India has traditionally been a strong spinning centre, mostly for cotton yarns and many fabrics and apparel manufacturing destinations are dependent on the country for their raw material requirements. Of late, the spinning industry has really upgraded and innovated, and now the range of yarn available in the country is very wide and can be clubbed under 4 categories – basic, fancy, sustainable and technical yarn.
While the technical segment is being extensively backed by Government support, the one area that has really emerged strong is the sustainable section and India is eyeing to take leadership position in this category as more and more mills join the bandwagon.
As a cotton growing country, cotton-based yarn, fabric and apparel have dominated offerings from India for decades and which as a natural progression developed into a strong organic cotton movement at the turn of the new century. According to the Organic Trade Association, there has been 31 per cent growth in the organic cotton industry in the past one year and it is expected to see a rise of 10 per cent by the year end (2021). The uncertainties around the market have pushed the price of organic cotton by 8 to 12 percent in the last year. Yet, the demand is on the rise as consumers take to sustainable products in a big way, post the onset of the pandemic.
However, the R&D for sustainable yarns is not limited to organic and the textile industry is looking at many sustainable alternates. “Our attention is on sustainable products and making different blends as per market requirements with focus on recycled poly, organic, BCI and recycled cotton. This is despite the fact that new norms and requirements for sustainable products have challenges to meet quality norms as per change in fibre as brands expecting same type of quality, different parameters, however want to use more environmental-friendly products to save the Mother Nature. Challenges are many, however, we all need to try to go for best utilisation and innovative approach to have a win-win situation,” says Rajesh Mittal, Director, Cedaar Textile Private Limited.
The company offers a wide range of Melange Yarns, Solid Top dyed yarns, grey fancy yarns in cotton, polyester, acrylic, viscose, Tencel, modal and other fibres. All yarns are being offered with sustainability as prime focus in 100 per cent organic, recycled fibres (polyester and cotton) for green environment and conservation natural resources.
No doubt R&D has always been critical for the growth of any industry, but today the importance of innovation is at its peak. “R&D has also changed considering how the country is being looked at by the foreign buyers. More and more buyers are looking at India to expand in new products. Vardhman has been working on specialty/sustainable yarns like Cocona, Coolmax fibre blended yarns etc. We have been working on processes to give customers a better quality and a bigger basket of yarns,” shares Amit Jain, Chief Manager, Central Marketing Yarn, Vardhman Textiles, adding that at Vardhman, there is always an emphasis on new product development, bringing in newer technologies and processes to reinforce their position as the pioneer in textile manufacturing.
