Innovation pathway for textile sector

Five tenets of innovation will enable textile sector to develop as a value-added sector.

Practical experience and lessons learned from twenty-five years of experience in speciality textile chemicals industry has helped Ganesh Srinivasan, Director of Innovation at Bengaluru, India-based Resil Chemicals to develop high-tech products involving a myriad of collaborations from around the world.

In an interview with this scribe in Resil Chemicals’ campus at Bommasandra, Bengaluru, Ganesh Srinivasan, articulated five principles of innovation, which his company practices. These involve: 1) customer focus; 2) creating new products based on customer expectations; 3) utilize collaborations from all corners to achieve results; 4) communication with stake holders and 5) community involvement.

Resil, whose annual revenue is about $30 million, produces 15,000 tons of specialty chemicals catering to textiles, pharma and agriculture sectors. In fact, it has about 500 formulations related to textiles.

A valuable asset, which Resil has is, its vast network of collaborators in India and abroad. These collaborations have turned laboratory research into commercial products quickly. One such example is its collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi that has resulted in a cost effective silver particulate technology for antimicrobial textiles. A tie-up with Acticell of Austria has resulted in eco-friendly denim finishing technology. Resil’s clients include key global brands such as Wrangler, Van Heusen, etc. Ganesh opines that the textiles sector should focus on collaborative R and D to move forward.

By: Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, USA