The future of Indian textile and apparel industry appears promising, buoyed by both strong domestic consumption as well as export demand. The fact is that the Indian industry is still the largest importer of sewing machines. Manufacturers of sewing machines and spare parts across the globe, who are primarily from China, are looking towards India as a potential market for business and the same was evident at the New Delhi edition of GTE ’17. Many Chinese sewing machine manufacturers, who exhibited at the event, have plans to enter the country directly on their own or with the help of the Indian dealers. Team StitchWorld talked to some of them about their plans for India and the product specifications…
Zhejiang Baoyu Sewing Machine Co. Ltd. is confident to acquire a compelling position in the Indian market. The company came to India to offer BML-9300-D4 – a high-speed lockstitch sewing machine with auto-trimmer – which runs using in-built direct drive servo motor. Ruan, Chairman of Baoyu, explains, “Our machine realizes computer quick start and precise stop which greatly reduces noise and vibration as well as saves energy consumption as much as 35 per cent. This machine requires very less maintenance as it is equipped with in-built PCB. So, if any damage occurs, we replace the IC chip instead of performing long maintenance for hours as we do in case of conventional machines.”
Chinese sewing machine manufacturers are highly optimistic about the Indian market due to the products’ durability, sturdy construction and scratch resistance as all the machines are developed under strict compliance with the prevailing industry standards.
To capture the Indian market, Baoyu has adopted a strategy of working with five different dealers simultaneously and to tackle competition, all the dealers have divided the area of distribution for the sewing machines that they procure from Baoyu. Tony Ma, Foreign Trade Manager of Baoyu, comments, “Dividing the area will help the company grow in all parts of India with lesser chances of high competition.”
Another company, Taizhou Dxing Sewing Machine Co. Ltd., offering Dxing brand, deals in high-end sewing equipment. The company has an independent research and development unit of internationally advanced-level. It has a range of automated sewing machines with a special focus on DX-0303-D3, which is a direct-drive computer double synchronous heavy material lockstitch sewing machine. David Fish, Sales Manager of the company, says, “This machine incorporates the functions of auto-trimmer, auto-needle positioning, auto-counting and auto-reverse sewing with superior capacity to sew heavy duty and multi-layer materials.”
Dxing is working with many dealers from India such as Saha Stores, Kolkata; Star International, New Delhi, and the company is in touch with some dealers in Chennai also. With the ongoing planning and the way it’s being executed, David is confident about the success of Dxing in Indian market.
Not only sewing machines specialists, but also spare parts manufacturers from China presented their products with an aim to make a strong grasp over the prospective Indian textile market. Meisda, a precision part manufacturing expert, focused on a comprehensive range of high quality sewing machine spare parts. Erick, President of Meisda, is highly optimistic about the Indian market due to its product’s durability, sturdy construction and scratch resistance as all the products are developed under strict compliance norms with the prevailing industry standards. Erick shares, “Our range includes spare parts of four Japanese brands: Yamato, Juki, Pegasus and Brother. We are the top-rated manufacturer and supplier in China, and now we want to cater to the Indian market too.”
Talking about the technological advancements in the products, Erick elaborates, “As machine parts undergo wear and tear, all our parts are subjected to a quality control test under international standards.”
Meisda has been working in India with IIGM, a leading technology agent, for around five years. Erick responds, “If we don’t make customer-friendly policy, we won’t be able to make our brand a trusted one in the market. IIGM does have strong customer relationships and we have high-quality parts, so we believe to attract more customers in future with this collaboration.”
While the Indian textile market is getting very competitive with many new players entering the arena, still a scope of saturation exists here, believes Juku, Director, Juku Sewing Machinery Co. Ltd. The company came to India with its latest offering – JK-8900D-3, an automatic machine with all the useful features such as trimming, reverse sewing, needle positioning, lift pressure foot and 70 per cent energy saving capacity. Juku explains, “We see a bright scope here in India as far as business of sewing machines is concerned. Though we are one of the major suppliers of high technology sewing machines in China, we are sure that we can provide perfect products and excellent services in India also as we aim to hold a large customer base in the country.”
Also present at the fair, Wenzhou Zhongzu Electronic Technology Co. Ltd. was in India as part of the group of Chinese technology suppliers presenting its industrial steam irons and the model ‘99S’ were the main offerings of the company. Cheng Jin Jiang, Representative of the company, comments, “The model ‘99S’ is a patented product which is more powerful and convenient to use due to technological advancements in iron. The users now just need to take off the shell without dealing with the junction box. Also, it used to take around 1 hour previously to clean the junction box but now it can be done in 10 minutes, thus, improving work efficiency and extending service life as well.”
The continuing trend towards seamless integration of electronics into sewing machines is driving adoption of Indian buyers and sensing this adoption, Helen, Vice General Manager of Duma Sewing Machine Co. Ltd., comments, “Potentiality in Indian market is irresistible.” Duma offered DM 1969M, a computerized special stitch pattern lockstitch sewing machine, at GTE ’17, which the company claims, comprises of double button LED light that enables users to do mutual switch from second stitch to compensation stitch by the press of a button. Explaining the salient features of the machine, Helen further shares, “This model is controlled by a step motor system and the operator can design 9 types of stitch-patterns from D1 to D9.” However, Helen is looking to capture the Indian market with its Indian dealer ‘Wellknown Syndicate’.
The presence of many Chinese sewing machine brands in India indicates the Indian consumers and buyers’ acceptance level of technologically sophisticated products. Lincoln Sewing Machine Co. Ltd. is also witnessing a rampant exodus of high-end machines from China to India. The company offered LK-1790A machine which, Vivian, Manager of LINKSW, claims to be an intelligent computer direct-drive flat head buttonhole machine series. This machine performs buttonhole operation using basting stitch mechanism and is said to be effective on elastic materials such as knits, saving cost of 5 labourers. The machine is able to store 99 different patterns in its memory, which can be selected as desired from the operation panel.
Values inspiring Chinese sewing machines manufacturers
• Baoyu: ‘To Do Better, Stronger and Larger’
• Dxing: ‘Quality First & The Customer Is Supreme’
• Meisda: ‘Supremacy of Quality, Integrity- Based, Sincere Service’
• Juku: ‘Create Superior, Create Value’
• Wenzhou Zhongzu Electronic Technology: ‘Set R&D, Design, Production and Sales in One Go’
• Duma: ‘Drive Technology with Innovation, Ensure Quality with Technology, Win Credit with Quality’
• LinkSW: ‘Product Innovation, Scientific Management, Quality First, Satisfactory Service’
• Yili: ‘Integrity Based, Customer Highest, Service First’
Vivian shares, “India is a big potential market which is now moving to adopt automation, labour and power saving sewing machines. Keeping Indian market in mind, the company is offering a complete package of technology with strong after-sales service. LINKSW has tie-up with the Indian dealer ‘Sonex Sewing Machine’, a Delhi-based enterprise, to provide customer service, technical support and maintenance training.
To go with this significant change in technology landscape, another Chinese company Yili Garment Machinery Co. Ltd. presented fully automatic vacuum table, a highly integrated iron machine with an in-built steam channel. The machine does have high working efficiency with energy saving system that consumes 2.8 to 3.0 degrees per hour which ultimately reduces the power consumption cost. Jessica Mo, Representative of the company, shares, “This machine has got the national patent in China and only our company can sell this machine in our country which is worth US $ 200. For India, this machine is new but we are here in this vast market to find opportunities.” Growing consumer preferences for high-end features in Indian textile market and the propensity of Chinese sewing machines and spare parts manufacturers towards India, is expected to foster growth in the industrial sewing machines business of Chinese brands.
