Denim Show to showcase Indian denim industry prowess

All set for its Mumbai launch, the Denim Show aims to bring the India’s denim mills and leading brands together to tap opportunities through the versatility of denim – the fashion statement of future

Innovative, fashionable, sustainable will define the Denim Show as the industry will get together to showcase their prowess at its first-ever Mumbai edition from May 12-14, 2022 at the newly launched Jio World Convention Centre (JWCC) in BKC.

As one the fastest recovering market segments post the pandemic outbreak, the denim industry is pegged to showcase a sustainable growth rate of 12% CAGR, highlighted Gagandeep Singh, Secretary General, Denim Manufacturer Association (DMA). All set for its Mumbai launch, the Denim Show aims to bring the India’s denim mills and leading brands together to tap opportunities through the versatility of denim – the fashion statement of future.

Leading brands such as Hyosung India, Jindal Worldwide, Arvind, Ginni International, Raymond UCO Denim, Bhaskar Denim, LNJ Denim, Oswal Denims, KG Denim, Nandan Denim, and Ashima Group among others have confirmed their participation for the Mumbai launch. The show will be jointly organised by Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India Pvt Ltd and Mex Exhibitions Pvt Ltd under the umbrella of Gartex Texprocess India, and cover the latest developments in textile, garment machinery and screen printing with the objective to encourage investments, new market development and enable India to be a globally competitive textile and denim manufacturing destination.

India is the world’s second largest producer of denim fabric after China. “The Indian denim market capacity, at present, is approximately 1.6 billion meters p.a. and approximately 150 million meters capacity,” added Gagandeep Singh. The Indian denim industry has evolved significantly with ever changing fashion trends making its way into other utility-driven products. Innovative, fashionable, sustainable is what the organisers define will be the focus of the Denim Show in 2022.

The last few years have redefined the textile industry with the denim sector going through a big revamp in terms of the fits and fabric constructions. While a significant portion of womenswear denim has hauled from high stretch fabrics to more of comfort stretch and rigid classic 80s denim, fits as well moving from skinny to more relaxed and flared, menswear denim on the contrary is edging towards comfort to stretch fabrics with clean & basic washes. Hand-feel plays an important role for all segments which implies the need of superior spinning techniques, finer counts and blends. Overdyed, tinted and coloured jeans are some of the key fashion products continuing from last few seasons.

According to one of India’s top denim fabric manufacturers LNJ Denim, the domestic market is still dominated by faux knit fabrics but with recent escalations in the cost of key ingredients, LNJ Denim expect a shift towards more classic and authentic denim but with superior hand feel and saturation. In terms of shades, vintage & versatile pure indigos are back because of emphasis on clean and mild washes with raw look for basics while distressed and bleached denim in the high fashion product for all genders and age groups.

Sustainability and circularity in focus

Being one of the mainstream sectors in fashion industry, denim mills are now steadily implementing circularity in their production processes. Indian denim brands are taking strong steps in a direction towards creating more responsible denim fabrics that reduces the gap between fashion and sustainability. These fabrics can be crafted into a luxurious and versatile garment collection for eco-conscious consumers.

Of these is the renowned Raymond UCO who is said to be reinventing excellence with its high-quality denim fabrics using recycled polyester from ocean-bound plastics and Blu 2.0: a unique indigo dyeing process. The process involves recycling the ocean-bound plastics into fibers and blending with cotton to weave sustainable denims, reducing the freshwater consumption and effluent load in the dyeing process by about 85% using BLU 2.0 process and using eco-friendly dyes like natural indigo to reduce the dependence on synthetic chemicals. The brand is working on making responsible denim and has curated a special denim collection that offers ultimate comfort, breathability, and moisture management while also being environment-friendly, which will be seen at the Denim Show in Mumbai.

Sudhir Deorukhkar, Head of Marketing at Raymond UCO, explained, “These are small steps in the right direction towards creating more responsible denim fabrics that reduces the gap between fashion and sustainability. These fabrics can be crafted into a luxurious and versatile garment collection for eco-conscious consumers.” Raymond UCO has curated a special denim collection that offers ultimate comfort, breathability, and moisture management while also being environment-friendly, which will be seen at the Denim Show.

Adding to this, Ashish Bhatnagar, Marketing Head, LNJ Denim, said, “With our commitment and responsibility towards the environment, sustainability is more of hygiene for us now with persistent developments and focuses across various functional stages of fabric process.” The brand focuses on functional, sustainable and superior hand-feel denim fabrics made possible through various blends, spinning as well as finish innovations which will also be on display at the three-day Denim Show in Mumbai.

Together with its focus on textile and garment machineries, fabrics & trims, screen printing and denim – Gartex Texprocess India will become one-stop creative and collaborative platform for the textile industry.