The conference received the highest attention and was inaugurated by Bhupendrabhai Patel, Chief Minister, Gujarat, in the presence of Darshana Jardosh, Union Minister of State for Textiles & Railways, India, informs, Prof Seshadri Ramkumar.
Global textile industry stakeholders gathered over the weekend in Ahmedabad for a technology symphony to deliberate on the way forward the sector.
Over 800 delegates representing different counties like India, United States, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa and Uganda participated in the World Textile Conference-3, organised by Textile Association (India) [TAI] that focused on the entire textile value chain from cotton to industrial textiles to marketing. “We have organised this major event to be of service to the global textile sector in this critical time period,†stated Mahendrabhai Patel, Honorary Secretary, TAI.
The conference received the highest attention and was inaugurated by Bhupendrabhai Patel, Chief Minister, Gujarat, in the presence of Darshana Jardosh, Union Minister of State for Textiles & Railways, India. Tony Fragnito, President of the USA-based Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA) attended the event all the way from Cary, USA.
As is the case with Beethoven’s 5th Symphony set on four movements with vibrancy, tempo and melody, the conference focused on four notes: 1) Economy and textile sector; 2) Growth and fibre balance (natural vs synthetics); 3) Sustainability and innovation and 4) Training next generation and research.
“Growth in manufacturing is happening in the APAC region and India is important in this equation,†stated Bryan Haynes, Technical Director Global Nonwovens of Kimberly-Clark, who travelled all the way from the United States for this conference.
“Post COVID-19 era is experiencing the shift in global growth equation, supply chain issues and skilled labour issues. Hence there is a need to re-strategise,†stated Dr P R Roy, Ex-CEO of Arvind Group and the Founder of Ahmedabad-based Diagonal Consulting.
Leaders from leading fibre companies such as Indorama and Reliance discussed the availability of fibres for the Indian industry which will be requiring about 20 million tons in the next 3-4 years. Effective utilisation of resources like fibres is critical for the sector. Cotton Council International’s presentation focused on the services provided to better utilise United States’ cotton.
The need to collaborate more with institutes of research and higher learning has become important to gear-up innovation. “We focused on obtaining more industry participation in this event. 40 different companies ranging from fibre to hygiene products participated in this conference,†stated Tulsibhai Patel, Vice President of TAI.
Major themes that occupied most discussions revolved around fibre needs, sustainability, plastic issues, technical textiles, and modernisation. “India needs to grow big in technical textiles and plan strategies for Indian companies to penetrate into this burgeoning sector,†opined Nirav Shah, Co-founder of Diagonal Consulting.
“Textile sector needs to focus now on modernization such as improving the quality of cotton, aiming at contamination free fibres instead of expansion,†stated Velmurugan Shanmugam, General Manager of Aruppukkottai-based Jayalakshmi Textiles.
An important theme that came again and again like repeating motifs in a concert was the need for skilled next-generation workforce and creating more awareness on emerging technologies.
“Indian textile sector needs more information on practical knowledge and project details on technical textiles,†stated Gandhiraj Krishnasamy, Honorary Secretary of the South India Unit of TAI.
As is the case with international symphony events, the textile conference was conducted in a massive auditorium Dinesh Hall in Ahmedabad that can seat over 800 people with a world class audio set-up such as the Musikverein in Austria, Vienna.
About the author:
Dr Seshadri Ramkumar is a Professor, Nonwovens & Advanced Materials Laboratory in Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA.