A family-owned company, Avocet was established in 1982 and has over 30 years experience in textile dyeing, chemicals and dyestuff sales and product development. Due to the fragile market for textile dyes, the company then moved on to manufacture flame retardants. The company has been manufacturing textile flame retardants for more than 20 years now under their CETAFLAM® brand.
ITJ´s Senior Sub Editor Karthik Muthuveeran met Andrew Gesh, Sales Director, Avocet, during the recently-concluded Technotex-2015 exhibition in Mumbai, Gesh spoke at length on how the company was formed and the market for their products in India. Excerpts from the interview.
Karthik Muthuveeran (KM): Kindly provide a brief profile on Avocet.
Andrew Gesh (AG): We are a family company founded in 1982 in the United Kingdom. We were founded by the head of the family ´ Trevor Lever. We were mainly supplying our products to the local textile industry in the UK. Then we began to expand our product range and by the early 90s we were supplying a lot of textile dyes. This market then changed, and the market prices were getting lower and lower.. In the end this sector became very difficult so we decided to make a change and introduce textile flame retardants. Avocet manufactures a range of flame retardant chemicals marketed under the brand name CETAFLAM®. We have been manufacturing textile flame retardants in the UK for more than 20 years. The CETAFLAM® range now represents over half of our business. I can easily say: It has been a very successful change.
KM: The demand for technical textiles is on the rise in India. How do you look at the Indian market for your products?
AG: India is a huge target market for Avocet and its products. Our company has an exclusive distributorship agreement with Croda India Co Pvt. Ltd covering the CETAFLAM® range of textile flame retardants. We have been working together for more than 5-6 years now. With the distributorship partnership with Croda, we are making good progress in the Indian market. Technical textiles is obviously a big part of it. This is where our products deliver! At the end of the day, a company can invest a lot of resources in producing a new product or new fabric, but if it fails the flame retardant test, it is worthless. Our products are always sold on performance.
KM: The year 2015 is the pivotal year for sustainable development. What are the steps take by Avocet in this regards?
AG: We work strongly on sustainability projects. Quite a few of our projects will save textile mills cost, time and energy while processing their fabrics, thereby making the final fabric more sustainable. In addition, we manufacture our products with the main aim of reducing the amount of resources used in the manufacturing process. Being an ISO14001 company, we take environmental aspects very seriously, and sustainability is a key part of it.
KM: Apart from the partnership with Croda in India, which are the other partnerships your company is into?
AG: We are working with more than 30 countries worldwide, meaning we have a very good global reach. Avocet is able to supply their products throughout the world, via a long established network of overseas distributors. We have distributors in many countries including Australia, Belgium, Italy, South Korea, China, Turkey, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, Brazil and Columbia.
KM: Which are the primary markets for your company?
AG: South Asia is generally a primary market for our products. We already have a significant well-established flame retardants business in the European region including markets such as Belgium, Italy, Turkey, et