SDC holds seminar on driving costs in textile value chain

After the opening ceremony, Yogesh Gaikwad, director of SDC International,  introduced SDC, its mission and its objectives to the delegates.

The keynote speaker for the day was Gautam Makharia, joint MD of Pushkar Chemicals. He emphasised on the 3 P’s of sustainability and how innovation alone can bring about profits through a zero-waste cycle wherein, the by-product of one can become the raw material for the next process/ product. He very well illustrated that at Pushkar how they have created this cycle so that they are able to bring down the costs of the products and be present in a number of verticals in the industry.

The chief guest of the event, Punit Makharia, chairman & MD of Pushkar Fertilisers & Chemicals, talked about how stability and sustainability were important to create wealth. He gave example of the polluting industry of China which is being phased out since it is more focussed on manufacturing more and more with total disregard for disposal of waste.

This was followed by a lecture on sustainability by Dr. Mahapatra using the right kind of dyes which not only ensures that we have the colour depth using lesser amount of dyes, but also ensures lower water and power consumption, which results in lower cost of dyeing. He introduced H&M approved reactive Black Dye which gives the same depth at 5-6 per cent as compared to 13 per cent of conventional Black dye. He also talked about using innovation in the fibre sector with the alternatives to cotton/ silk making an appearance in the industry such as soya bean fibre, which has same properties as silk and milk fibre from waste milk.

The second speaker was Mitesh Shah, sales head, SF Dyes, who was supported by Sunil Sharma from Archroma. He expressed concern that the garment industry, which is slated to grow to 2.6 trillion by 2025, must innovate in all stages of the value chain in order to bring sustainability to fore innovations in dyeing and finishing concepts which will not only allow for savings in process time (one bath) but also allow the garments to be cared for in an easy manner using less water for washing and less energy for ironing.

Introduction to ITMACH was given by Gohain. He announced the dates for ITMACH India to be held from Dec 5-8, 2019, wherein it will be a marketplace to interact with potential new and existing investors from India and neighbouring countries. ITMACH will cater to categories such as machinery for spinning to garmenting, dyes and chemical manufacturers, testing, transport, accessories for waste recycling etc.

The panel discussion was chaired by Sanjay Sathe from Archroma. On the panel were Sunil Chari director from Rossari Biotech, Kalpesh Jain from Silkon Group, Dinesh Jain, director at Rishabh Apparels; Dakshesh Desai, VP business development at Sohan Dyechem; and Abhirup Khetrapal from Bombay Crimpers. There were many interesting viewpoints shared by Chari with regards to what the chemical industry is doing in terms of innovation so that processors like Khetrapal can benefit to bring down their process costs. Khetrapal also emphasised upon the awareness of process houses to innovate in-house process and systems to create less waste and improve profitability. Jain talked about how garment industry is also looking at sustainable fashion. Desai shared his experiences from colour communication being made so much easier with the use of latest tools, which leads to faster and more accurate shade matching and time saving. Jain was also in sync with other panellists and emphasised on how innovation in all aspects of textile value chain can contribute to costs of a garment and how innovation is required to bring down costs and increase profitability for all stake holders.     

The SDC EC is the outstanding provider of colour education, offering a range of internationally recognised coloration courses and qualifications. Founded in 1884, the SDC became a registered charity in 1962 and was awarded a Royal Charter in 1963. The SDC remains the only organisation in the world which was awarded the Chartered Colourist status.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (PC)