'Come out of comfort zone', special secy tells Indian textile industry

The industry must come out of comfort zone and think about usage of recycling fibre, Singh said at a technical session on ‘Changing Trends in Asian Textile and Apparel Trade’ during the 10^th Asian Textile Conference (ATEXCON), organised by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI).

Singh said Indian industry should collaborate and integrate its system to tap the opportunity provided by ‘China plus one’ sourcing destination. He said that since textiles is a labour-intensive industry, it should set up factories where workers are available. The industry finds it difficult to train migrant workers in Delhi-NCR and other traditional manufacturing hubs, where labour come from other states. The Indian government has amended labour laws suitably to set up factories for large numbers of workers. He said that India has an enterprising class, and added that the country already has quality logistics infrastructure in most of the regions, and now it is on the industry to come forward to get benefits of changing trends.

Moderating the session, Dr. Christian Schindler, director general of International Textile Manufacturers’ Federation (ITMF), said that sustainability has become more important in the recent past. “The textile industry is hit by more and more regulation, specifically in Europe. Therefore, the industry needs to rationalise process and system, which can help reduce footprint on environment.” He threw a number of critical questions before the panellists of the session for discussion.

Rakesh Vazirani, head - sustainability services, Business Unit Products of TUV Rheinland, discussed on a strategy for sustainable textile. He presented a detailed plan for a plant on how to ensure sustainability of the process. He also underlined the need of digitisation in the industry. He said that market data is very important in today’s world for penetration in any market.

Justin Huan, president of Taiwan Textile Federation, and Aroon Hirdaramani, chairman of Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association and executive director of Hirdaramani Group, also virtually participated in the discussion.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)