C. Elango, Senior Merchandiser with Tube Knit Fashions Ltd is fairly satisfied with the buyer turnout at the 9th India Knit Fair. He has initiated the long drawn buying process with four serious prospective buyers from Europe. “If these talks materialize into deals, we should be supplying these buyers with our garments for Winter 2001”, Elango says.

On the intensified international competition likely to result with the phasing out of the quota regime, Elango says, “Yes, competition will increase for Indian exporters, as a lot more players will enter the fray. Price realizations will also come down. So we have to prepare ourselves for the changes in the offing, starting now. Competition will only increase. So it has become even more important to zealously guard your existing customers, by providing them satisfaction, time after time. That’s what we are trying to do at Tube Knit Fashions.”

Arun Kumar, Chief Quality Controller at Yetticate Exports, is quite disappointed with this year’s fair. He says that the turnout of buyers as well as exhibitors has been dismal. “There were around 130 stalls the last time this fair was held. The number is only sixty now. There seems to be a distinct lack of interest.”

Haresh Parekh of Kaytee Corporation views the low buyer turnout with a different perspective. “One must realize that this is not a bazaar. On a good day there will be around fifty buyers, spread across eight hours. So though at any given point there don’t seem to be too many buyers around, there is actually a fair amount of business being done. Obviously, not everyone is fortunate enough to attract buyers.”

Parekh adds, “Even if one buyer from this fair decides to do business with me after seeing my samples, it makes my being here worthwhile. After all, this is how long term relationships originate. Initially, the buyer would be unwilling to place large orders, as he is uncertain of the seller’s capacity to deliver. Similarly, we are wary about taking large orders, as we are unsure about his ability to provide a regular offtake, with proper payments.”

In Parekh’s opinion, despite the phasing out of the quota regime in textiles, other forms of barriers will continue. These could take the form of environment or child labour related issues. “I see Indian manufacturers gearing up to meet these changes. Several people are investing in infrastructure and manufacturing facilities, including dyeing processes, etc.

Yatish Moncourt of Francis Wacziarg, a buying agency, has a word of praise for the organizers. “I have been a regular visitor at this fair, and I find that the overall organization has been improving each year. Of course, the fair has a long way to go in terms of attracting buyers. Today, foreign buyers really don’t plan their schedules taking into account the Tirupur Fair. But then, even the best International Fairs take eight to ten years to establish themselves. Hopefully, this fair will also establish itself in international garment circles in the next 5-6 years”. Amen to that.

K. Vasanth Kumar, Joint Director, AEPC, says, “I have been talking to all the exhibitors. They are all quite satisfied with the fair. In fact, one stall owner said that the extent of buyer turnout is optimal. Each buyer spends a long time over discussions, sampling and negotiation. So handling more than four or five buyers per day would be taxing!” According to Vasanth Kumar, this year’s fair has been particularly good since buyers started coming in from the morning of the first day itself, unlike in previous years. “We have been successful in putting the Tirupur knitwear industry, and this Fair, on the world map. Business worth crores of rupees is being generated at the fair.”

H.L. Vijaya Kumar is Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Textile Technology, at the Bapuji Institute of Engineering and Technology, Davangere, Karnataka. indiamarkets News Service spoke to him about his department’s ongoing technological initiatives.

indiamarkets: Could you elaborate on the background of your institute?
Prof. Kumar: The institute is part of the group of Bapuji Educational Institutions. The group has twenty-four institutes in its fold. Our institution was set up in 1979. We offer engineering courses in nine disciplines, including textiles. The department of textile technology offers courses at the undergraduate and post graduate level. Shortly, we will also be offering a PhD degree in textiles.

It gives me great pride to tell you that Rieter, the leading textile machinery manufacturer of Switzerland, has rated ours as the Best Textile Department among institutions in India, for the year 2000.

indiamarkets: How closely are you interacting with the industry in the area of textile technology?
Prof. Kumar: At the moment, we have three ongoing projects, on all of which we are interacting very closely with manufacturers. Basically, we identify the problems that the industry faces, and see how technology can be applied to resolve these issues. We also identify seemingly good products, which are not commercially available, and see if a market exists for these products. In fact, even the project work done by students in their final year of the Undergraduate course has an industry orientation.

indiamarkets: Could you tell us about your projects in greater detail?
Prof. Kumar: Our ongoing projects are centred largely around silk. We find that silk, as a fabric, has tremendous potential because of its superior properties. But over 95% of the trade in India is cottage industry based. While technology is quite advanced in the areas of cotton and synthetic fibres, the silk segment is lagging far behind. Dyeing operations are often carried out in the backyards of houses. Despite having the potential, we are unable to compete with China in the global market, since we lag behind them in technology.

It seemed strange to us that there were hardly any silk knitted garments available in the market, despite the excellent properties offered by silk. After surveying over 150 manufacturers, we found that the root cause of the problem lay in the non-availability of silk yarn for knitwear. Whatever yarn was available in the market was targeted at wovens. So we took up the task of producing silk yarn for a wide range of gsm (grams per square metre) and structures, to be used by the knitwear manufacturers.

Initially, we met with some resistance from manufacturers. We had to handhold them through the proper selection of machines, and the choosing of specific dyes specific to silk. Ultimately, we ended up processing over 250 kgs of silk, which amounts to over Rs. 6 lakhs. We are really grateful to manufacturers such as Stallion Garments, for their support in this initiative.

This technology has now been extended to spun silk and blended yarns. We have been getting numerous enquiries from manufacturing houses for manufacturing silk knitwear from these yarns we have developed.

indiamarkets: What are the advantages offered by silk as a fabric material?
Prof. Kumar: Silk, being a natural fibre, is eco-friendly, as opposed to a synthetic fibre like polyester. Silk also offers excellent moisture absorption – it can absorb water to the extent of 13% of its weight. The nature of the fabric is such that it can be used comfortably in both winter and summer. The fibre is also extremely strong.

indiamarkets: Why then has silk failed to catch on as a fabric of popular use?
Prof. Kumar: Despite all these properties, the popularity of silk is restricted on account of its higher cost of manufacturing, and the fact that existing mindsets are hard to change. Technology has progressed in the area of wovens, with the emergence of successful exporters such as Himatsingka Seide and Zenith. Despite this over 90% of processing is done on cheap handlooms and powerlooms, which has an obvious impact on quality. These cottage industry units use staining rather than dyeing, which means the final product is lacking in colour fastness. All this has made silk a high cost, high maintenance fabric, meant only for ceremonial wear. We are trying to change these perceptions, through technology.

indiamarkets: We understand that you have developed a new dyeing technology for silk?
Prof. Kumar: Yes, we have developed a new cost effective technology, which will be made commercially available soon. Imported dyeing machines are costly, costing anywhere between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 30 lakh. Our dyeing plant will be available at less than Rs. 1.5 lakhs. This plant is highly energy efficient and results in a cost saving of around 70%. It can operate on firewood as well as gas burners.

indiamarkets: How do you go about commercializing these new technologies?
Prof. Kumar: We identify entrepreneurs with the necessary resources to implement these technologies in their manufacturing process, in terms of infrastructure and finance. Then we work out a Memorandum of Understanding with the company. This involves our supervision of their manufacturing process for two years, and also covers the royalty payments to be made to us.

Prof. H.L. Vijaya Kumar can be contacted at hlv@vsnl.com
We are grateful to N.S. Srinivasan of Swathy Inc. for his views, incorporated in this interview.

Smitha Nair, Head of the Fashion Design Department at the NIFT-TEA Knitwear Fashion Institute, spoke to indiamarkets News Service on the activities of the institute and its relevance to the Tirupur garment industry.

The institute is a collaborative effort between the National Institute of Fashion Technology and the Tirupur Exporters Association. It aims at providing technological inputs to the knitwear trade in the region. While TEA provides funding support to the institute, NIFT lends expertise through exchange programmes and suggestions for improvement of the course.

The institute offers a 3 year undergraduate course, which blends both fashion and textile manufacturing into its curriculum. The aspects covered in the course include dyeing, printing, development of communication skills, and merchandising. There is also a 1 year diploma course offering specialization in any one of the following areas: Merchandising, Knitwear Technology, Fashion Design & Apparel Making.

Throughout the course, the students interact with manufacturers in the Tirupur region. This includes a 2 month internship with a manufacturing unit. This provides the students with exposure to the knitwear trade, and also the valuable experience of the manufacturers. After graduating from the institute, most of the students join the knitwear units, bringing in technological knowledge to the already existing entrepreneurial skills. The India Knit Fair showcased some of the new designs developed by students at the institute, including a new variety of jute blended fabric.

While the NIFT-TEA institute offers excellent facilities to the students including laboratories with knitting machines, the Resource Centre and training programmes that are currently offered need to be upgraded. This would ensure a fuller utilization of the available resources.

Smitha Nair can be contacted at nairsmitha@usa.net

There is no Stall No. 13 at the India Knit Fair! A small investigation revealed that there has never been a Stall No. 13 at the fair, for obvious reasons. How’s that for blending 21st century technology with 20th century superstition?