Dr. Janmay Hada
Faculty, NIFT- Jodhpur
Dr. Hada is an academician with a passion for research, learning, and delivering lectures in Fiber Science, Textile Science, Textile Chemical Processing, etc. He has completed his PhD in the capacity building of Kota Doria Handloom through design intervention. He is presently working as a faculty member in the textile design department with an additional portfolio as Project In-Charge, CE-Facilitator at NIFT, Jodhpur. He has served premium organisations like Maral Overseas Limited (Knit Processing), Arvind Mills (Shirting Business Division), and BMD Pvt. Limited (Technical Textile: Automotive Fabrics) before joining the NIFT as a faculty member.
He is a professor with over 15 years of experience in textile processing, shirting and knit fabrics, and automotive fabrics. He has also published more than 60 publications and 10 chapters in international and national conferences and journals.
Tell us about your educational qualifications. What motivated you to complete your studies till PhD? And why did you choose this stream?
I have completed a B.E. (Honours) in textiles, an M.Tech. (Textile Technology), PhD (Textile Designing). The simple motivation is understanding and enriching the knowledge in the domain in which you want to specialise. I selected this stream as textiles and fibres have always inspired me, and India is so prosperous in art and craft that I pursued my PhD in the area of textile design at the doctoral level.
As a part of being an academician, research is an integral part. How do you develop a research temperament or what motivates you to carry out research in your labs?
Research is an approach where you find things more practically and the data show the facts and confirmation about the concept. With some 18 years of my experience, I consistently things that the knowledge or experiment we do practically is always better than our theory concepts. The knowledge obtained by research is scientific and objective and is a matter of rational understanding.
Would you like to share some interesting incidents/ instances that happened with you while working as a consultant to different industries or while teaching a batch of students…
Yes, it is early days of my career as faculty, when I had a class in the morning session wherein I wanted to discuss some numerical problems regarding costing with design students. They were not interested to learn things as they thought that it is not important for them but in the final year, the same batch of students were eager to repeat that class because after the internship their perspective for the same subject had changed. Things like these have always fascinated me.
What are the major differences in the industries earlier and now? Tell us about the work ethics as well apart from the technological advancements.
The difference between the industries earlier and now is that things are moving very fast, and more technical and design interventions are used, which are more user-centric than earlier. When we passed out of college major industries were doing conventional things but now they are investing more in technological things, sustainability, people and a design-centric approach. Globalisation has happened: when two decades ago, the major expansion of the industries were on Screen printing whereas now most industry going on digital printing.
How do you teach/ inform your students about the latest developments in the industry and make them ready for working in the industry?
In NIFT, we connect classroom projects with industry, so students make a design for real-time and the same to be in production for consumers, here they can get inputs from the industry as well as faculty mentors so designs are more practical and with the latest ideas. Progress in the field is directly linked with research in that field.
How do you think the pandemic has affected the education system? Tell us both the pros and cons
The pandemic has both positive and negative effects on teaching. From a faculty and student point of view, we know how to connect with students at any place at any time through information technology methods. By using different inputs, we can have one-to-one student interactions and with the help of whiteboards on these platforms, things can be easily managed.
The disadvantage is that fewer practicals and lab inputs, no industry visits etc. We’re organised. In my view, students are more connected with hands and eye contact and learnings by doing is one of the basic steps in the design study, where forms matter not aesthetically but functionality also.
Textile designing is an area in which there is a high of the designs becoming monotonous. What according to you can help in bringing novelty and uniqueness in textile designing and surface patter designing?
To bring novelty and uniqueness to textile design, the design must be simple with intricacy and fineness. However, the design presented by the use of perspective design models concludes to be more direct and fast when compared to the descriptive design models. The objective is to provide support in the early stages of the design process by using Conceptual Design steps, which can be used as a creative analysis process in textile design problems providing a high level of creativity.
How do management studies help students who have studied textile and apparel?
The management studies are helpful in developing leadership and managerial talents in the fields of management, marketing, merchandising and retailing, honed specifically for the requirements of the garment export, fashion and lifestyle and retail sectors. The depth of education in management, marketing, buying, merchandising (retail and export), retail operations, forecasting, international marketing, international trade practices and project formulation.
The area of exploration is creative merchandising/marketing, innovative fashion management practices, Information technology developments, directions of fashion trends and business practices through field visits and industry internships. Research, data analysis and decision-making and the business solutions that are needed are provided by management studies.
There are many innovations coming up in anti-microbial textile sector. Would you please tell us some of them?
After COVID more people are aware of these types of finishes. These finishes prevent microorganisms such as bacteria, and fungi on the textiles. Now antiviral finish is also in trend which prevents viruses on the fabric. The consumer demand for hygiene and active wear has created a substantial market for them. The anti-microbial agents inhibit or kill the microorganisms like silver triclosan, quaternary ammonium compounds, PHMB (polyhexamethylene biguanide) etc. The methods of applications are various methods, depending on the particular active agent and fibre type, have been developed or are under development to confer antimicrobial activity to textiles.
For synthetic fibres, the antimicrobial active agents can be incorporated into the polymer before extrusion or blended. It provides the best durability as the active agent is physically embedded in the structure of the fibre. This method of fabrication has been adopted by some manufacturers, such as the silver-containing Bioactive® polyester fibres developed by Trevira and the triclosan-containing Silfresh® cellulose acetate fibres manufactured by Novaceta. The conventional exhaust and pad–dry–cure processes have been used for antimicrobial finishing on natural as well as synthetic fibres for the biocides such as triclosan and PHMB. Padding, spraying and foam finishing have been used for the silicone-based quaternary agents etc.
Nowadays, there is a trend of wearing tie and dye clothes amongst youngster’s and women. Also, they prefer natural dyes. Please tell us something about the innovations in natural dyes and what influences the trends amongst the customers.
The tie and dye are up due to a more simple or minimal approach, creative, DIY activity fun at home with multiple washes and steps after the covid pandemic. The trends are cyclical but modernized to present culture. The trends are hue pastel and white colour schemes with geometric or subtle patterns. The trends in Tie and dye are Shibori, Dip method and disperse methods.
The design predictions not only demand a holistic approach to the products but also an emphasise on the sustainability of the process in terms of the material, manufacturing process, uses and waste management. The increase in environmental, and ecological problems created a global demand and awareness for naturally dyed fabrics.
Since prehistoric times, India has had a long tradition of colouring the textiles like cotton, wool and silk from natural dyes. In the shifting global scenario, the role of natural dyes will be more important than ever.
Would you like to add/ tell us something else apart from the questions asked above?
Apart from academics, I have also worked in the Industry like Arvind Mills (Casual Shirting Division), Maral Overseas (Knit fabric processing) and BMD PVT. Ltd in technical textiles (Automotive Fabrics). The Journey is going on, and as time passes I am changing my pedagogy into more practical and research-oriented way that incites curiosity for learning and doing things more creatively and passionately.
