Fibre2Fashion

The silver lining that emanated from Gandhinagar over three gloomy, rain-drenched days was as far-reaching as it was clear. The scale of the Textiles India 2017 event, the inauguration by the Prime Minister himself, the ubiquitous presence of a contingent of high-profile Union ministers, and the infectious atmosphere prevailing over the three-day gathering at the sprawling exhibition complex in the Gujarat capital—all point to the textiles and apparel industry being set to get a fillip from the...

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is at long last all set to be rolled out from July 1, 2017. What was once much-awaited will now be a financial reality, and GST will be the way forward. There is almost near-unanimity among various sectors of the Indian textiles and apparel industry that GST will be beneficial in the long run, though there are differences of opinion and uncertainty over finer points. The textiles and apparel industry had to wait for close to two weeks after the GST Council on May...

How do you see the Indian textiles and apparel industry as a whole shaping up over the next few years? Do you think things look good? Neelesh Hundekari: Things look good, but they could be better. If you look at the upstream part of the value chain, which is yarn and fabric, India has a solid competitive advantage, maybe more in yarn and less in fabric. In garmenting, we have lost the plot. In terms of retail, it is an attractive market, one that will evolve on its own. I think there are quite a...

The sheer expanse of the textiles and apparel industry can be extremely overwhelming for the uninitiated eye. The value chain of this industry is possibly the longest, and its Indian avatar is crucial not just to the country's political economy, but has a bearing on its socio-cultural fabric too. From the unorganised handloom sector to the capital-intensive retail outlets, and from decentralised powerlooms to state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, the Indian textiles and apparel sector cuts...

Of all resources that the textiles and apparel industry needs to transform fibre into fashion, water is arguably the most precious and increasingly becoming scarce. It was only natural that the focus of the annual sustainable textiles summit, Planet Textiles, this year was water. From the issue of availability to judicious use of the scarce resource and the problem of wastewater pollution, it was an array of water-related subjects that dominated the one-day event in Bengaluru on May 24. Jointly...

What percentage of your products (manufactured and/or retailed) are made of cotton fibres (both in terms of units as well as the number of product lines)? Aditi Somani: Depending on the season and theme of the collection, we alter the use of cotton fibres from 40–70 per cent of the collection. In my spring summer collection, 80 per cent is cotton-based. Siddhant Gupta: About 45 per cent. Manish Tripathi: The major amount—90 per cent of the product line—is cotton-based. Pankaj Anand / Anil Arora...

There are few industries that are under pressure both from within and outside to pull up its socks than the textiles-apparel-fashion industry. And there are few agricultural crops/products that that have so much of an overarching bearing on countless industries down a longwinding supply chain as cotton; and in this case, it would be the same textiles-apparel-fashion industry. There have been enough damning reports—some contentious, others not—about the way cotton is cultivated and the adverse...

The Fabric of Change initiative of Ashoka and the C&A Foundation is set for a scale-up with the two organisations launching a new €250,000 Scaling Impact Fund as part of their joint venture supporting social innovation in the apparel industry. The announcement came in the run-up to the Fabric of Change Globalizer Summit organised in Bengaluru on Friday. "The awards will focus on the newly crafted strategies and the way forward rather than past achievements. This is an exploratory process that...

There's a new eco-friendly fibre on the anvil—Austrian speciality fibre-maker Lenzing will soon be launching EcoVero, a viscose with the lowest environmental impact in the industry. This, Lenzing believes, will set a new industry-wide benchmark in the sustainability of viscose fibres. According to Robert van de Kerkhof, chief commercial officer and a board member at Lenzing, the new viscose fibre would be based on three pillars: use of sustainable wood resources, a ecological production process...

What are the trends in sportswear / activewear / outdoor wear purchases that you have been noticing over the last few years? What are the changes? Jennifer Kapasi: The Indian casual and sportswear market has evolved significantly over the last couple of years. The industry has witnessed rapid growth, driven by growth in income levels, changing lifestyles and the entry of foreign players. Over the past few years, the Indian market has seen a drastic change with respect to global fitness trends...