InFashion 2011 kicks off with 'Innovation'

15 Mar '11

4 min read

InFashion 2011, South East Asia's Premier Textile Exhibition & Conference opened on a positive note. With Innovation as the key theme, InFashion 2011 is the biggest event which hosts the entire textile and apparel manufacturing and fashion fraternity together under one roof to buy, source and view the latest innovations from the business of fashion over next two days.

The opening session of the first ever edition of InFashion 2011 saw industry champions stressing on innovation in the sector. Also, FAITMA and Birla Cellulose launched Project Spun Shades on the occasion. Spun Shades is an innovative fibre which is dyed at the production stage. Typically the fibre is not coloured - it's spun into yarn and then woven into cloth and then coloured. In the case of Spunshades the fibre itself is coloured which then takes away the step of colouring the cloth down the line.

The opening session titled 'Innovation in Textile and Apparel Value Chain' addressed key issues in the sector including supply chain, denims and Human Resources. The key note address was delivered by Dr P R Roy, Director, Fiber2fashion, Malwa Group, NSL textiles and former Group CEO, Arvind Mills.

Dr. Roy stressed on the need to innovate and highlighted that India in the past 100 years had missed the innovation cue even though it was a leader when it came to textiles. He also stressed the need to bring out eco-friendly initiatives. Dr. Roy reiterated that the hour had come for Indian industries to innovate and innovate fast and effectively to erase the impression that Indians cannot innovate.

Taking the Innovation theme ahead was the second session which focused on the supply chain for textile and clothing. Chairing the session, Shreyas Joshi, President, Raymond Apparel, mentioned that looking at the constantly evolving consumers it is critical for every part of textile and garmenting business to innovate in every aspect of the business. Rajiv Ranjan, President, Mafatlal industries, Pawan Jain, CMD, Safexpress, Samar Sharma, President Apparel, Kamadgiri Fashion and Dr PR Roy were part of the panel.

Talking about the increasing focus on the role of supply chain in the textile business, Rajiv Ranjan, President, Mafatlal Industries said, “Supply chain has gained tremendous importance in the recent past as it's critical to the cost factor.” Ranjan also mentioned that the textile industry has undergone a paradigm shift in terms of the way both international and national supplies are being handled at par.

Samar Sharma emphasised that the supply chain function in India has moved on from being a cost efficient function to a customer centric function. Commenting on the need to understand consumers, Pawan Jain, CMD, Safexpress said that to make supply chain management efficient the biggest innovation needs to come from textile manufacturers and that innovation will help the supply chain to add critical mass to entire equation. Jain added,”The end consumer is aware of his needs and inspirations, and the textile manufacturers should be able to respond to this need and therefore supply chain management needs to be a part of the CEO's agenda."

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