitwear. TeamApparel Online speaks to some of these manufacturers settled in the Delhi-NCR areas to know their prospects for the product… India International Garment Fair (IIGF), one of the established fairs in the international apparel arena, was a dull affair this year with very few new products and low buyer footfall. However, Team AOwas able to meet some good buyers having significant number of stores. Most of these buyers were positive about their current and future business prospects, while some of the first-timers were looking to start sourcing from India. Avedis H. Seferian, President & CEO, Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) who was in India recently, had a long chat with this magazine on many issues, including value from WRAP for the apparel and textile industry. Besides the above, our regular columns of Mind Tree, Fashion Trends, H2F, Industry Wire, Resource Centre, Export Statistics, etc. make the issue worth reading.